The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) is aware of the recent and deeply troubling allegations regarding César Chávez. We are shocked, saddened, and deeply troubled for the individuals who have come forward. We grieve with them and pray for healing for us all.
Now more than ever FLOC is committed to dignity, justice, and the protection of workers and families. We take these claims seriously and recognize the courage it takes for individuals to come forward and share experiences of harm. We stand with those impacted and recognize their experiences.
We have had to advocate for the safety of farmworker women far too many times. From rescuing a woman held as a sex slave in a 1990s labor camp to advocating for a union member in 2023 who was sexually assaulted, ensuring her attacker was fired, arrested, and that she qualified for a U visa.
These are not isolated incidents. These harms are reinforced by gaps in our legal and labor systems that leave immigrants and farmworkers vulnerable and without full protection. Agricultural workers are excluded from protections under the National Labor Relations Act which deny us the ability to organize to protect ourselves, and some employers with serious violations can still operate through programs like the H-2A visa program. These conditions allow harm to persist and reflect a pattern we cannot ignore.
Let us not forget the women and young girls in detention centers across the country who continue to face sexual harassment and worse.
FLOC has repeatedly called for their immediate release through a call for amnesty and for rebuilding our immigration adjudication system.
We will continue to stand with farmworkers and immigrant families in the fight for fair treatment, safe working conditions, and systemic change. We are committed to listening, learning, and supporting those who speak and have spoken out.
FLOC’s engagement in the farmworker movement is rooted in organizing, advocacy, and collective action. We remain committed, now with even greater urgency, to doing this work in a way that is safe, respectful, and accountable to one another and to the communities we serve.