At a very young age, Fernando Cuevas realized that the only way to fight injustices against workers was to stand together and fight for our rights. For 30 years he dedicated his life to organizing and empowering workers throughout the country, from the fields in Ohio and Michigan, to hospitals and nursing homes in Florida. This is the story of an 1199SEIU Florida organizer and his inspiring legacy



Fernando’s family has been living in the U.S. for more than 5 generations, but his Mexican roots have marked his life in many ways. Born and raised in Bronxville, Texas, Fernando constantly had to hear people tell him “go back to Mexico”, even though his family had deeper roots than many of them. But his experience growing up as part of a migrant farmworker family, turned him into a leader for his community and for workers everywhere, whether in the fields or at the heart of big businesses.



Fernando became a migrant farmworker as a teenager. Together with his family, they traveled the country planting and harvesting Florida’s tomatoes, Michigan’s cherries, Ohio’s cucumbers and cotton in Arkansas. Florida became his home in the 60s, the place he would come back to in the winter to wait for the next season.



Soon Fernando showed the world he meant business and feared nothing. When he was 18 years old, right after getting married, he thought that the only way to stop injustices against him and other workers was to become an employer. For 20 years, Fernando managed his own contracting business, showing other contractors how to treat workers right and standing up to abusive growers.



However, being the boss wasn’t going to stop injustices to all workers everywhere. When Fernando was 36 years old, he got involved with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee during the large strikes in Ohio and Michigan against the tomato and pickle industries. His active participation in the union soon led him to become National Vice President.



“It changed my whole life, from being a contractor to becoming a union organizer. I understood that the only way you can fight for your rights as a farmworker, and as a worker in general, is when you become part of a union,” he remembers. “Whether in the fields or in the nursing homes, they don’t want the workers to be united or to stand up and make decisions on the problems that affect them. If you are part of a Union, you are part of the decision makers.”



Fernando organized farmworkers for 23 years, until he joined 1199SEIU Florida in 2004 as a hospital organizer in Miami. In only 10 months, Fernando was able to mobilize workers to negotiate contracts and was then sent to support nursing home workers throughout Central Florida.



During the 11 years he was part of 1199SEIU, Fernando encouraged workers to participate and own their union by becoming leaders, delegates or even union staff. “Worker participation is what makes a union strong,” he says. “That’s why my motto has always been to work myself out of a job. I wanted to mentor and encourage workers to become decision makers and be in charge of their jobs and their lives; that’s where the power lies.”