Across fourteen U.S. states and one Canadian province, our members are organizing with their membership bases to improve wages and working conditions across the food chain.
Who are FCWA members?
- Small, independent unions like Famliias Unidas por la Justicia in Washington and New Seasons Labor Union in Oregon.
- Worker resource centers like Venceremos in Arkansas, The Farmworker Association of Florida, and Pioneer Valley Workers Center in Massachusetts.
- Worker-founded groups like Alianza Agrícola in New York and Migrant Justice in Vermont.
- Migrant justice groups like Justice for Migrant Workers in Ontario, Canada and Community to Community Development in Washington.
- Groups supporting restaurant workers, like ROC DC and WECN-LA; warehouse workers, like Warehouse Workers for Justice in Illinois; street vendors, like Street Vendor Project in NYC, and everyone in between.
How does FCWA seed and scale up worker campaigns?
We provide direct support to our members’ efforts, by:
- creating communications materials like social media toolkits, press releases, and op-eds;
- soliciting national and regional media coverage;
- mobilizing support from allies across the labor, food justice, and environmental justice movements;
- providing targeted supply chain mapping research;
- & facilitating strategic member-to-member connections.
Member Funds
We make small cash grants directly to member groups and impacted workers in their networks, across three core funds:
Immigration Rapid Response Fund (since 2019)
Starting with direct support for workers impacted by 2019 ICE raids in Mississippi poultry processing plants, this fund has grown to more broadly support any emerging or urgent immigration needs for member groups or impacted individuals in their communities. Grants for organizations cover the costs of know your rights trainings and building rapid response hotlines, while grants for individuals cover medical fees, legal fees, lost income and travel costs.
Language Justice Fund (since 2021)
Aside from English, the most common language spoken among the worker leaders across FCWA membership is Spanish. But member groups also work with populations speaking Mixteco, Triqui, French, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Mandarin, Bangla, Wolof, and Thai. Language Justice grants support interpretation equipment, document translation, and live simultaneous interpretation for meetings and events.
Mahoma López Garfias Organizing Fund (since 2022)
Grants support members’ emerging or urgent needs for worker-led organizing campaigns, whether that’s training for worker leaders, a strike fund, or a new staff hire.