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Worker Exploitation on Florida's Tomato Fields
Senator Sanders is working to open the eyes of America to the conditions under which workers toil to produce the food we eat. From his trip to African cocoa plantations to his support of tomato farm workers in Immokalee, Florida, Sanders has worked to shine a light into the corners of society from which our consumer goods come. This January, on the same day that a 17-count indictment was handed down for enslavement of laborers in tomato fields, Sanders meet with the Immokalee farm workers in Florida. Tragically, working conditions on these farms have changed little since 1960, when Edward R. Morrow exposed the horrendous treatment of farm laborers in the broadcast documentary Harvest of Shame. Recently, a national campaign has developed to support these workers’ efforts to improve wages and working conditions. Leveraging his position on the Senate labor committee, Sanders proposed that the committee review the conditions faced daily by the men and women in the tomato fields of Immokalee. In America, in the year 2008, it is not acceptable that workers producing the food we eat should live in these conditions.
Below, please find a collection of news about the situation in Immokalee.
In the Trenches and Fighting Slavery (The Nation) - 12/23/2008
A delegation from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers recently took time during its "Northeast Tour for Fair Food" to visit The Nation offices in New York City. It was an honor to meet with them, to learn more about their work helping workers in the fields of Florida. We spent some time discussing how The Nation could continue to expose the working and living conditions of migrant workers and advocate for needed change.
Last Friday--just days after CIW's visit--a Florida judge rendered his sentence on the state's most recent slavery case. CIW had helped the Department of Justice investigate what Chief Assistant US Attorney Doug Molloy described as one of Southwest Florida's "biggest, ugliest slavery cases ever." There was shockingly little coverage of this outrage--even in Florida--where a slavery story should knock Governor Blagojevich right off the front pages. (The dedication of reporter Amy Bennett Williams of the Fort Myers News-Press is a notable exception.) READ MORE
Immokalee family sentenced for slavery;
Each Navarrete boss gets 12 years in prison (Ft. Myers News-Press) - 12/20/2008
Four Immokalee family members were sentenced Friday in federal court for enslaving and brutalizing nine migrant workers.
The two bosses, Cesar, 27, and Geovanni Navarrete, 22, each received 12-year federal prison sentences for enslaving Mexican and Guatemalan tomato pickers.
The brothers pleaded guilty in September to what Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy called one of Southwest Florida's "biggest, ugliest slavery cases ever." READ MORE
Subway to pay more for tomatoes (Ft. Myers News-Press) - 12/03/2008
Reaches agreement with workers coalition
Subway has agreed to increase tomato pickers' pay and improve their working conditions.
With more than 30,000 restaurants in 87 countries, Subway is the world's third-largest fast-food chain and the biggest fast-food buyer of Florida's $619 million annual tomato crop.
The company reached an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers on Tuesday - the day the coalition planned to start a 10-day nationwide protest urging Subway to join fast-food giants McDonald's, Burger King and Yum Brands as well as Whole Foods Market - all of which have agreed to the increase and improvements. READ MORE
Admitted Slavery in America Today? - 09/03/2008
"I think most Americans would find it hard to believe that people in our country are pleading guilty to slavery charges in the year 2008, but that is what is going on in the tomato fields of Florida," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. Tuesday, five residents of Immokalee, Florida pled guilty to what Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy called "slavery, plain and simple." Sanders visited Immokalee earlier this year and chaired a hearing of the Senate labor committee to discuss the situation there. He said, "While slavery is, of course, the most extreme situation in the tomato fields, the truth is that the average worker there is being ruthlessly exploited. Tomato pickers perform backbreaking work, make very low wages, have no benefits and virtually no labor protections." READ MORE
Tomato growers' group relents on imposing fine for giving pickers raise (Ft. Myers News-Press) - 05/23/2008
By Amy Bennett Williams
The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange is backing off from its threat to impose $100,000 fines on members who participate in a penny-per-pound pay raise for tomato harvesters. Since last November, that threat has stalled the distribution of the increase - paid by fast food companies and not growers - from reaching pickers.
Reggie Brown, the exchange's executive vice president, told The News-Press on Thursday that the change was in response to the "inordinate and inappropriate focus on the fine issue by the media. We thought it better to take that issue off the table."
That doesn't mean the exchange, to which some 90 percent of the state' s tomato growers belong, supports the increase. On the contrary, Brown said, the group is still so troubled by legal questions about the raise that it continues to advise members to not participate, Brown said. READ MORE
Burger King and farmworker group reach deal to boost wages (The Associated Press) - 05/23/2008
MIAMI - A farmworkers advocacy group and Burger King Corp. have agreed on a deal to help boost wages and improve conditions for Florida tomato pickers, both sides said Friday.
The plan ends a bitter dispute between the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Miami-based fast-food giant. Burger King agreed to pay 1.5 cents more per pound of tomatoes it buys from Florida growers, with the understanding that a penny of that will be passed to workers. The agreement follows a congressional hearing in April led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who called for an investigation into farmworker conditions in Florida. READ MORE
Have it Your Way - 05/23/2008
Burger King and a farm workers organization reached agreement to boost wages and improve conditions for Florida tomato pickers. The fast-food giant joins McDonald's and Taco Bell owner Yum Brands, which already have similar deals with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Senator Bernie Sanders, who visited Florida last winter, hosted a Capitol press conference to announce the agreement. "What I saw shocked me," he said. "I saw hopelessness among workers that I had never seen before in the U.S. I saw people making pathetically low wages. I saw people living in terrible housing conditions paying extremely high rents, while others were unable to access health care. Ironically, on the day that I was in Immokalee, another indictment on slavery charges was issued. In a nation where millions of workers are seeing their wages decline and where we are involved in a tragic race to the bottom, I saw that bottom." READ MORE
Invasions of Privacy (The Nation) - 05/11/2008
By Katrina vanden Heuvel and Greg Kaufmann
Two weeks ago, I asked a Burger King spokeswoman whether the company had hired a private investigator firm to infiltrate the non-violent Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) or Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). She declined to comment. I asked whether the company was aware of any executives making "libelous" comments against CIW via online posts and e-mails. Again, no comment.
Now we know why.
The Fort Myers News-Press linked Vice President Steve Grover to the anti-CIW posts that he made through "his young daughter's online alias." And in an explosive op-ed in the New York Times last week, investigative journalist and author of Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser revealed that, in fact, the company used Diplomatic Tactical Services - a private security firm specializing in "covert surveillance" and "covert operations" - to spy on the SFA and CEO John Chidsey knew the firm had been hired to do investigations. READ MORE
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