New Abolitionists Fight Slavery in Tomato Fields (in the USA)

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/03/13/new-abolitionists-fight-slavery-in-tomato-fields/

by James Parks, Mar 13, 2008

The slave trade in the United States was banned 200 years ago, but in the tomato fields of south Florida, modern-day slavery still thrives.


The background of the above image is a detail from an 18th century petition signed by the people of Manchester, England, calling for the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Farm workers who pick tomatoes for the fast-food industry are among this country’s most exploited workers. They sometimes are held against their will, beaten and forced to work for little or no pay. Thousands more are trying to survive with poverty wages, no overtime pay, no sick leave and no freedom to join unions for a better life.



Today, many of those workers joined with members of Congress and union and human rights leaders to kick off a new abolitionist movement to eliminate modern-day slavery in America’s produce fields.

The workers are reaching out to 1 million people to sign a petition demanding that Burger King and food industry leaders work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to improve the wages and conditions for the workers who pick tomatoes, and join an industrywide effort to eliminate slavery and human rights abuses from Florida’s fields.

Last April, the CIW won a groundbreaking agreement with McDonald’s, the world’s largest restaurant chain. The fast-food giant agreed to pay a penny more per pound to workers harvesting tomatoes, which means the workers get 72 cents to 77 cents for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick, up from 40 cents to 45 cents.

FULL story at link.

[fed-up]

1. a photo essay posted in rural/farm last year is most depressing

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=268x860
Lucky Luciano (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-24-07 07:48 PM
Original message
Compelling Photograph of modern farmworker in the US


This is in Immokalee, FL where the tomato picking slave camps are:
http://ciw-online.org/images/images.html

Photos by Shiho Fukada