BVM Works to Promote Justice for Farmworkers

October 19, 2017
BVM Sisters

Mary Martens, BVM (Loras) serves as the BVM representative to the National Farm Worker Ministry (NFWM). This year’s NFWM board meeting held in September in Toledo, Ohio, coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC).

The FLOC convention provided an experience of union democracy in action. Fifty years after its inception, the union’s focus remains the same: giving farmworkers a voice in negotiating contracts and curtailing corporations’ ability to set pricing for growers and workers alike.

Participants in the joint event focused on issues that include immigration concerns, challenges to unions, farm worker organizing efforts, food certification programs, and continuing efforts to increase NFWM supporters and activists.

Soon a new NFWM logo and a redesigned website will link the organization with its Youth and Young Adult (YAYA) component. Local young people are being mentored for labor leadership and will inherit the roles now held by seasoned adult farm worker organizers.

Sisters of Charity, BVM have consistently supported justice for farmworkers and are currently using a resource, “Harvest of Justice,” offering weekly reflections between Labor Day and World Food Day for use among faith-based member groups.

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