 The seeds of the United Farmers
Agents Association were planted in 1945, when the
company created the first agent’s contract. Like all
the contracts that would follow, it was written
without agent input and advanced the company ’s
interests against the agent.
The 1945 contract was a production
contract that committed the agent to producing “a
satisfactory amount of business” a nebulous
phrase subject to arbitrary changes of
interpretation by the company and gave the district
agent (now district manager) control over the agent.
The 1945 contract put agents in the unenviable
position of being self-employed business people who
were tightly controlled like employees.
 Agents chafed under the tight controls over what and
how much they had to produce and in 1956 a group
from Oklahoma asked the National Labor Relations
Board to determine their status. The NLRB ruled
Farmers agents were employees under the existing
contract and ordered an election to determine if
agents wanted the new “union” to represent them in
collective bargaining.
Though the “union” faction lost the election, the
1945 contract had made it clear that the company no
longer saw the agents as its partners but as
employees ...more
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Mission Statement
The United Farmers Agents Association is a
professional Association committed
to helping our members through education,
communications, support and information, and
to establish a true partnership with Farmers
Group, Inc. |
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