Rosalinda Guillen to speak on the Farmworker Movement at the May 21 AIDNW Community Meeting

Community to Community founder Rosalinda Guillen has been organizing regional farmworkers for almost 40 years. She grew up as a farmworker in La Conner, Washington, and in the 1980’s, she was inspired by the multi-racial, working-class community organizing model of the Rainbow Coalition. Her perspective was also influenced by the Cesar Chavez house meeting model, the World Social Forum, and the Landless Workers Movement (MST) of Brazil.

Rosalinda’s mother grew up as an orphan in Coahuila, and her father came from a Tarascan indigenous village in Michoacán.  Rosalinda was born in Texas while her father worked there on farms, and she moved with her family to La Conner when she was ten years old. They lived there in a farmworker labor camp, and she helped her parents in the fields when she was not in school.

Rosalinda was a key figure in the farmworker organizing drive at Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in the Yakima Valley during the 1990’s lead by the United Farm Workers of Washington, at the time an independent organization from the United Farm Workers (UFW). Despite numerous union busting attempts by the winery, in 1995, workers voted to ratify a union contract. This was the first binding labor contract between farmworkers and an agricultural employer in the state of Washington.

Rosalinda has held the position of national vice president for the UFW, and also was involved in La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), a nonprofit organization started by Cesar Chavez. She has also been an effective advocate for farmworker policy improvements in the legislatures of California and Washington State while building dialogues on immigration issues, climate change, labor rights, trade agreements, ecofeminism, and strengthening the food sovereignty movement towards a vision of a Solidarity Economy.

The Wednesday, May 21 Community Meeting featuring guest speaker Rosalinda Guillen will take place from 11:30-1:00 at Peace Lutheran Church, 2106 S. Cushman Ave, Tacoma WA 98405. The event is free but donations to AIDNW and Community to Community are welcome. Please bring your lunch, while beverages are provided. To attend the meeting remotely, please email to request Zoom link.