For Immediate Release: Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Contacts: Chelsea Thaw, , (541) 602-9314 (Boycott tour organizer)
Leila Roberts, , (571) 331-0932 (Eureka resident & North Coast Boycott Committee organizer)
Ramon Torres, (360) 920-7215 (Familias Unidas por la Justicia president, Spanish)
INDEPENDENT FARMWORKER UNION TO VISIT EUREKA ON WEST COAST TOUR
FARMWORKERS CALL ON NORTH COAST SHOPPERS TO BOYCOTT DRISCOLL’S BERRIES
(Eureka, CA) — Grocery shoppers in Humboldt and Del Norte counties are hosting members of the farmworkers union Familias Unidas por la Justicia (Families United for Justice) from Washington state next week. Humboldt residents will join members of the Familias Unidas por la Justicia delegation in a Sakuma/Driscoll’s boycott picket at the Costco in Eureka from 4pm to 6pm on Tuesday, March 22. They will then host a public meeting at the Eureka Labor Temple from 6:30pm to 8pm that evening.
All North Coast residents concerned with labor rights and an ethical food system are invited to attend, eat snacks, and hear directly from members of this independent farmworker union.
“We have had more than six court cases [with Sakuma Brothers] and we have proven that there is abuse of farmworkers; exploitation. And we’ve improved the conditions ourselves,” says union president and farmworker Ramón Torres. “This [boycott] is not for me, but for them and for our children. If you buy food for your family, I hope you’ll say ‘yes,’ too.”
Torres, along with two rank and file union members, will invite Humboldt and Del Norte County residents to join the international boycott of Driscoll’s called for by Familias Unidas of Washington and unionized workers in San Quintin, Mexico. Hosts will then facilitate a dialogue on how residents can engage in this historic movement through creating a North Coast Boycott Committee to act in solidarity with farmworkers and the Driscoll’s boycott. Both unions are organizing grassroots power to build a berry boycott on the scale of the Cesar Chavez grape boycott. They are taking on a large corporate agriculture industry, intending to win union contracts for berry pickers who are struggling with the same issues in both the U.S. and Mexico.
“The people who grow and harvest the berries I eat every day have called us to step up,” explained Leila Roberts, Eureka resident and delegation co-host. “They need the security of a legally-binding, written contract so they don’t have to keep fighting a new battle every year for simple things like fair pay and decent treatment. This an easy decision for me--and my neighbors too, I hope.”
The Sakuma/Driscoll’s boycott picket will take place outside the Costco on 1006 West Wabash Avenue from 4pm to 6pm followed by a public meeting at 6:30 pm at the Eureka Labor Temple on 840 E Street in Eureka. Visit boycottsakumaberries.com to learn more.
# # #