Last week, Flor Martinez Zaragoza announced that a farm worker labor strike tagged #Huelgaparaladignidad was being organized by herself and undocumented farm workers.
The 30-year-old is known for her popular Instagram account @flowerinspanish, where she posts content about the undocumented experience. A large part of her digital advocacy focuses on farm workers—the announcement on July 5 about a potential farm worker labor strike being organized generated controversy. @RiseIndigenous, an Instagram account with more than 200K followers, describes itself as an Indigenous arts initiative dedicated to Indigenous community empowerment & social justice awareness, alleges that Zaragoza is the one urging farmworkers, and that an action like that can put migrants in danger.
“Some people got upset because it's not the regular way of organizing this, but at the end of the day, I mean, that's how organizations started,” said Zaragoza. “That's how many unions and orgs started, a group of people, and in this case, a group of farm workers deciding to stand up and fight for something because they know they're under attack.”
L.A. TACO has not been put in contact with other organizers of #Huelgaparaladignidad at the time of this publication.
The idea for a labor strike was born in an organizing group chat that was created by a farm worker, according to Zaragoza. In that group chat, composed of farm workers and community organizers, a farm worker from Fresno brought up the idea of a work stop, according to Zaragoza.
“They all speak Spanish and only Spanish. And so that's where I decided, like, "Man, I'm really going to bring awareness to my platform." Get it out there in English. You know, it's so important that people know that this is happening. So they, so they get the awareness that they deserve,” said Zaragoza, who appointed herself as the media point of contact for #Huelgaparaladignidad.
L.A. TACO reached out to farm worker organizations and asked about their participation.
“The United Farm Workers is not involved with calls for farm worker strikes originating on social media. The UFW always supports workers deciding to take action, but we are not engaged in this effort and were not aware of these posts before they went up. Effective strikes demand enormous long-term planning, organization, strategy, and worker-led energy. We will always support workers who take action and make sacrifices to improve their lives as they see fit,” said the spokesman for United Farm Workers Antonio De Loera-Brust.
Friends of Fieldworkers is a nonprofit that supports and advocates for farm worker families in Ventura County.
“We’ve received multiple inquiries regarding a farm worker strike being circulated on social media," Martita Martinez-Bravo, executive director of Friends of Field Workers, said. "Friends of Fieldworkers is not affiliated with this strike, and no farm workers have contacted us about participating in or planning such an action. As a nonprofit, we are dedicated to supporting, celebrating, and advocating for farm worker families. We urge caution. Labor strikes carried out without the full understanding and consent of the workers involved can be harmful."
"Our priority remains the safety, well-being, and empowerment of farm worker families,” Martinez-Bravo said.
This news of Zaragoza's alleged farmworker strike on the heels of massive raids on two cannabis farms, where the Department of Homeland Security says they detained 200 farm workers.
No further posts have been made about a strike anywhere else yet.
L.A. TACO will update this story as developments happen.
