Our History

El Futuro es Nuestro arose out of an election campaign within the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC). Workers covered under the first and only H2A Collective Bargaining Agreement were not satisfied with the representation of the long time president and founder Baldemar Velasquez and decided that they needed to take back the union or separate in order for it to function as a true member led organization. Read on for a timeline of our history.

Update May 1, 2025: El Futuro Es Nuestro formally declares separation from FLOC and denounces the union

May 15, 2021: Union members confront FLOC president Baldemar Velasquez with their concerns about FLOC putting grower interests before the needs of farmworkers.
September 10, 2022: Leticia Zavala runs for FLOC presidency on behalf of the El Futuro Es Nuestro initiative of FLOC members, challenging 55-year incumbent Baldemar Velasquez.

Timeline

  • 2004: The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) signs a collective bargaining agreement (CBA, or union contract) with the North Carolina Growers Association (NCGA) covering thousands of H2A workers in North Carolina. This agreement is groundbreaking and gives agricultural guestworkers new protections and the right to file grievances without retaliation. 
  • Late 2000s: After the first significant agreement in 2004, many years pass without additional improvements to the contract. Without continued organizing, development of more worker leadership, or standing up to the Growers Association, conditions eventually worsen. FLOC begins to lose worker membership in North Carolina due to the lack of enforcement of the contract. 
  • 2017: Over time, FLOC loses all of its collective bargaining agreements in the Midwest from its pioneering campaigns with Campbell’s Soup, Aunt Jane, Vlassic, and others. Eventually, FLOC’s collective bargaining agreement with the NC Growers Association is its only union contract remaining. 
  • 2018: The President of the Farm labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), Baldemar Velasquez joined the NC Growers Association in lobbying for wage freezes for H2A workers without the consultation of FLOC’s members.  
  • 2020: During the Covid-19 pandemic, hundreds of North Carolina farmworkers (and FLOC members) become ill due to living in crowded labor camps without health and safety measures. Under Baldemar Velasquez’s leadership, FLOC refused to push for  Covid protocols, meaning that many would continue to get sick.  
  • May 15th, 2021: A group of FLOC members confront President Baldemar Velasquez about the lack of Covid protocols, the lack of representation under their union contract, and additional issues. They ask FLOC to stand up for its members and address concerns in the fields, including wage theft and mistreatment of workers by supervisors. FLOC does not answer their requests. Workers decide to challenge Baldemar Velasquez in the next union convention, ensuring a contested presidential election for the first time ever in FLOC’s 55 year history.  
  • March 2022: Baldemar Velasquez fires key three staff members: Justin Flores, FLOC’s Vice President, Meliton Hernandez, and Stephan Bartlet, all of whom had expressed support for the challengers.
  • September 2022: At FLOC’s quadrennial convention, a slate under the campaign name “El Futuro Es Nuestro” runs against 55-year president Baldemar Velasquez to take back the union. Velasquez does everything in his power to keep union workers from participating in the election. The convention is held in Toledo, Ohio, hundreds of miles away from the FLOC workers covered under union contract, and at the height of the tobacco cutting season. Consequently, only a tiny fraction of union-contract-covered members are able to attend the convention and vote for the leadership of the union. EFEN estimates that of the 197 delegates present at the convention, only about 10% were actually covered by union contract. The other 90% are “Associate Members”, non-farmworkers (including many friends and family members of Velasquez) who can “join” the union by making a $30 contribution- and whose votes count the same as a worker covered by the contract who pays 2.5% of their wages to the union. (Here is a more complete estimate of attendees and voters at the convention.)  El Futuro es Nuestro loses the election, but members feel the need to continue to function as a group in order to maintain the collective protection of workers under contract in North Carolina and to push the same protections to workers outside of the collective bargaining agreement. 
  • Sept 15th, 2022: Just days after the convention ends, Baldemar Velasquez fires Leticia Zavala and Maria Mejia, key FLOC organizers, for supporting the farmworker slate and running against him.  
  • October 2022: A group of 15 union members meet to decide what to do about the election and the persistent violations of their rights by both the union and the growers.  They decided to continue organizing and to challenge the election by submitting the numerous election violations to the US Department of Labor. 
  • March 2023: The workers decide to formalize their new organization, and the Southern Vision Alliance agrees to fiscally sponsor El Futuro Es Nuestro, formally known as “IOF Know Your Rights Fund.” Former FLOC staff Leticia Zavala and Maria Mejia are hired as co-coordinators for the nonprofit organization in order to continue organizing to improve working and living conditions for farmworkers. 
  • July 2023: Based on the numerous violations during the FLOC election, the US Department of Labor forces an agreement with FLOC to re-do the reelection by September 2024.  
  • July 2023 – July 2024: Farmworker issues in the fields continue to be ignored by FLOC, as FLOC sides with the Growers Association more than with its own members. Members feel abandoned by the union, and Velasquez spends most of his time campaigning for reelection. El Futuro Es Nuestro documents numerous complaints for election violations, including Velasquez’ use of union resources as part of his campaign, and files those complaints with the DOL’s Office of Labor Management Standards.
  • September 2024: The re-do election is held, supervised by the US DOL in multiple locations. However FLOC continued to violate election standards (for example, one of the voting sites was held in a building owned by one of the growers), and Associate Members again dominated the voter rolls. Ultimately, FLOC holds another corrupt election led by Baldemar Velasquez and supported by growers.  Another series of complaints is filed. 
  • October 2024:The US DOL finds violations to the election but still grants Baldemar Velasquez the presidency.  
  • May 1 2025: The board of El Futuro Es Nuestro decides to separate themselves formally from the corrupt union Farm Labor Organizing Committee, FLOC, and continue as their own truly member-led organization dedicated to dignity and justice for farmworkers. Formal announcement here.