ABOUT
Since our founding in 1988, Western Farm Workers Association (WFWA) has built a membership of more than 17,000 farm workers and other low-income workers throughout the Willamette Valley and beyond. Only through building strong organization can we gain control over our living and working conditions and reverse the policies that are killing and disabling low-income workers and their families.
WFWA’s uniquely successful method of Systemic Organizing enables anyone who dares to care and is willing to work to build an organization that unites low-income workers with students, professionals, small business owners and others concerned and affected by the economic problems we face.
WFWA members have built an 11-point, self-help benefit program of emergency food and clothing, legal advice, preventive medical care, a quarterly membership newspaper and more, while developing the organizational strength to fight and end the policies that drive up living costs and drive out living wages jobs.
New 11-Point Benefit Section
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WFWA members have built an 11-Point Membership Benefit Program to meet some of our immediate survival needs with the support of students, doctors, lawyers and small business owners, while we organize together for long-term change. Members help members through WFWA’s Benefit Program, running food distributions, advocating against utility disconnections and deciding on actions through the Workers Benefit Council to bridge income shortfalls.
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Nonperishable food items are available for members upon request to aid with immediate needs members face. Some of the most requested items include rice, dry pinto beans, cooking oil, masa and canned vegetables.
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Clothing of all sizes and seasonal needs as well as housewares are available at the WFWA Benefit Office located on the lower level of Emanuel Lutheran Church (call WFWA for hours). Some of the most requested items include button down shirts, jeans, work shoes and sun hats. Members can also make requests for needed furniture items, as WFWA is frequently contacted by supporters who wish to donate their gently used furniture.
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Volunteer dentists and other dental professionals volunteer their services through WFWA’s non-emergency dental benefit. Other volunteers donate transportation and other needed follow-up determined by the professional. Volunteer dental professionals also provide group presentations on health topics of interest to the members.
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Volunteer doctors and other medical professionals donate their services through WFWA’s preventive medical benefit to see members for free-of-charge medical check-ups in their offices and present medical education and information sessions on topics of interest including diabetes, hypertension and other common chronic conditions.
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“Know Your Law” sessions conducted by volunteer attorneys present information about legal topics of interest to low-income workers as requested by WFWA members. Legal advice is provided to a requesting member privately in legal advice sessions with a volunteer attorney accompanied by a volunteer lay advocate who works with the member on implementing the attorney’s recommended actions.
Illustration by Tyler Jacobson
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 Willamette 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.
Campaign for
Affordable Water
WFWA members and their allies are leading a campaign to achieve affordable water and end water shutoffs plaguing low-income families in Washington County.
Campaign for Affordable
Electricity
As thousands of low-income workers face electricity shutoffs each month, for-profit investor-owned utilities reap enormous profits. WFWA members have mobilized to Salem to fight for affordable energy, an end to shutoffs and to demand the Oregon Public Utilities Commission put an end to utility profiteering.
Nationwide cuts to public health have left agricultural workers more vulnerable to tuberculosis, extreme heat and pandemics. WFWA members have won victories holding the government accountable to the public health needs of low-income workers.
Campaign for
Preventive Health Care
WFWA members, united with local farmers and concerned residents, led one of the first and among the few victories recorded nationwide in stopping the destruction of farm land and jobs by government policies that replace food farms with “data farms,” consuming enormous sums of land, water and electricity to power AI and “the cloud.”
Food Farms, Not
“Data Farms”
Our carbon footprint,
nearly nil.
Our organizing drive’s human impact, huge!
WFWA endorses the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Read the Northwest Farm Worker!
WFWA publishes a printed membership newspaper, Northwest Farm Worker, to tell the story to every WFWA member, volunteer, supporter and friend of what WFWA is doing. As WFWA grows in dimension and reaches out to more of the Willamette Valley and beyond, so does the Northwest Farm Worker.
Call 503-681-9399 or stop by to get the latest issue
Here until poverty isn’t!
WFWA’s Office Central
725 SE 7th Avenue
Hillsboro, OR 97123
Easy access using public transportation by bus or MAX light rail
WFWA’s Benefit Office
1124 S Beech St.
Cornelius, OR 97113
Located at the Emanuel Lutheran Church and open twice per month, call 503-681-9399 to ask about hours. Located in central Cornelius, accessible from Forest Grove and Hillsboro