Tobacco Workers' Rally Draws 300

Source from:  October 29, 2007 Andy Matthews WINSTON-SALEM 10/30/2007

Baldemar Velsaquez gazed over at the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco skyscrapers from the front of a small Presbyterian church and then began to preach a small sermon. Comparing the plight of migrant farm workers to executives at the nation's second-largest tobacco company to the Biblical analogy of David vs. Goliath, Velsaquez said that ultimately the corporate giant will hear their demands. "It's not about money and power," Valsequez told a cheering crowd of about 300 people. "It's about being right and doing the right thing. We're going to win this thing because we are in the right. Hasta la Victoria!" Velsaquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), implored Susan Ivey, chief executive officer of Reynolds American, the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., to talk with him and others about the plight of migrant farm workers. Sunday's march, which passed by RJR's headquarters at1 401 N. Main St., was designed to pressure Reynolds and its suppliers to hire union workers. Organizers of the march, which included protesters from across the state and some from Washington, D.C., say union membership will help vulnerable workers press for improved housing, medical care and working conditions. "We are not looking back. We are not going away," Velsaquez told the crowd as they began to shout "Si Se Puede! (Yes we can). R.J. Reynolds says it won't negotiate with the union because labor agreements are between the farmers and the field workers. Velsaquez's remarks came after organizers marched through downtown, many of them wearing red T-shirts that said "End oppression in tobacco fields." Accompanied by a small musical group, marchers chanted union slogans. "The people united will never be divided," the crowd chanted as they turned one streetcorner. They paused briefly at the tobacco company's corporate offices with intentions of laying a "memorial" wreath. The memorial, Velsaquez said, contains the names of migrant workers who died in North Carolina in the last two years. Winston-Salem police told marchers they had to proceed, and the memorial remained on the back of a pickup truck with an AFL-CIO union banner. Tobacco remains very big business in Surry County, across the state and in the corporate boardrooms of Reynolds American, which reported last week third-quarter net income of $358 million. Revenue climbed to $2.3 billion. North Carolina is the nation's largest producer of tobacco with an estimated 2004 annual farm income of $588 million. In Surry County, flue-cured tobacco farmers had 3,200 acres in 2005 and an estimated 4,000 acres in 2006. The county had about 350 acres of burley tobacco last year. Both types of tobacco combined to yield more than $14 million in revenue in 2005. Leticia Zavalor, a member of FLOC, prompted the group at times, encouraging them over a bullhorn. Standing next to Velsaquez at the church after the march, Zavalor said that one observer asked how such a small group could fight such a large corporation. "One person said 'Look at all these tall buildings. How can you compete with that? What do you have?'" Zavalor said. "I said 'We have faith.'" In an interview after the march, Valsaquez said that he is disappointed that Ivey or other Reynolds officials won't meet with the group. "I think there are good people in the company," Valsaquez said. "We will continue to get out message out in whatever non-violent way we can . . . They (Reynolds) set up a procurement system and they can't say they aren't responsible for how these workers live. They are the hardest workers in the state. They deserve to live in dignity." Enditem