Over the last several years—in the context of US political upheaval, ongoing crises related to cl... more Over the last several years—in the context of US political upheaval, ongoing crises related to climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and an economic downturn—indigenous, Mexican-origin farmworker families in Washington State have engaged more intensely in class struggle through acts of solidarity and forms of collective action, in part through independent labour unions, worker cooperatives and mutual aid. This article chronicles the labour struggles that led to a notion of class rooted in family units of production and that strengthened transnational solidarity in resistance to racist forms of exploitation in the agricultural sector. Class organization rooted in family and solidarity has allowed indigenous agricultural workers in Washington State to face COVID-19 and incidents driven by climate change, which syndemically compounded existing community health crises, from a place of power. Focusing on the experience of farmworker families in Washington State, I outline agricultural employers' exploitation of workers during this period of increased vulnerability and the strength of farmworkers' resolve to take their health and well-being into their own hands.
Report to the Washington State Governor and Legislature, 2020
The first chapter of the EJTF report provides context for what environmental justice (EJ) is, how... more The first chapter of the EJTF report provides context for what environmental justice (EJ) is, how to build on existing EJ work in Washington, and why state government must prioritize addressing EJ issues and environmental health disparities. The second chapter focuses on the EJTF’s process for developing recommendations, a statewide EJ definition, and EJ principles. The final chapter of the report includes all EJTF recommendations. The report appendices include additional resources, including guidance developed by the EJTF’s Community Engagement Subcommittee for how state agencies can develop their own community engagement plans.
This booklet was produced for the second annual Friends of the Labor Archives event, "Preserving ... more This booklet was produced for the second annual Friends of the Labor Archives event, "Preserving Solidarity Forever," held Saturday, May 14, 2016 at the University of Washington Seattle. This event showcases the efforts of the Labor Archives of Washington, a joint project of the University of Washington Special Collections and the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies. Speakers included Rosalinda Guillen, Former Vice-President of the United Farmworkers of America and lead organizer for the Chateau Saint Michelle organizing campaign; Julio Romero, Former President, United Farm Workers of Washington State; Ramon Torres, President of Familias Unidas por la Justicia; and Jeff Johnson, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO.
Mid Project report for the community driven Mental health and Wellbeing intervention through the ... more Mid Project report for the community driven Mental health and Wellbeing intervention through the Making Connections Initiative at the Tacoma, Washington Site.
This racial impact assessment evaluates the racial climate in a government institution and the im... more This racial impact assessment evaluates the racial climate in a government institution and the impact of that racial climate upon the institution's personnel, policies, relationship with the community it serves, culture, and identity.
This prospectus examines 6 areas impacting pollution and recovery in the Puget Sound, Washington ... more This prospectus examines 6 areas impacting pollution and recovery in the Puget Sound, Washington State. Industrial pollution, consumer waste, toxic sites, climate change, population growth, and call to consider the Salish Sea as a sacred site for preservation.
This paper explores the creativity of the immigrant working class, from composition, rebellion to... more This paper explores the creativity of the immigrant working class, from composition, rebellion to its generative capacity.
Mexican-Origin Food, Foodways, and Social Movements: Decolonial Perspectives , 2017
Chapter explores Farmworker Advocacy, Labor Unionism in Agriculture and Immigrant Organizing befo... more Chapter explores Farmworker Advocacy, Labor Unionism in Agriculture and Immigrant Organizing before and after administrative detention in Washington State.
Researcher Tomás Alberto Madrigal shares with us his research on land and water rights, in which ... more Researcher Tomás Alberto Madrigal shares with us his research on land and water rights, in which he discusses the importance of both economic viability and environmental sustainability for food production. Madrigal explains the practices of Washington State large-scale farms transforming their wealth into land holdings, multi-national agri-corporations’ attempts to improve their position in today’s global markets, and he dissects trends in agriculture towards vertical integration. Through a breakdown of Washington State’s berry production, we find out that 96% of the state’s profits resulting from berry production belong in the hands of only 15% of the state’s berry growers. Madrigal discusses the problems and biases of Farmland Trusts, praises the efforts of the Familias Unidas por la Justicia, and shares with us his vision for a future of economically viable and environmentally sustainable agriculture.
This is the transcript of an interview of Felimon Piñeda, Vice President of Familias Unidas por l... more This is the transcript of an interview of Felimon Piñeda, Vice President of Familias Unidas por la Justicia
This essay is a reflection on the spiritual transformation of farm labor organizing based on the ... more This essay is a reflection on the spiritual transformation of farm labor organizing based on the experiences of Rosalinda Guillen and Ramon Torres.
This case study examines the role that locally owned commercial and primary Spanish-language radi... more This case study examines the role that locally owned commercial and primary Spanish-language radio station KZHR 92.5 FM played during the late 1990s and early 21st century in the economic, cultural, religious, and political growth of the Mexican-Chicana/o community in the Tri-cities, Washington. Using oral history interviews, archival materials, and supplementary articles written about Spanish-language radio in the area, I argue that during this time period KZHR 92.5 FM had a primary role in claiming political, economic, and cultural space for the Mexican-Chicana/o communities of the Tri-cities. I also draw attention to the need for further study of community empowerment via Spanish-language media in the following areas: the role of Chicana women in Spanish-language radio, cross-cultural bridge building and community building through Spanish-language radio, and, for KZHR, the role that religion has played in company policy and the history of the primary Spanish-language radio station.
Book Review of Christian Zlolniski's Made in Baja: The Lives of Farmworkers and Growers behind Me... more Book Review of Christian Zlolniski's Made in Baja: The Lives of Farmworkers and Growers behind Mexico's Transnational Agricultural Boom.
Book Review of Mario Sifuentez Monograph, Of Forests and Fields, appears in Aztlán: A journal of ... more Book Review of Mario Sifuentez Monograph, Of Forests and Fields, appears in Aztlán: A journal of Chicano Studies, Volume 42, Number 2, Fall 2017.
This essay examines how community is forged in the cultural space of an ethnic community barbersh... more This essay examines how community is forged in the cultural space of an ethnic community barbershop. It is a case study of a small Mexican-owned business in the barrio of Old Town Goleta, California. This case study explores the themes of barrioization and hyper-criminalization of Mexican and Chicano youth in Santa Barbara County, political entrepreneurship and communal ownership, community cultural wealth and community building, the formation of Mexican and Chicano Masculinities in the social factory, the material culture of the barbershop and the cultural politics of cutting hair.
Farmworker Health Research Conference (UC Merced), 2021
This presentation is about providing the historical and theoretical context necessary to create a... more This presentation is about providing the historical and theoretical context necessary to create a clear line of sight that allows for people to see farmworker struggles for health and safety in the context of a cycle of struggles over generations.
The farmworker-led struggle against pesticides in Washington State emerged from the community organizing tradition of César E. Chávez' United Farm Workers of America. Drawing from the Rosalinda Guillen and Joseph Moore Archives and the oral histories the author conducted with Washington community organizers Martin Yañez and Tomás Villanueva, I trace the impact of early environmental justice efforts by the UFW of America and the UFW of Washington against pesticides through the development of El Proyecto Bienestar.. I juxtapose this cycle of struggle with the current crisis advanced by the current transnational class of migrant farmworkers who have led labor and community struggles in Washington State including Familias Unidas por la Justicia and Trabajadores Unidos por la Justicia. The recent struggles for dignity, Salud y Seguridad, that I experienced as an action-researcher for the independent farmworker unions, I argue have moved beyond survival to creating the conditions under which farmworker communities can thrive independently from traditional structures, coming full circle and by taking up a long-abandoned aspect of American Chávizmo, cooperatives and mutual aid.
In the western United States, the use of H-2A workers has exponentially increased since 2013 afte... more In the western United States, the use of H-2A workers has exponentially increased since 2013 after the formation of WAFLA, a 501.c.3 that was formed with the support of Washington's grower lobbies for the purpose of supporting members to gain access to this highly regulated class of worker. At a historical moment when union membership was in decline across the United States, a farmworker union organizing committee was formed in the same year in the berry fields of Burlington, Washington. In 2016, that union gained its first union contract at Sakuma Brothers Farm, representing over 500 local farmworkers. Within their union organizing campaign, Familias Unidas por la Justicia held 8 work stoppages, led an international boycott, and was the lead plaintiff in several successful law suits. During the unionization campaign, the union was able to revoke an existing H-2A contract that was used to displace them as workers on the farm they were organizing, and the next year, the pressure they applied resulted in the farm withdrawing their application for more H-2A guestworkers with the support of WAFLA. After their successful unionization campaign, the union has supported farmworker strikes by H-2A workers who joined their rank and file membership on 4 separate farms throughout Washington State, the union has filed 2 class action lawsuits in support of those workers and has provided technical assistance to 4 non-union affiliated farmworker strikes on four separate farms in Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom Counties of Washington State.
The presentation that I will present will attempt to answer the following questions posed by the organizers of this gathering: How have guestworker programs affected workers’ rights on the ground, from wages and benefits to the ability to organize unions? and How have civil society groups and labor movements responded to the expansion of guest worker programs? I will draw from primary oral history interviews that I conducted with the union leadership and rank and file, ethnographic fieldnotes, and statistical data available on H-2A workers in Washington State.
Over the last several years—in the context of US political upheaval, ongoing crises related to cl... more Over the last several years—in the context of US political upheaval, ongoing crises related to climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and an economic downturn—indigenous, Mexican-origin farmworker families in Washington State have engaged more intensely in class struggle through acts of solidarity and forms of collective action, in part through independent labour unions, worker cooperatives and mutual aid. This article chronicles the labour struggles that led to a notion of class rooted in family units of production and that strengthened transnational solidarity in resistance to racist forms of exploitation in the agricultural sector. Class organization rooted in family and solidarity has allowed indigenous agricultural workers in Washington State to face COVID-19 and incidents driven by climate change, which syndemically compounded existing community health crises, from a place of power. Focusing on the experience of farmworker families in Washington State, I outline agricultural employers' exploitation of workers during this period of increased vulnerability and the strength of farmworkers' resolve to take their health and well-being into their own hands.
Report to the Washington State Governor and Legislature, 2020
The first chapter of the EJTF report provides context for what environmental justice (EJ) is, how... more The first chapter of the EJTF report provides context for what environmental justice (EJ) is, how to build on existing EJ work in Washington, and why state government must prioritize addressing EJ issues and environmental health disparities. The second chapter focuses on the EJTF’s process for developing recommendations, a statewide EJ definition, and EJ principles. The final chapter of the report includes all EJTF recommendations. The report appendices include additional resources, including guidance developed by the EJTF’s Community Engagement Subcommittee for how state agencies can develop their own community engagement plans.
This booklet was produced for the second annual Friends of the Labor Archives event, "Preserving ... more This booklet was produced for the second annual Friends of the Labor Archives event, "Preserving Solidarity Forever," held Saturday, May 14, 2016 at the University of Washington Seattle. This event showcases the efforts of the Labor Archives of Washington, a joint project of the University of Washington Special Collections and the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies. Speakers included Rosalinda Guillen, Former Vice-President of the United Farmworkers of America and lead organizer for the Chateau Saint Michelle organizing campaign; Julio Romero, Former President, United Farm Workers of Washington State; Ramon Torres, President of Familias Unidas por la Justicia; and Jeff Johnson, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO.
Mid Project report for the community driven Mental health and Wellbeing intervention through the ... more Mid Project report for the community driven Mental health and Wellbeing intervention through the Making Connections Initiative at the Tacoma, Washington Site.
This racial impact assessment evaluates the racial climate in a government institution and the im... more This racial impact assessment evaluates the racial climate in a government institution and the impact of that racial climate upon the institution's personnel, policies, relationship with the community it serves, culture, and identity.
This prospectus examines 6 areas impacting pollution and recovery in the Puget Sound, Washington ... more This prospectus examines 6 areas impacting pollution and recovery in the Puget Sound, Washington State. Industrial pollution, consumer waste, toxic sites, climate change, population growth, and call to consider the Salish Sea as a sacred site for preservation.
This paper explores the creativity of the immigrant working class, from composition, rebellion to... more This paper explores the creativity of the immigrant working class, from composition, rebellion to its generative capacity.
Mexican-Origin Food, Foodways, and Social Movements: Decolonial Perspectives , 2017
Chapter explores Farmworker Advocacy, Labor Unionism in Agriculture and Immigrant Organizing befo... more Chapter explores Farmworker Advocacy, Labor Unionism in Agriculture and Immigrant Organizing before and after administrative detention in Washington State.
Researcher Tomás Alberto Madrigal shares with us his research on land and water rights, in which ... more Researcher Tomás Alberto Madrigal shares with us his research on land and water rights, in which he discusses the importance of both economic viability and environmental sustainability for food production. Madrigal explains the practices of Washington State large-scale farms transforming their wealth into land holdings, multi-national agri-corporations’ attempts to improve their position in today’s global markets, and he dissects trends in agriculture towards vertical integration. Through a breakdown of Washington State’s berry production, we find out that 96% of the state’s profits resulting from berry production belong in the hands of only 15% of the state’s berry growers. Madrigal discusses the problems and biases of Farmland Trusts, praises the efforts of the Familias Unidas por la Justicia, and shares with us his vision for a future of economically viable and environmentally sustainable agriculture.
This is the transcript of an interview of Felimon Piñeda, Vice President of Familias Unidas por l... more This is the transcript of an interview of Felimon Piñeda, Vice President of Familias Unidas por la Justicia
This essay is a reflection on the spiritual transformation of farm labor organizing based on the ... more This essay is a reflection on the spiritual transformation of farm labor organizing based on the experiences of Rosalinda Guillen and Ramon Torres.
This case study examines the role that locally owned commercial and primary Spanish-language radi... more This case study examines the role that locally owned commercial and primary Spanish-language radio station KZHR 92.5 FM played during the late 1990s and early 21st century in the economic, cultural, religious, and political growth of the Mexican-Chicana/o community in the Tri-cities, Washington. Using oral history interviews, archival materials, and supplementary articles written about Spanish-language radio in the area, I argue that during this time period KZHR 92.5 FM had a primary role in claiming political, economic, and cultural space for the Mexican-Chicana/o communities of the Tri-cities. I also draw attention to the need for further study of community empowerment via Spanish-language media in the following areas: the role of Chicana women in Spanish-language radio, cross-cultural bridge building and community building through Spanish-language radio, and, for KZHR, the role that religion has played in company policy and the history of the primary Spanish-language radio station.
Book Review of Christian Zlolniski's Made in Baja: The Lives of Farmworkers and Growers behind Me... more Book Review of Christian Zlolniski's Made in Baja: The Lives of Farmworkers and Growers behind Mexico's Transnational Agricultural Boom.
Book Review of Mario Sifuentez Monograph, Of Forests and Fields, appears in Aztlán: A journal of ... more Book Review of Mario Sifuentez Monograph, Of Forests and Fields, appears in Aztlán: A journal of Chicano Studies, Volume 42, Number 2, Fall 2017.
This essay examines how community is forged in the cultural space of an ethnic community barbersh... more This essay examines how community is forged in the cultural space of an ethnic community barbershop. It is a case study of a small Mexican-owned business in the barrio of Old Town Goleta, California. This case study explores the themes of barrioization and hyper-criminalization of Mexican and Chicano youth in Santa Barbara County, political entrepreneurship and communal ownership, community cultural wealth and community building, the formation of Mexican and Chicano Masculinities in the social factory, the material culture of the barbershop and the cultural politics of cutting hair.
Farmworker Health Research Conference (UC Merced), 2021
This presentation is about providing the historical and theoretical context necessary to create a... more This presentation is about providing the historical and theoretical context necessary to create a clear line of sight that allows for people to see farmworker struggles for health and safety in the context of a cycle of struggles over generations.
The farmworker-led struggle against pesticides in Washington State emerged from the community organizing tradition of César E. Chávez' United Farm Workers of America. Drawing from the Rosalinda Guillen and Joseph Moore Archives and the oral histories the author conducted with Washington community organizers Martin Yañez and Tomás Villanueva, I trace the impact of early environmental justice efforts by the UFW of America and the UFW of Washington against pesticides through the development of El Proyecto Bienestar.. I juxtapose this cycle of struggle with the current crisis advanced by the current transnational class of migrant farmworkers who have led labor and community struggles in Washington State including Familias Unidas por la Justicia and Trabajadores Unidos por la Justicia. The recent struggles for dignity, Salud y Seguridad, that I experienced as an action-researcher for the independent farmworker unions, I argue have moved beyond survival to creating the conditions under which farmworker communities can thrive independently from traditional structures, coming full circle and by taking up a long-abandoned aspect of American Chávizmo, cooperatives and mutual aid.
In the western United States, the use of H-2A workers has exponentially increased since 2013 afte... more In the western United States, the use of H-2A workers has exponentially increased since 2013 after the formation of WAFLA, a 501.c.3 that was formed with the support of Washington's grower lobbies for the purpose of supporting members to gain access to this highly regulated class of worker. At a historical moment when union membership was in decline across the United States, a farmworker union organizing committee was formed in the same year in the berry fields of Burlington, Washington. In 2016, that union gained its first union contract at Sakuma Brothers Farm, representing over 500 local farmworkers. Within their union organizing campaign, Familias Unidas por la Justicia held 8 work stoppages, led an international boycott, and was the lead plaintiff in several successful law suits. During the unionization campaign, the union was able to revoke an existing H-2A contract that was used to displace them as workers on the farm they were organizing, and the next year, the pressure they applied resulted in the farm withdrawing their application for more H-2A guestworkers with the support of WAFLA. After their successful unionization campaign, the union has supported farmworker strikes by H-2A workers who joined their rank and file membership on 4 separate farms throughout Washington State, the union has filed 2 class action lawsuits in support of those workers and has provided technical assistance to 4 non-union affiliated farmworker strikes on four separate farms in Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom Counties of Washington State.
The presentation that I will present will attempt to answer the following questions posed by the organizers of this gathering: How have guestworker programs affected workers’ rights on the ground, from wages and benefits to the ability to organize unions? and How have civil society groups and labor movements responded to the expansion of guest worker programs? I will draw from primary oral history interviews that I conducted with the union leadership and rank and file, ethnographic fieldnotes, and statistical data available on H-2A workers in Washington State.
Paper presented at the Society for Applied Anthropology meeting on April 6, 2018 in Philadelphia ... more Paper presented at the Society for Applied Anthropology meeting on April 6, 2018 in Philadelphia for the panel titled 'Mexican Farmworkers in the Transnational US - Mexico Fresh Produce Industry' moderated by Christian Zlolniski, Ph.D.
Este ensayo presenta experimentos en el cooperativismo fomentado por campesinos e inmigrantes Lat... more Este ensayo presenta experimentos en el cooperativismo fomentado por campesinos e inmigrantes Latino Americanos en el noroeste de los Estados Unidos. El camino hacia una economía solidaria empezó como una respuesta a leyes rigorosas de inmigración. El resultado fue el florecimiento de la autonomía en lugares ajenos en donde un campesinado al extranjero reimpone un Sistema de autobasto dentro del capitalismo.
In this essay I will guide the reader through three areas of concern when it comes to demographic... more In this essay I will guide the reader through three areas of concern when it comes to demographic change and race in U.S. rural society and some of the ways that Mexican-origin farm worker households are navigating the racial state along the northern border. These areas of concern include the prevelance of unwaged household labor in the Berry Industry, the colonial legacy of white separatism in community policing, and what is emerging as a new era of racial profiling targeting immigrant Mexican farmworker communities along the northern border of Washington State. I will argue that in weaving these three issues together, we get a glimpse of a substantial change in the U.S. racial paradigm towards a Latin American model of white supremacy, a shift that has made it possible for Racial Profiling to exist unchecked, even when Racial Profiling based on the color-line paradigm has effectively been outlawed on a federal and state level.
This conference paper is based upon ethnographic research that has been conducted since the spring of 2011 to the present in Washington State. This paper also draws from the public testimonies of farmworkers and growers in Whatcom County that I collected during my ethnographic field research from June to September 2011 and from March 2012 to the present and the Field Service Intake forms documented by Community to Community Development, my sponsor organization in the field that provided in kind office space, and access to its extensive private archives on farm worker struggles in Washington State.
A Powerpoint presentation at the Western Washington University "Tangled Webs: Race, Immigration, ... more A Powerpoint presentation at the Western Washington University "Tangled Webs: Race, Immigration, Poverty and Prisons" conference on January 18, 2013.
This is the conference presentation delivered at the "Class Dismissed? Reintegrating Critical Stu... more This is the conference presentation delivered at the "Class Dismissed? Reintegrating Critical Studies of Class into Chicana/o Studies" conference in 2007. It was supplemented by video footage exerpts of Martín Yáñez sharing his narrative of his environmental justice and labor activism in Washington state.
This conference paper examines the creative work of an all female performance art cooperative in ... more This conference paper examines the creative work of an all female performance art cooperative in Washington state, Mujeres in Motion. Research method was participant action and archival.
After the passage of the Patriot Act in the United States, a new type of police state emerged whe... more After the passage of the Patriot Act in the United States, a new type of police state emerged where once independent departments were consolidated in the name of homeland security. One result has been the increased vulnerability and targeting of youth of color, Queer and Transgender populations and Women. This organizing guide offers an analysis of the situation in General and introduces a pamphlet targeted to youth of color which was later distributed in the cities of Goleta and Santa Barbara, California.
The First Forum in Defense of Water organized by the National Indigenous Congress of Mexico was c... more The First Forum in Defense of Water organized by the National Indigenous Congress of Mexico was convened on November 20-21, 2010 in Vicam, Sonora on Yaqui Territory. I was a part of a delegation of adjerentes de la sexta from Southern California that attended by invitation from the National Indigenous Congress which we had developed a working relationship with during the Other Campaign era encampments on Cucapa territory to defend Indigenous fishing rights in Baja California in 2006. These are raw field notes prepared as a report back for other adjerentes de la sexta upon our return and they were later published on Káráni because of their historical significance, quotations from the late Tata Juan Chavez Alonso from Nurio, Michoacan, Mexico; one of the founders of the National Indigenous Congress and authors of Indigenous autonomy and self-governance in Nurio, Michoacan and advisor to the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) will be published in chapter titled "Sacred Relationships in Traditional Ecological Knowledges" in an edited volume titled "Indigenous Voices: Critical Reflections on Traditional Ecological Knowledge" forthcoming from the Oregon State University Press in spring 2025.
My dissertation examines the different ways that Mexican-origin farm worker households are racial... more My dissertation examines the different ways that Mexican-origin farm worker households are racialized and integrated into the U.S. capitalist economy and rural society. There has been an exponential increase of Mexican-origin farm worker households in Washington State since 1976, Mexican populations in rural Washington have doubled and sometimes even tripled between the 1980 and 2010 U.S. Census. This demographic change in the make up of rural society has come with varying effects upon race consciousness for Mexican-origin farm worker households. My findings supported my hypothesis that early generations of Tejano or northern Mexico migrants had a different experience of racialization than migrant workers from central Mexico after the end of the Bracero program, and that these experiences differed from the experiences of indigenous, Triqui and Mixteco-speaking migrant workers from southern Mexico beginning in the 1990s after the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The settlement of immigrant communities in rural areas in each of these waves of migration has had a profound influence upon each segment of agricultural worker’s experience of race consciousness, racialization, and xenophobic violence as they faced white supremacy of both the U.S. and Latin American varieties. The different degrees of integration of this diaspora into a new racial state has served to maintain a tiered wage system via renewed experiences of racial profiling, hyper-criminalization, surveillance and segregation in particular along the northern border.
Basing my dissertation project upon studies that addressed Mexican farm labor in U.S. capitalist agriculture, primarily in California. I conducted a long-term in situ ethnography, collected oral histories and used archival research methods to systematically document two strategies used by Sakuma Bros. Farms and Broetje Orchards to deal with the increased demand for labor in Washington State: a transnational system used in Berry picking and a company town system used in Apple production. My investigation paid close attention to whether or not these large vertically integrated agricultural firms were able to stabilize their respective labor force, whether they have been successful in reproducing a future labor force, and whether or not each strategy of organization was sustainable for both the growers and the farm worker households. I observed the everyday lived experience of Mexican-origin farm worker households articulated and/or integrated into each of these systems. I was able to document the everyday struggles, losses and triumphs of Mexican-origin labor-power at its conjuncture with capitalist agricultural modes of production in Washington State. One group of workers engaged a series of strikes and a launched a consumer boycott. The second set of workers engaged in more subtle negotiations of power with their employer. For the sake of making farmworker agency more visible I conclude my project with a historical context of farmworker struggles in the region.
WA House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee Meeting File, 2022
Low wages, wage theft, dangerous and deadly conditions plague the agricultural Industry, producin... more Low wages, wage theft, dangerous and deadly conditions plague the agricultural Industry, producing labor disputes and prompting the exit of skilled agricultural workers from the industry.
Our 25-year vision
Washington has a food system that...
Promotes the health of people
WHER... more Our 25-year vision
Washington has a food system that...
Promotes the health of people
WHERE the health of all farmers, workers and consumers is fully supported by addressing the health impacts in food production, processing, packaging, labeling, distribution, marketing, consumption and disposal. We eliminate food insecurity and hunger.
Is economically vibrant
WHERE our food system maintains and strengthens community assets and local economic development. It supports diversity in size and scale of food system operations. It builds the economic viability of local and regional food systems. Our farmers and food system workers earn a living wage.
Fosters a sustainable, resilient environment
WHERE our land, soil, air, water and biodiversity are conserved, protected and restored. Our food and nutrition needs are met without compromising future generations. We address challenges such as climate change and limited water supply while maintaining our commitment to the environment.
Creates a more equitable and just society
WHERE all farmers, workers and consumers are treated with fairness and respect. A diversity of cultures is appreciated and supported.
The Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, WA is one of the largest immigration prisons in ... more The Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, WA is one of the largest immigration prisons in the country, with the capacity to hold up to 1,575 people. On Friday, March 7, 2014, over one thousand people held in the NWDC fought back against an unjust system by putting their bodies on the line: a hunger strike. The strike continued for 56 days and spread to other detention centers across the USA. On the third anniversary of their action, we reflect on their achievements and make an abolitionist call to stop locking people up and end all deportations.
This was a Community Based Participatory Research report provided to the Prevention Institute and... more This was a Community Based Participatory Research report provided to the Prevention Institute and Movember foundation as part of the Making Connections Initiative. This paper presents an actionable prevention plan that has just completed its first year of implementation in Tacoma, Washington. Our focus community is men, boys and LGBTQ people of color in Tacoma. Our coalition is organized to strengthen social connections, increase access and use of quality resources, and strengthen community resiliency in order to increase mental health and wellbeing.
Six skits by the Guerrilla Teatro Cooperative in Washington State in 2006-2007.
Guerrilla Teatro... more Six skits by the Guerrilla Teatro Cooperative in Washington State in 2006-2007.
Guerrilla Teatro Cooperativa was born on April 4, 2006 at "El Otro Norte: Raza, Race and Resistance in the Latina/o Northwest" the NACCS Pacific Northwest FOCO Conference & Latina/o Northwest Reseach Symposium.
A response to a call to action to use teatro to challenge the Minutemen project, students from EWU, CWU, UW, WWU, Evergreen State College, YVCC, CBC and WSU joined together in a cooperative to perform at marches against HR 4437, the Minutemen, and for Immigrant rights.
The role of Strategic Research to inform social movement and union campaigns has become compulsor... more The role of Strategic Research to inform social movement and union campaigns has become compulsory when taking on MultiNational Global corporations. The crisis of a concerted action like a strike, uprising, blockade, or boycott often exposes the vulnerabilities of seemingly omnipotent and colossal forces that seem to operate with impunity across borders at first glance. Strategic Research systematically identifies leverage points, parties responsible, places and locations of production, governance mechanisms, and places and locations of distribution along global supply chains that can be used to inform a comprehensive campaign. This type of solidarity is often completed in the background, with little or no compensation or resources, and as such has been very difficult to reproduce. Unions have depended upon volunteerism since the late 1990s and in the U.S. there are two research institutes in the North East that train most of the individuals that have delivered strategic research to union campaigns based primarily on the experiences in the Bridgestone/ Firestone-Steelworkers, Justiice for Janitors-SEIU, and UPS-Teamsters campaigns (Kate Bronfenbrenner at Cornell and Tom Juravich at UMASS Amherst) This handout utilizes resources from these efforts as a primer and fills in the gaps with the specific subject matter expertise drawn from the farmworker unionization campaign of Familias Unidas por la Justicia in Washington State, that included an international berry boycott of Driscoll's.
Community to Community Development's Food Systems Researcher talking points for 2023 Priority 101... more Community to Community Development's Food Systems Researcher talking points for 2023 Priority 101 series: Food Sovereignty and Security panel for the Washington Women's Foundation.
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agencies can develop their own community engagement plans.
The farmworker-led struggle against pesticides in Washington State emerged from the community organizing tradition of César E. Chávez' United Farm Workers of America. Drawing from the Rosalinda Guillen and Joseph Moore Archives and the oral histories the author conducted with Washington community organizers Martin Yañez and Tomás Villanueva, I trace the impact of early environmental justice efforts by the UFW of America and the UFW of Washington against pesticides through the development of El Proyecto Bienestar.. I juxtapose this cycle of struggle with the current crisis advanced by the current transnational class of migrant farmworkers who have led labor and community struggles in Washington State including Familias Unidas por la Justicia and Trabajadores Unidos por la Justicia. The recent struggles for dignity, Salud y Seguridad, that I experienced as an action-researcher for the independent farmworker unions, I argue have moved beyond survival to creating the conditions under which farmworker communities can thrive independently from traditional structures, coming full circle and by taking up a long-abandoned aspect of American Chávizmo, cooperatives and mutual aid.
The presentation that I will present will attempt to answer the following questions posed by the organizers of this gathering: How have guestworker programs affected workers’ rights on the ground, from wages and benefits to the ability to organize unions? and How have civil society groups and labor movements responded to the expansion of guest worker programs? I will draw from primary oral history interviews that I conducted with the union leadership and rank and file, ethnographic fieldnotes, and statistical data available on H-2A workers in Washington State.
agencies can develop their own community engagement plans.
The farmworker-led struggle against pesticides in Washington State emerged from the community organizing tradition of César E. Chávez' United Farm Workers of America. Drawing from the Rosalinda Guillen and Joseph Moore Archives and the oral histories the author conducted with Washington community organizers Martin Yañez and Tomás Villanueva, I trace the impact of early environmental justice efforts by the UFW of America and the UFW of Washington against pesticides through the development of El Proyecto Bienestar.. I juxtapose this cycle of struggle with the current crisis advanced by the current transnational class of migrant farmworkers who have led labor and community struggles in Washington State including Familias Unidas por la Justicia and Trabajadores Unidos por la Justicia. The recent struggles for dignity, Salud y Seguridad, that I experienced as an action-researcher for the independent farmworker unions, I argue have moved beyond survival to creating the conditions under which farmworker communities can thrive independently from traditional structures, coming full circle and by taking up a long-abandoned aspect of American Chávizmo, cooperatives and mutual aid.
The presentation that I will present will attempt to answer the following questions posed by the organizers of this gathering: How have guestworker programs affected workers’ rights on the ground, from wages and benefits to the ability to organize unions? and How have civil society groups and labor movements responded to the expansion of guest worker programs? I will draw from primary oral history interviews that I conducted with the union leadership and rank and file, ethnographic fieldnotes, and statistical data available on H-2A workers in Washington State.
This conference paper is based upon ethnographic research that has been conducted since the spring of 2011 to the present in Washington State. This paper also draws from the public testimonies of farmworkers and growers in Whatcom County that I collected during my ethnographic field research from June to September 2011 and from March 2012 to the present and the Field Service Intake forms documented by Community to Community Development, my sponsor organization in the field that provided in kind office space, and access to its extensive private archives on farm worker struggles in Washington State.
Basing my dissertation project upon studies that addressed Mexican farm labor in U.S. capitalist agriculture, primarily in California. I conducted a long-term in situ ethnography, collected oral histories and used archival research methods to systematically document two strategies used by Sakuma Bros. Farms and Broetje Orchards to deal with the increased demand for labor in Washington State: a transnational system used in Berry picking and a company town system used in Apple production. My investigation paid close attention to whether or not these large vertically integrated agricultural firms were able to stabilize their respective labor force, whether they have been successful in reproducing a future labor force, and whether or not each strategy of organization was sustainable for both the growers and the farm worker households. I observed the everyday lived experience of Mexican-origin farm worker households articulated and/or integrated into each of these systems. I was able to document the everyday struggles, losses and triumphs of Mexican-origin labor-power at its conjuncture with capitalist agricultural modes of production in Washington State. One group of workers engaged a series of strikes and a launched a consumer boycott. The second set of workers engaged in more subtle negotiations of power with their employer. For the sake of making farmworker agency more visible I conclude my project with a historical context of farmworker struggles in the region.
Washington has a food system that...
Promotes the health of people
WHERE the health of all farmers, workers and consumers is fully supported by addressing the health impacts in food production, processing, packaging, labeling, distribution, marketing, consumption and disposal. We eliminate food insecurity and hunger.
Is economically vibrant
WHERE our food system maintains and strengthens community assets and local economic development. It supports diversity in size and scale of food system operations. It builds the economic viability of local and regional food systems. Our farmers and food system workers earn a living wage.
Fosters a sustainable, resilient environment
WHERE our land, soil, air, water and biodiversity are conserved, protected and restored. Our food and nutrition needs are met without compromising future generations. We address challenges such as climate change and limited water supply while maintaining our commitment to the environment.
Creates a more equitable and just society
WHERE all farmers, workers and consumers are treated with fairness and respect. A diversity of cultures is appreciated and supported.
Guerrilla Teatro Cooperativa was born on April 4, 2006 at "El Otro Norte: Raza, Race and Resistance in the Latina/o Northwest" the NACCS Pacific Northwest FOCO Conference & Latina/o Northwest Reseach Symposium.
A response to a call to action to use teatro to challenge the Minutemen project, students from EWU, CWU, UW, WWU, Evergreen State College, YVCC, CBC and WSU joined together in a cooperative to perform at marches against HR 4437, the Minutemen, and for Immigrant rights.