Michael Durbin August 8, 2023: A union divided…
A Union Divided by Michael Durbin
“Baldemar Velasquez, founder and president of the nation’s largest farmworker union in the eastern United States, once told a reporter he makes more right decisions than wrong ones. His decision to hold the union’s convention last September in Ohio, where he was re-elected by a wide margin, may turn out to be one of the wrong ones.
Following a US Department of Labor investigation into complaints that the election was undemocratic and violated the union’s constitution, Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, has agreed with the DOL to conduct a new election. This one, to be held before the end of September 2024, will be supervised by the US Secretary of Labor. In return, the DOL agrees to postpone legal proceedings against the union.”