FLOC Campbell’s and Nestle Boycott (1979)

Thu Jan 25, 1979

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Image: A FLOC boycott poster c. 1982, spoofing Andy Warhol’s pop image of a Campbell’s soup can, renamed “Cream of Exploitation Soup” [cultjones.com]

On this day in 1979, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, a labor union representing migrant farm workers, initiated a boycott against Campbell’s and Nestle products to achieve union recognition and higher wages. The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) was founded in 1967 in Toledo, Ohio by Baldemar Velasquez.

In 1978, Velasquez planned an ambitious labor action, noting that Ohio tomato growers would be unable to recruit enough workers to see them through a long strike. That year, 2,000 FLOC members walked off their jobs in Ohio, demanding a guaranteed minimum wage, better housing, and medical care.

While some growers were willing to negotiate, big canners such as Campbell’s and Nestle were unwilling to pay the higher prices which would accompany a unionized workforce. FLOC reacted by boycotting their products and marching 560 miles from Toledo, Ohio to Campbell’s headquarters in Camden, New Jersey in a well-publicized protest.

A resolution finally came in 1986 when FLOC, growers, and Campbell’s announced a collective bargaining agreement which achieved union recognition and provided for wage increases, grievance resolution, health insurance, and committees to study pesticide safety, housing, health care, and day care issues.

Shortly thereafter, FLOC reached deals with Vlasic, Heinz, Dean Foods, and 23 of the largest cucumber growers in Ohio and Michigan.