Voice of the WBC
WFWA members take action against attacks on workers
Membership delegates representing fellow members from the same occupation, worksite or neighborhood attend meetings of the San Joaquin Valley Workers Benefit Council (WBC) to discuss and determine the practical actions necessary to advance their economic and political betterment. The programs listed below are examples of actions begun and led by the WBC.
Taking ownership of our future
Building grassroots leadership at state-run migrant farm labor camps
For four decades, WFWA has built leadership amongst the lowest-paid workers in the San Joaquin Valley through the San Joaquin Valley Workers Benefit Council (WBC), resulting in historic farm worker victories. Members of the WBC led a successful class action lawsuit after rents on government-subsidized migrant camps were doubled illegally by the State of California in the late 1990s.
At state-run migrant camps, the WBC has led campaigns that have won safe housing demands, clean potable water and other important worker-led demands inspired through WBC action. In 2024, the WBC declared a qualified victory after spearheading a successful campaign to oppose an initial version of AB 2240, thereby stopping the conversion of migrant farm worker housing into year-round housing that would have pitted migrants against seasonal farm workers in a competition for limited subsidized units.
The WBC members living at state-run camps have won numerous other victories, but the struggle wages on, because no one is safe until the lowest-paid workers in our community have what they need to survive.
For long term solutions
Campaign for water and sustainable development to save the future of agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley
When growers are forced to fallow hundreds of thousands of acres of fields and orchards for lack of water, WFWA members have reported their working hours in local agriculture cut by up to 40%. WFWA and the San Joaquin Valley Workers Benefit Council (WBC) delegates are working with local farmers, elected officials and concerned residents to fight for water and development policies that combat climate change and ensure farms and farm workers have sustainable and affordable access to water.
In addition, WFWA organizes the delivery of pallets of bottled water to WFWA members living on migrant labor camps and in local neighborhoods, as well as other supplies that protect farm workers in dryer and hotter conditions that threaten their survival.