In 2021 we launched a new virtual leadership development training to replace our in-person model put on hold by the pandemic. It quickly became a core model, attracting more participants and connecting workers from all corners of North America in one learning space.

This month we launched our eighth organizing cohort, with 16 frontline workers from five U.S. states, one Canadian province, and multiple sectors of the food system: agriculture, processing, warehouse, service, and retail.

In their own words:

“I worked front of house in restaurants for many years… [then] I was an industrial baker for two years.”

“I work on a dairy farm, I’ve worked here for eleven years, driving tractors currently.”

“I work with calves and have been for six years.”

“I worked in the kitchen and now I’m in food delivery.”

“I worked in a vegetable greenhouse for eight seasons of eight months each time and had to endure harsh treatment, difficult working task and difficult working conditions.” 

Over six sessions, FCWA organizers and member guest speakers will facilitate training on the current political context of labor organizing, gender justice at work and in our movement, and campaign planning and development.

We asked cohort members why they wanted to join the program:

“My coworkers and I unionized… because of the low pay, lack of benefits, and climate hazards we faced in our job. We faced really nasty union busting from the law firm that now represents Trump’s NLRB. The bargaining committee has been bargaining with management for 11 months now.”

“In my work place, majority of workers are afraid of being sent home if they speak out about different bad working conditions.” 

“That every person has the opportunity to learn about our rights, that we are taken into account to participate and that we are respected regardless of who we are.”

“Continuous learning and adaptation, social change is a constantly evolving field where yesterday’s solutions may not be the most appropriate for today’s problem. I am motivated by the opportunity to learn in every interaction.” 

This program is part of FCWA’s Organizing Institute, which aims to seed and support worker-led organizing across the food chain. 

Thank you to our members who are facilitating worker participation in this cohort:

Alianza Agrícola
Brandworkers
The Farmworker Association of Florida
Justicia for Migrant Workers
Laundry Workers Center
Workers’ Center of CNY
Warehouse Workers for Justice
WECN-LA
Venceremos

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The Food Chain Workers Alliance (FCWA) is a bi-national coalition of 36 worker-based organizations whose members plant, harvest, process, pack, transport, prepare, serve, and sell food, organizing to improve wages and working conditions for all workers along the food chain.

FCWA unites workers across all sectors of the food system. Our members use different strategies and work in different regions, yet are aligned in their vision for a grassroots, worker-led movement to build power and end exploitation in the food system. As a member-driven organization, FCWA is a unique space for this collective strategy.

Our organizing North Star is to increase organized worker density in the food system with strategies led by our members. We work to fulfill this mission by providing worker leadership development programs, supporting our members’ organizing, nurturing collective strategy, and building alliances with broader social movements for justice.

We are seeking to hire an experienced organizer to co-lead our expanding organizing program alongside our members and our current organizing team.

Main responsibilities include:

• Continue to expand the Food Chain Workers Alliance’s organizing program with support from the Director of Organizing and FCWA staff.
• Be in constant communication with our members via one-on-ones to identify, develop, and implement new member-driven organizing opportunities and cross-sector campaigns.
• Provide strategic support to food workers organizing among our membership base through the leadership development work under our Organizing Institute.
• Help build curriculum for trainings, programs, and maintain constant communication with our members to identify their areas of interest.
• Co-facilitate the member-led Movement Building Committee to foster and grow food sector-wide projects like supply chain mapping, climate justice, and other areas that help shape the strategic direction of our work.
• Support the FCWA Growth and Learning Committee to build the organizing skills and the leadership of food workers, including our annual leader summit.
• Facilitate cross-member solidarity through coordinating sector calls, organizing skill-shares, and political education webinars.
• Work with the FCWA’s staff team to strategically grow our membership in the U.S, Canada, and other regions in North America.
• Work with the Director of Organizing and FCWA staff to explore which parts of this work to directly lead.

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE will possess the following:

• Experience in grassroots organizing, with a strong preference for workers’ rights organizing, whether through unions or worker centers.
• Commitment to foster relationships with marginalized workers and communities, including immigrants, women, people of color, and/or gender non-conforming people.
• Demonstrated commitment to building racial and social justice centered in worker leadership, community organizing, and popular education.
• Experience building multi-racial and diverse coalitions and campaign strategies that center workers and/or directly affected communities.
• Ability to travel several times per year, and occasionally work non-traditional hours such as nights and weekends.
• Skilled at:
  • planning and prioritizing the everyday work guided by our mission.
  • relationship building, collective work, and effective communication with colleagues and partners.
  • designing and co-facilitating trainings with diverse participants based on needs across membership.
  • bi- or multi-lingual (oral and written) in Spanish and/or another language is highly preferred.

The location for this position is flexible. Ideally, the position will begin October 15 but the start date is flexible.

Compensation: Competitive salary between $70,000 – $80,000 commensurate with experience, and an excellent benefits package.

FCWA is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages people of color, immigrants, women, non-binary, and LGBTQ individuals to apply.

TO APPLY: Submit resume and cover letter to info@foodchainworkers.org

FCWA Organizer. Job Description 2025

La Alianza de Trabajadores de la Cadena Alimentaria (FCWA) es una coalición binacional de 36 organizaciones de trabajadores cuyos miembros plantan, cosechan, procesan, empacan, transportan, preparan, sirven y venden alimentos, organizándose para mejorar los salarios y las condiciones laborales de todos los trabajadores a lo largo de la cadena alimentaria.

FCWA une a trabajadores de todos los sectores del sistema alimentario. Nuestros miembros utilizan diferentes estrategias y trabajan en distintas regiones, pero comparten su visión de un movimiento de base, liderado por los trabajadores, para fortalecer su poder y acabar con la explotación en el sistema alimentario. Como organización impulsada por sus miembros, FCWA es un espacio único para esta estrategia colectiva.

El objetivo principal de la Alianza en materia de organización es aumentar la densidad de trabajadores organizados en el sistema alimentario mediante estrategias lideradas por nuestros miembros. Trabajamos para cumplir esta misión ofreciendo programas de desarrollo de liderazgo laboral, apoyando la organización de nuestros miembros, impulsando estrategias colectivas y forjando alianzas con movimientos sociales más amplios por la justicia.
Estamos buscando contratar a un organizador experimentado para codirigir nuestro programa de organización en expansión junto con nuestros miembros y nuestro equipo organizador actual.

Las principales responsabilidades incluyen:

• Continuar ampliando el programa de organización de la Food Chain Workers Alliance con el apoyo del Director de Organización y el personal de FCWA.
• Mantenerse en comunicación constante con nuestros miembros a través de reuniones individuales para identificar, desarrollar e implementar nuevas oportunidades de organización impulsadas por los miembros y campañas intersectoriales.
• Brindar apoyo estratégico a los trabajadores de alimentos que se organizan entre nuestra base de miembros a través del trabajo de desarrollo de liderazgo en nuestro Instituto de Organización.
• Ayudar a crear currículos para capacitaciones, programas y mantener una comunicación constante con nuestros miembros para identificar sus áreas de interés.
• Co-facilitar el Comité de Construcción de Movimiento dirigido por los miembros para fomentar y hacer crecer proyectos de todo el sector alimentario, como el mapeo de la cadena de suministro, la justicia climática y otras áreas que ayudan a dar forma a la dirección estratégica de nuestro trabajo.
• Apoye al Comité de Crecimiento y Aprendizaje de FCWA para desarrollar las habilidades organizativas y el liderazgo de los trabajadores de alimentos, incluida nuestra cumbre anual de líderes.
• Facilitar la solidaridad entre miembros mediante la coordinación de convocatorias sectoriales, la organización de intercambios de habilidades y seminarios web de educación política.
• Trabajar con el equipo de personal de la FCWA para hacer crecer estratégicamente nuestra membresía en los EE. UU., Canadá y otras regiones de América del Norte.
• Trabaje con el Director de Organización y el personal de FCWA para explorar qué partes de este trabajo liderar directamente.

EL CANDIDATO IDEAL poseerá lo siguiente:

• Experiencia en organización de base, con una fuerte preferencia por la organización de los derechos de los trabajadores, ya sea a través de sindicatos o centros de trabajadores.
• Compromiso de fomentar relaciones con trabajadores y comunidades marginados, incluidos inmigrantes, mujeres, personas de color y/o personas no conformes con su género.
• Demostró compromiso con la construcción de la justicia racial y social centrada en el liderazgo de los trabajadores, la organización comunitaria y la educación popular.
• Experiencia en la construcción de coaliciones multirraciales y diversas y estrategias de campaña que centren a los trabajadores y/o las comunidades directamente afectadas.
• Capacidad para viajar varias veces al año y ocasionalmente trabajar en horarios no tradicionales, como noches y fines de semana.
• Experto en:
  • planificar y priorizar el trabajo diario guiados por nuestra misión.
  • Construcción de relaciones, trabajo colectivo y comunicación efectiva con colegas y socios.
  • Diseñar y co-facilitar capacitaciones con diversos participantes en función de las necesidades de todos los miembros.
  • Se prefiere bilingüe o multilingüe (oral y escrito) en español y/u otro idioma.

La ubicación para este puesto es flexible. Idealmente, el puesto comenzará el 15 de octubre pero la fecha de inicio es flexible.

COMPENSACIÓN: Salario competitivo entre $70,000-$80,000, acorde a la experiencia, y un excelente paquete de beneficios.

La FCWA es un empleador que ofrece igualdad de oportunidades y alienta encarecidamente a las personas de color, inmigrantes, mujeres, personas no binarias y personas LGBTQ a postularse.

PARA APLICAR: Envíe su currículum vitae y carta de presentación a info@foodchainworkers.org

August 5, 2025

We can all see that Palestinians are starving. We can all see that Israel’s intention is to kill, displace, or detain every Palestinian and annex their remaining lands. And we can see that the United States’ continued denial of this cruelty is rooted, in part, in our investment in the military-industrial complex and allegiance to corporate interests. 

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Francesca Albanese just released a new report detailing how arms manufacturers, tech firms, construction companies, banks, pension funds, insurers, universities and more “underpin the Israeli settler-colonial twofold logic of displacement and replacement aimed at dispossessing and erasing Palestinians from their lands.” As a result of this report, Albanese was sanctioned by the United States.

We cannot rely on the U.S. government to take action to stop these war crimes. Instead we aim to follow the example of brave workers and labor organizations taking a stand, including, most recently:    

Amazon Labor Union co-founder Chris Smalls sailing with the Gaza Freedom Flotilla to deliver much-needed aid blocked by Israel. Smalls was briefly detained and beaten by Israeli forces, reporting: “[they] attacked me out of the 21 volunteers because of the color of my skin.” 

Dock workers and activists in Greece refusing to unload a cargo ship with steel destined for military use in Israel. 

The largest teachers’ union in the U.S. voting to end its partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, citing concerns over the ADL’s stance on Israel and their definition of antisemitism, which includes any criticism of the Israeli state. 

Dock workers in Marseille blocking a shipment of military material bound for Israel, and their union stating that they refuse to participate in the ongoing genocide.  

CALL TO ACTION:
We will continue to call on our representatives to stop selling arms to Israel, to take a strong stance against Israel’s war crimes, and to deliver aid to Gaza by any means necessary. But we can take action by organizing in our workplaces to stymie the war supply chain, by joining the anti-genocide pledge, by boycotting companies that benefit from the Israeli occupation, by donating to organizations that provide direct aid, and by joining the global labor groups standing up for Palestinians.

JULY 30, 2025: It’s not an exaggeration — every day there’s a new ICE raid, a new unlawful detainment, new details about overcrowded and torturous detention facilities, or a new plan to centralize government data for DHS use. Across the food system, frontline workers are being swept up in this cruel process.

Many of our members have pivoted away from their usual organizing work to respond to attacks in their communities. We’re proud to share some updates below, including many injustices but also some hard-won victories. Thank you for supporting immigrants in your community, FCWA, and our members.

In his four months of detention, Lelo had several hearings, but like hundreds of other people held at the Tacoma facility, he was denied bond. The judge who denied his bond is one of several at this facility claiming they don’t have jurisdiction to grant bonds to immigrants who entered the country without legal documentation. “They are the only immigration judges in the country choosing to interpret the law in this way,” reports The Stand. Lelo has joined a class action lawsuit by the NW Immigrant Rights Project to challenge this practice.

 “We are relieved that he successfully removed himself from ICE’s inhumane treatment,” Community to Community Development said in their statement. “We value his wisdom and unwavering clarity that brought him to decide for voluntary departure…The conditions at Northwest ICE Processing Center have always been unacceptable, and we respect Lelo’s choice to remove himself from the continued physical and psychological violence of detention. It was increasingly clear to all of us that due process was not being followed, and no justice would be found.” 

DELMY CHOOSES VOLUNTARY DEPARTURE

The Workers’ Center of Central NY has been fighting to free their member Delmy Rendon, who was arrested by Border Patrol when she got in a car accident during a snowstorm and sought help from neighbors who reported her to immigration authorities. Despite having been paroled into the country legally and having no criminal record, Delmy was held in ICE detention in Louisiana for nearly six months.

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STATEMENT ON ICE RAIDS IN VENTURA COUNTY
JULY 14, 2025

The state-sponsored violence that we witnessed in the immigration raids at Ventura County farms last week had nothing to do with upholding any law or protecting any population. These operations are meant to hurt, terrorize and kidnap people who work perilous jobs for low wages—people we were all calling “essential” just a few years ago.

It is heartbreaking that we have our first known case of a worker death caused by these raids: Jaime Alanis fell to his death while reportedly attempting to hide from agents on the roof of a greenhouse. DHS has since stated that Alanis was not being pursued by law enforcement, but when ICE has been snatching people at random across Southern California for weeks, how can workers feel safe, even when they know they have done nothing wrong? 

FCWA’s Interim Executive Director Jose Lopez was in Ventura this past Friday in his capacity as the President of Dream Team Los Angeles (DTLA), a local youth-led group of undocumented activists. Along with the DTLA team, he conducted intake for the spouses, parents, and children of those detained in the Thursday raids, many of whom still have no idea where their loved ones are.

“It’s heartbreaking to see children looking for their parents, grandparents looking for their children, so many people desperately seeking help to find their loved ones,” Jose reports. “We had no answers on Friday but we were there to take their information down so we could connect them to their family members. In the past, it has taken about 24 hours after an immigration arrest to locate detainees, get their A number, and get their lawyers in to see them. As of Monday July 14, it’s been four days since the raids and we are just barely beginning to get replies to our requests for information.

“We can only assume there is a backlog due to the increase in raids, though it’s also clear that this administration is not interested in being transparent or prioritizing their prisoners’ basic rights. I’m getting calls from family members asking if we have updates right now, and unfortunately we don’t have that information to give them yet.

“If you have papers or legal status, we ask that you please stand up for your community right now. Show up to ICE actions and let them know they are not welcome.”  

DECLARACIÓN SOBRE LAS REDADAS DE ICE EN EL CONDADO DE VENTURA
14 DE JULIO, 2025

La violencia estatal que presenciamos en las redadas migratorias en las granjas del condado de Ventura la semana pasada no tuvo nada que ver con el cumplimiento de ninguna ley ni con la protección de ninguna población. Estas operaciones tienen como objetivo herir, aterrorizar y secuestrar a personas que realizan trabajos peligrosos por bajos salarios, personas a las que todos llamábamos “esenciales” hace apenas unos años.

Es desgarrador que tengamos el primer caso conocido de la muerte de un trabajador a causa de estas redadas: Jaime Alanis murió al caer al suelo mientras, según informes, intentaba esconderse de los agentes en el techo de un invernadero. El DHS ha declarado desde entonces que Alanis no estaba siendo perseguido por las fuerzas del orden, pero cuando el ICE lleva semanas deteniendo a personas al azar por todo el sur de California, ¿cómo pueden los trabajadores sentirse seguros, incluso sabiendo que no han hecho nada malo?

El Director Ejecutivo Interino de FCWA, José López, estuvo en Ventura el viernes pasado como presidente de Dream Team Los Angeles (DTLA), un grupo local de activistas indocumentados liderado por jóvenes. Junto con el equipo de DTLA, realizó la recolección de información de los cónyuges, padres e hijos de los detenidos en las redadas del jueves, muchos de los cuales aún desconocen el paradero de sus seres queridos.

“Es desgarrador ver a niños buscando a sus padres, abuelos buscando a sus hijos, tanta gente buscando desesperadamente ayuda para encontrar a sus seres queridos”, informa José. “No tuvimos respuestas el viernes, pero estuvimos allí para tomar su información y conectarlos con sus familiares. Anteriormente, se tardaban aproximadamente 24 horas después de un arresto migratorio para localizar a los detenidos, obtener su número A y conseguir que sus abogados los vieran. Al lunes 14 de julio, han pasado cuatro días desde las redadas y apenas empezamos a recibir respuestas a nuestras solicitudes de información.

“Solo podemos suponer que hay un retraso debido al aumento de las redadas, aunque también es evidente que a esta administración no le interesa ser transparente ni priorizar los derechos básicos de sus presos. Recibo llamadas de familiares que preguntan si tenemos novedades en este momento, y lamentablemente aún no tenemos esa información para darles.

“Les pedimos a las personas con documentos o estatus legal que defiendan a su comunidad ahora mismo. Preséntese en las acciones de ICE y hágales saber que no son bienvenidos.

APRIL 22, 2025

Over the past two years, FCWA hosted a series of dialogues, focus groups, and hearings for workers across the food chain to discuss how they’re experiencing the climate crisis now, and to uplift a food worker vision for climate and environmental justice. Many of our members are engaged in this work already, whether fighting to establish heat protections for workers, stop the use of pesticides, or defend communities from air pollution.

On Tuesday, March 25,  Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez was violently detained by ICE while driving his partner to her workplace. ICE agents broke his car window when Lelo tried to exercise his rights. He is currently detained at an ICE facility in Tacoma, Washington.

Lelo has been a farmworker and community leader in Whatcom County, WA since he was 12 years old, and has worked tirelessly for immigrant and farmworker rights. He was one of the initial founders of the independent union Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ), where he helped agricultural workers win paid breaks and overtime. As an organizer with Community to Community Development (C2C), he has been involved in multiple campaigns, most recently exposing the local impacts of the exploitative H-2A program.

Farmworker organizations on the ground believe that ICE targeted Lelo for his leadership in standing up for farmworkers and immigrants in his community. Most of the cases like Lelo’s go unnoticed, but there have been countless cases where ICE has harassed and abducted people on work sites, or on their way to and from work. The Trump Administration’s mass deportation plan is a way to harm individuals and families. It is also an attack on workers and on worker organizing, and an attempt to suppress the labor movement and silence pro-worker activism.

We stand with all the immigrant workers that have been targeted. We stand with FCWA members C2C and FUJ in demanding Lelo’s release and calling for U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen and Pramila Jayapal, Governor Bob Ferguson, and WA Attorney General Nick Brown to do everything they can to free Lelo and to investigate the potential political motivations for his detention. We demand that all our elected leaders denounce these targeted attacks on immigrant workers and intervene to protect their safety.

FCWA is calling for ally organizations to join us in demanding Lelo’s release by signing on to our open letter.

Sign-ons as of May 9 at 9:00 a.m. PDT:
73 for Palestine
Agricultural Justice Project
Agroecology Research-Action Collective
Alternative Housing Alliance
Asian Americans United
Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys – UAW Local 2325
Birchwood Food Desert Fighters
CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy)
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies
Chicago Food Policy Action Council
Chicago Jobs with Justice
Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center
City Fruit
CLEAN Carwash Worker Center
Coffee Workers Coalition
Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas
Community Alliance for Global Justice
Community First Whatcom
Community Food Advocates
Comunidad Sol
Coope Talamanca Sostenible
Cooperation Jackson
Dream Team Los Angeles
DRUM – Desis Rising up & Moving
DSA National Labor Commission
Ecojustice Ireland
FAACTS
FAE – Foundation for Academic Endeavors
Family Farm Defenders
Farm Aid
Farm and Food Justice Network
Farm Forward
Farmworker Association of Florida
Feedom Freedom Growers
Foggy Hill Farm
Food Culture Collective
Food for the Spirit
Food in Neighborhoods Community Coalition
Friends of the MST
Full Heart Farm
Global Labor Justice
Good Food Buffalo Coalition
Got Green
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
Grassroots Law & Organizing for Workers (GLOW)
Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice
Havurah Bris Melach
HEAL Food Alliance
Hearst Union
Huron Valley DSA
Idaho Organization of Resource Councils
Illinois Food Justice Alliance
Imoto Flower Farm
Indivisible Madison East
Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy
Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center
International Mayan League
International Migrants Alliance – US Chapter
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
Justice for Migrant Workers
Kamayan Farm
La Semilla Food Center
Labor for Palestine National Network
Latinos En Spokane
Latinx Farmworkers of Southern Idaho
Long Way Farm
Makanai Farm
Make the Road PA
Migrant Justice / Justicia Migrante
Mission to End Modern Slavery (MEMS)
Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights
Mixteca Group
MDC Consulting
Mount Baker Foundation
National Employment Law Project
National Lawyers Guild
National Lawyers Guild DC Chapter
National Lawyers Guild Seattle
National Young Farmers Coalition
NC Environmental Justice Network
Noisy Waters Northwest
NorCal Resist
Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York
Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont
NPEU (Nonprofit Professional Employees Union)
Nuevo Sol Day Labor and Domestic Worker Center
Pesticide Action & Agroeccology Network of North America
Philadelphia Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
Powerswitch Action
Project South
Queer Spokane
Real Food Media
River Valley Country Club Farm
Rural Community Workers Alliance
Rural Vermont
Skagit County Democrats
Starbucks Workers United
South Carolina Workers Party
Southern Workers Assembly
Southside Food Co-op
Sunnyland Free Pantry
Tacoma DSA
Triumph Teen Life Center
UAW 4811 (UCLA) Rank & File Caucus
University Network for Human Rights
Vamos Outdoors Project
Venceremos
WA People’s Privacy
Wapato Church of the Nazarene
Warehouse Worker Resource Center
WashMasks Mutual Aid
WESPAC Foundation, Inc.
Westchester for CHange
Western Academic Workers United (UAW Local 4929)
WFSE Local 443
Whatcom County Charter Review Commissioner
Whatcom Families for Justice Palestine
Whatcom Democrats
Whatcom Peace and Justice Center
WhyHunger
Worker Justice Center of New York
Worksafe
WWU Jewish Voice for Peace

Individuals can take the following actions to support the cause:

• Send an email and make a call to demand Lelo’s release
• Follow Community to Community Development on Instagram & Facebook
• Donate to C2C to support Lelo’s legal defense

Free Lelo!

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

Today, Food Chain Workers Alliance published a new and critical resource on the state of work in our food system. Food ​Chain Worker​s ​i​n 202​5: Labor and Exploitation in the Food System analyzes data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, and U.S. Department of Labor to find that food workers fare worse than nearly all other U.S. workers by basically any measure. 

Low wages, high rates of injury, high rates of food insecurity, and low unionization are just some of the trends that continue to make the food industry one of the most exploitative employers in the country. 

Right now, FCWA members are organizing to challenge ramped up immigration enforcement and other Trump administration policies that will hurt workers. This new data attests to what our members already know: our food system runs on worker exploitation, propped up by racist anti-immigrant sentiment. Share this report to uplift the critical need to support worker power in the food system, and use it as a resource for further analysis of the food system:

Download this report as a PDF

Press Inquiries: Elizabeth Walle, elizabeth@foodchainworkers.org
Data Inquiries: Winston Moore, winston@foodchainworkers.org