FLOC began organizing cucumber pickers and pickle processing workers in North Carolina in the early 1990s. The union's efforts had made little headway by the mid-1990s, however. In October 1998, FLOC announced a boycott of Mount Olive Pickle Company, the major pickle processor in the state. The union targeted the pickle processor because it correctly believed that growers would not agree to raise wages unless Mount Olive agreed to pay more for cucumbers. The organizing campaign was a difficult one. Four FLOC organizers were arrested on August 12, 1998 after visiting workers at a tobacco farm in Nash County, North Carolina. A local judge threw out the charges, saying the organizers had broken no laws.