FLOC leader to discuss civil rights during BGSU address

Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, will discuss immigration and civil rights during an address Wednesday (Dec. 8) at the University.

His presentation, titled "Latino Immigrants: The New Civil Rights Movement in the U.S.," will take place at 7:30 p.m. in 101A Olscamp Hall.

A Texas native who grew up in a migrant farmworker family, Velasquez founded FLOC in 1967, and in 1978 gained wide attention by leading the largest agricultural worker strike in Midwest history. The union leader then received national attention for organizing a boycott of Campbell's to pressure the company into negotiations with workers. The result was a three-way pact in which growers agreed to give limited medical insurance, a paid holiday and a wage increase to more than 600 workers on 28 farms.

He also is credited with negotiating elimination of the pickle industry's sharecropping structure in 1993, and leading a campaign to keep processors from relocating to nonunion states.

Velasquez's activities have become more international in recent years. In addition to assisting in the creation of the National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty for Immigrants and co-founding the Farm Worker Network for Economic and Environmental Justice, he has been involved in conferences advancing democratic rights and independent trade unions in Europe and Africa.

In recognition of his many accomplishments, the labor leader has received numerous awards, among them, a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship and an honorary degree from BGSU.

His presentation at Bowling Green is sponsored by the Office of the President, Partnerships for Community Acton, the Center for Innovative and Transformative Education, the Diversity Leadership Team, Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Services, Department of Political Science, Department of Ethnic Studies, Department of History, the Center for Multicultural and Academic Initiatives, the Human Rights Commission and La Comunidad.