Maricopa County Organizing Project (MCOP) Records

Local farm workers and organizers formed the Maricopa County Organizing Project (MCOP), a non-profit civil and human rights organization, in 1977 to change the exploitative nature of farm labor in Arizona and to improve the treatment of workers. Unlike the United Farm Workers (UFW), MCOP helped to organize and represent undocumented as well as documented farm workers.

MCOP's first Board members included Gustavo Gutiérrez, Harriet Cunningham, Don Devereux, and Goldmar workers Manuel Marin, Anastacio Tello, and Adrian Ramirez. Guadalupe Sanchez and Jesus Romo served as the first Directors.

MCOP was responsible for orchestrating the October 3, 1977 Goldmar Strike at Arrowhead Ranch in Glendale, AZ, which began one of the largest undocumented worker strikes in Arizona history. Soon after the strike at Goldmar, an estimated 3,000 documented, undocumented, and US-born workers from citrus, onion, and vegetable fields participated in a series of strikes and walk-offs in Maricopa County.

Starting to see success but as a non-profit organization unable to legally enter into collective bargaining negotiations or sign contracts with growers on behalf of the workers they were representing, MCOP members formed the Arizona Farm Workers Union in 1978. MCOP also established such other programs as Centro Adelante Campesino, Clinica Adelante, Proyecto Legal Sin Fronteras, and the Cooperative Sin Fronteras to provide domestic and migrant workers with legal services and health care. It lent staff to organizing efforts in Texas, Florida, and other states as well.

Eventually, a feud between MCOP, the AFWU, and the UFW over resources, ideology, and support led to division and the demise of the farm workers movement in Arizona in the mid-1980s. MCOP continued to provide resources for migrant workers and stayed involved with such issues as environmental racism and border patrol abuse. MCOP moved to Phoenix in 1988 and in 1993 fully transitioned to TONATIERRA Community Development, a well-known advocacy organization for indigenous people, which still exists today.

As stated in the introduction to a calendar MCOP made in 1990 to raise funds, MCOP (Maricopa County Organizing Project) is a non-profit organization that fights for human and civil rights. Through our Immigration Project we organize and work with individuals who suffer from unjust laws and abuses from Immigration Services. With our Against the Misuse of Pesticides Project we inform farm workers about the dangers of chemical products and how to protect themselves against them.

We have been organizing Maricopa County for 12 years now and have always fought for the rights of documented and undocumented workers in the camps and urban neighborhoods of our nuestra raza [our race]. We take a special interest in helping women and families resolve their problems in surviving in this society. We fight for the respect of the fundamental rights of every person and peace in the world. Come to our offices for any assistance or to participate in the struggle for social change. [Translated from Spanish to English]

Sources: ¡Si Se Puede! The Farm Workers Movement in Arizona, 1965-1979 (thesis) by Jose A. Maldonado and Calendario de M.C.O.P., 1990 (E184.M5 M276x)