The Campaign for Migrant Worker Justice is a not-for-profit tax-exempt organization founded to support the human rights and self-determination for those involved in the farm labor and immigrant rights movements. Our primary partner in these efforts is the Farm Labor Organizing Committee AFL-CIO, with operations in the Midwest, the South, and Mexico.

OUR MISSION

The mission of the Campaign for Migrant Worker Justice is to empower migrant worker self-determination through community organizing, education, community services, research, and advocacy.

OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS


CMWJ Board members at a recent meeting of the Board of Directors

The current CMWJ Board of Directors includes the following members:

Baldemar Velásquez, Chair   Baldemar Velásquez grew up in a migrant farmworker family based in the Rio Grande valley of Texas. The family eventually settled in Ohio, and worked in the fields seasonally. Baldemar worked planting, weeding, and harvesting crops through high school. Incensed by the injustices suffered by his family and other farmworkers, Baldemar founded the Farm Labor Organizing Committee. After years of struggle, FLOC won multiparty labor contracts with agricultural corporations, growers, and farmworkers in the Midwest and the South. His vision and convictions continue to drive the efforts of FLOC in winning justice for migrant workers.

Ken Barger, Secretary   Ken Barger was raised in east Tennessee, and while serving in Vietnam became aware of the injustices in the world. He taught Anthropology for thirty years at Indiana University Indianapolis with a professional focus on social change. He has worked with the FLOC movement since 1979 in such activities as building boycotts, farm labor education, immigrant rights, and public education about migrant worker justice.

Oscar Sanchez, Treasurer   Oscar Sanchez was a migrant worker in his early developing years. Oscar is a long time trade unionist and has served in many capacities with the United Steelworkers of America (USW) over a 38 year union career. Oscar is a founding member of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) and has served as its Secretary-Treasurer, Executive Vice-President, and President. He worked on the successful USW international fight and Boycott against Bridgestone/Firestone Tire Company, which saved over 5,000 jobs in the U. S. He has served as an advisor to President Velasquez with the FLOC/NCGA union contract and was one of the organizers in that campaign.

Kathy Farber   Kathy Farber was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She is currently a professor in Educational Foundations and Inquiry and Women's Studies and Director of Partnerships for Community Action at Bowling Green State University. Her professional focus is critical pedagogy, k-12 school reform, and building and supporting innovative, reciprocal university/community partnerships. She has been involved with FLOC for many years as a member of the support group, participating in marches and other boycott efforts, and has co-written a curriculum about the history of FLOC for high school teachers.

Becky Norman   Becky Norman grew up in Florence, Alabama, and received her college degree from the University of North Alabama in English and Social Work. She worked for several community service agencies with low income populations, and then became a legal aid in Alabama and North Carolina. She currently manages the personnel and financial affairs of Willis Law in Raleigh, N.C. She has been a supporter of the farm labor movement since the 1980s and has been involved with legal and community support of the FLOC organizing efforts in North Carolina since 2002.

Rick Velásquez   Rick Velasquez was raised as a migrant worker. He has since completed training in accounting, and currently works as a regional insurance adjuster. He served as past Accountant for CMWJ (then known as the Farm Labor Research Project) for five years in the mid-1980s, and while in this capacity helped develop critical accounting procedures and reports for the organization. Rick has been a long-time supporter of the FLOC movement and a donor over any years.

OUR PARTNERS

We are grateful to work with a number of other organizations and friends in pursuing common goals. Some of our key partners in these efforts include:

CMWJ is also grateful to be supported by donations from many individuals and by grants from foundations and organizations committed to promoting human rights and socioeconomic justice.