June Event Featuring FLOC
For this month’s “Gathering Voices” conversation, Dr. Linda Alvarado-Arce, FOR’s Interim Co-Executive Director, will be joined by Mr. Baldemar Velásquez, Founder & President of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), AFL-CIO.
In the book, The Farm Labor Movement in the Midwest: Social Change and Adaptation among Migrant Farmworkers (1994) by W.K. Barger and Ernesto M. Reza, Baldemar wrote:
Many years of hard work, debate, and caring activity have yielded six master agreements that presently cover five thousand workers on almost 120 different family farms in Ohio and Michigan, representing a significant change in employment practices and putting thousands of extra dollars in workers’ pockets. It is easy to rattle off a long list of accomplishments of the union, some of which are precedent setting and historic. Nevertheless, in this era of union busting, a call needs to be issued to organize for radical changes in the infrastructure of how the agricultural industry does its business.
Today is no different. With the war on immigrants and migration, agricultural workers continue to come under attack.
In this gathering, Linda, a Mexican-American activist and educator, will engage Baldemar in a rich conversation about the origins, evolution, and trajectory of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), especially today when immigrants are being detained and deported at high levels and for just wanting to provide for their families. Baldemar is a highly respected national and international leader in both the farm labor and immigrant rights movements. He, with his family and midwest community founded FLOC in 1967. He describes his strong work ethic and passion for social justice as being tied to his Christian faith, mentors, and personal upbringing.
A discussion will be held around what the current initiatives are for FLOC and how others, like yourself, could build upon them and assist, i.e., the Black/Brown Unity Coalition, Police Code of Conduct, FLOC Identification Cards, the FLOC Homies Union, the Stop Corrupt Contractors Campaign, a pathway to citizenship initiative, and Songs for Justice. Currently, FLOC is calling on volunteers to support a rebirth of the farmworker movement, which has been stagnated since before COVID and is now recovering from the Cesar Chavez controversy. Please join us for this timely discussion around immigration, migration, unity, and compassion.
¡Hasta La Victoria!
Date: Thursday, June 26, 2026
Time: 4:00 pm Eastern
Location: Zoom
Gathering Voices is a live, monthly Zoom conversation series in which FOR-USA engages with activists and faith and thought leaders. Browse upcoming events and watch recordings of past conversations on the Gathering Voices page.
