Labor & Employment Law

FLOC Ready to Light Up Reynolds Shareholders Meeting

By Mike Hall

Tomorrow, several hundred union, faith and community activists will rally and march at Reynolds American Inc.’s (RAI’s) shareholders meeting in Winston-Salem, N.C., in support of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) campaign for justice for migrant tobacco farm workers.

The nation’s tobacco farm workers live in poverty, and many suffer from nicotine poisoning and exposure to deadly pesticides and harsh conditions in the fields, according to FLOC. In recent years, nine field workers have died in North Carolina tobacco fields, most of them due to heat stroke, the union says.

For nearly three years, FLOC has asked Susan Ivey, CEO of Reynolds American, the parent of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the nation’s second-largest tobacco company, to meet and work toward ending the abuses that occur in the tobacco fields. To date, RAI has refused to even speak with members of FLOC.

Recently, RAI adopted a statement in support of human and workers’ rights and claimed that respect of those rights “is integral” for those doing business in the company’s “sphere of influence.” But, says FLOC, the awful conditions in the tobacco fields make those words ring hollow.

Although Reynolds American does not directly employ the farm workers on its contract farms, RAI sets the terms with its contract growers and profits from the farm workers’ labor. Recently a group of religious leaders investigated the working conditions and issued this statement:

We learned that they live in places most of us thought uninhabitable, work in dangerous conditions, suffer regular violations of their human rights, and face harsh and oppressive treatment by their superiors and the broader American society. Speaking with many of these migrant workers gave us a window into a world that is hidden from sight and appalling in every way.  As a corporation with as much wealth and resources that remains profitable because of the work taking place on such farms, we hoped Reynolds would take a lead in alleviating these conditions. 

While demonstrators outside will demand RAI do more than adopt meaningless rhetoric to put an end to the exploitation of tobacco farm workers, action will take place inside the shareholders meeting as well. Shareholders will vote on a resolution calling on Reynolds American to take a proactive role in protecting farm workers’ basic human rights. RAI executives have recommended that shareholders vote against the resolution.

Click here for more on the fight for justice for tobacco workers.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on May 06, 2010 (boomark / email).