Tell Florida Governor Crist to take a stand against slavery!

ACTION ALERT!... Tell Florida Governor Crist to take a stand against slavery!
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is calling on Florida Governor Charlie Crist to commit the full power of his office to address the plague of modern-day slavery in Florida's fields. Add your voice to this call and send an email or fax to the governor today!
Background: Just this past December, federal prosecutors from the Department of Justice wrapped up yet another farm labor slavery case in Florida, a case the Chief Assistant US Attorney called one of Southwest Florida's biggest, ugliest slavery cases ever. This became the seventh such slavery case in ten years, which have involved a total of well over 1,000 workers.

Yet, when a reporter called Governor Crist's office for a comment on this most recent case, the governor declined to comment and instead passed the call off to the spokesperson for Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Terrence McElroy, who -- not once, but twice -- gave the impression that one slavery case per year is somehow no cause for alarm.

For decades, the silence of Florida's governors in the face of the brutal exploitation of the state's farmworkers has allowed that exploitation -- up to and including modern-day slavery -- to persist.

Join farmworkers and consumers from across Florida and the US in telling Governor Crist that now is the time to break the silence and to ensure that this latest slavery case be the last slavery case ever in Florida's fields.

The letter not only calls on Governor Crist to publicly condemn the continuing existence of modern-day slavery, but also to demand that the Florida Tomato Growers' Exchange end its efforts to nullify the agreements reached between the CIW and leading fast-food and supermarket purchasers of Florida tomatoes to improve farmworker wages and working conditions, the conditions that provide the fertile soil in which modern-day slavery takes root.

We will be collecting signatures, both here in Immokalee and across the country, during the month of February. If there is no response, we plan to deliver the signatures with a creative action in Tallahassee in the month of March. Stay tuned for more details on the petition in the weeks ahead, and in the meantime you can help us gather more signatures among your friends and co-workers, at your school or place of worship!

In December of last year, federal prosecutors from the Department of Justice wrapped up yet another farm labor slavery case in Florida, a case the Chief Assistant US Attorney called one of Southwest Florida's biggest and ugliest slavery cases ever, according to the Ft. Myers News-Press. I am writing today to demand that you use every resource at your command to ensure that it be the last slavery case ever in Florida's fields.

This latest case in which, according to court documents, workers were chained to poles, locked inside trucks, beaten, and robbed of their pay was the seventh such case in just over a decade. Indeed, so shameful is Florida's record of farm labor abuse that another federal prosecutor was prompted to call the state ground zero for modern-day slavery in the pages of the New Yorker magazine. Yet, when a reporter called your office for a comment on the most recent case, you declined to comment and instead passed the call off to the spokesperson for Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Terrence McElroy, who gave the impression that one slavery case per year is somehow no cause for alarm. Given an opportunity to clarify his statement, Mr. McElroy only underscored his disregard for the victims of this most brutal of human rights violations, terming seven slavery cases in ten years, involving well over 1,000 workers, a rarity. His comments rightly set off a groundswell of outraged reactions by human rights, religious, consumer, and labor organizations and leaders across the country.

Governor Crist, even a single case of slavery in the twenty-first century is too many. As the leader of the state and the single most powerful voice for the protection of every Floridian's fundamental human rights, you must repudiate the words of your spokesperson, and do so with no further delay.

But you must do more than that. The key to ending farm labor slavery is to eliminate the degrading and inhumane working conditions faced by all Florida farmworkers on a daily basis, as these conditions are what allow slavery to flourish. The everyday exploitation of Florida's farmworkers includes:

-Sub-poverty wages - Tomato pickers make, on average, only $10,000/year;
-No raise in nearly 30 years - Pickers are paid virtually the same per-bucket piece rate (roughly 45 cents per 32 lb. bucket) today as they were in 1980. At today's rate, workers have to pick nearly 2.5 TONS of tomatoes just to earn minimum wage for a typical 10-hr day;
-Denial of fundamental labor rights - Farmworkers in Florida have no right to overtime pay, even when working 60-70 hour weeks, and no right to organize or bargain collectively.

You must do everything in your power to ensure an end to those conditions and help lay the groundwork for a future of dignified wages and humane working conditions for farmworkers. Specifically, I join my voice to that of thousands of other concerned consumers of Florida produce to call upon you to:

1. Publicly condemn the existence of modern-day slavery in Florida;

2. Commit the full power of your office to immediately and comprehensively address the plague of abuse and modern-day slavery in Florida's fields by:

a) meeting with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and federal officials who prosecute slavery, and

b) demanding that the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange renounce its opposition to implementing the agreements that socially responsible fast food and supermarket companies have signed to insure better pay and working conditions for tomato pickers, so as to eliminate the conditions that give rise to slavery.

Thank you.


Take action & help tell Governor Crist to END MODERN DAY SLAVERY...this is still going on not only in the growing fields of Florida, but throughout the State of Florida along with other states...whether it be field workers or other types of jobs this modern day slavery is consistenly happening here in the United States, where Slavery was abolished by President Lincoln. You might not think it happens but it goes on right under your very face...right in front of your eyes and you are not aware of it, or at times prefer not to see it.

Many have already been prosecuted in modern day slavery cases, but it must stop totally and for good...for the health and well being of those being held as modern day slaves...after all this is the country of that was created on the principles of freedom ... modern day slavery does not equal freedom for those being held against their will. Governor Crist must step in & put a stop to this!

Support Workers' Rights and the Student-Labor Solidarity!

Note: reprint from CIW & USAS

United Students Against Sweatshops is a diverse network of student organizers concerned with the rights and well being of workers everywhere. There are several cornerstones to our work. The sweat-free campus campaign supports strategic international campaigns to respect garment workers’ rights. USAS plays a key role in the success of these global campaigns. And while USAS made its name fighting sweatshops, we are committed to fighting labor exploitation of all kinds, and so USAS now coordinates a successful national campus living wage campaign! Campus affiliates are organizing with workers and unions for living wages, the right to organize, and affordable health care. USAS also coordinates anti-oppression organizing and campaigns to support farmworkers. Finally, our summer internship program places students abroad with worker rights organizations. We have contacts on over 300 campuses around the country, and thousands of active students leading efforts on campuses for social justice.

RACISM

THE FACE OF RACISM IN YOUR FACE

Source: cosmos.bcst.yahoo.co...http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=11407477&ch=4226713&src=news
What would you do if confronted with racism?
What would you do? As the President Elect ran on the platform of 'change', I would definitely think it is time for CHANGE, everyone that came to this country at one point in time, their ancestors did NOT speak English, this country was created by peoples of all races & from all nations, all of the people that came here to make this country America did not speak English.

As a matter of fact this country was, the southwest was owned and populated by Latins, ie, Mexican People, ie, the Mexican Government owned a vast majority of the southwest, so therefore the primary language spoken at that time was Spanish.

People that work in a customer service or any type of job should not behave in this manner, it is unprofessional and unethical! What these minimum wage employees fail to realize is that the the people, ie consumers coming in to purchase or require a service are spending monies, thereby making it possible for them to work there...do you see where I am going with this?

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=11407477&ch=4226713&src=news

REPRINT FROM CIW - BREAKING NEWS FOR 2009

NEW YEARS DAY MESSAGE FROM A CIW MEMBER
(translation below)

Carta de Año Nuevo…

En esta temporada del Año Nuevo en la que el país celebra con familia y amigos y todos expresan sus deseos para el futuro, los trabajadores de Immokalee queremos tomar esta oportunidad para compartir los nuestros también.

Hoy mientras el país celebra, en Immokalee seguimos viviendo una vida inimaginable -- amontonados, con sueldos estancados por 30 años, falta de respeto en el trabajo, violencia, robo de sueldos y en los casos mas extremos esclavitud. El pasado 19 de Dic. 2008, el caso mas reciente se cerro en la corte federal, en el cual trabajadores eran golpeados y encadenados durante las noches dentro de un camión para que no se fueran a escapar. Esclavizados, la comida que producian se distribuia por restaurantes y supermarcados en todo el pais. Y no cabe duda de que en este momento, en alguna labor en este estado de la Florida, hay otros companeros forzados a trabajar que producieron la comida que hoy forma parte de la celebración de fin de año de las familias de esta nación.

Hoy nos preguntamos cuantos casos mas de esclavitud y otros abusos deben ocurrir para que nuestra humanidad sea tomada en cuenta? Le pregunto a la industria agrícola, a sus compradores y también al Gobernador de la Florida – Cuantos abusos mas?...

Con estas preguntas en mi mente quiero expresar los deseos de mi comunidad:

Deseamos el fin de la esclavitud y otros abusos en la agricultura.

Deseamos respeto, un sueldo justo, y un trato digno.

Deseamos que mas compradores de tomate se unan a los acuerdos que ya hemos logrado y que el FTGE deje pasar el centavo a los trabajadores.

Deseamos que el Gobernador tome la responsabilidad que le corresponde en todo esto. No esperamos el cambio solo porque se trata de nuestros deseos, sino porque nuestros deseos se tratan de Derechos Humanos universales y existe una obligación moral que todos tenemos en esto.

Deseos para la familia, nuestros aliados, y el FTGE:

A nuestras Familias: Nunca pierdan la fe ni la esperanza, nunca olviden que nuestra promesa de construir un futuro mejor sigue viva. No nos olviden que nosotros nunca lo hacemos.

A nuestros aliados y al mundo: Les deseamos mucha felicidad y esperamos que sigamos con nuestra campaña para transformar la manera en la que la comida se produce en este país. Les animamos a seguir adelante porque esta lucha es justa, y lo que buscamos no solo es necesario sino posible.

Al FTGE: Nosotros sabemos que un dia celebraremo juntos, en la misma mesa, brindando por una nueva industria agricola, una industria mejor y mas humana.

Prospero Año Nuevo a todos, les desea la Coalicion de Trabajadores de Immokalee.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Letter on the New Year:

In this season of the New Year in which, across the country, families and friends gather to celebrate and share their hopes for the future, we, the Immokalee workers, wanted to take this opportunity to share our hopes and wishes too.

Today, while the rest of the country celebrates, we in Immokalee continue to live an unimaginable life -- overcrowded, with wages that have been stagnant for thirty years, no respect on the job, violence, wage theft, and, in the most extreme cases, slavery. This past December 19th, 2008, the most recent slavery case was closed in federal court, in which workers were beaten and chained inside trucks at night so that they couldn't escape. Enslaved, the food they produced was distributed by restaurants and supermarkets throughout the country. And there can be no doubt that at this very moment, in some field in this state of Florida, there are compañeros being forced to work against their will who produced the food consumed today in New Years celebrations by families across this nation.

Today we ask, how many more slavery cases must occur before our humanity is taken into account? I ask the agricultural industry, their buyers, and the governor -- how many more abuses?...

With these questions in my mind, I want to express the following hopes of my community:

We hope for an end to slavery and other abuses in agriculture.

We hope for respect, a fair wage, and to be treated with dignity.

We hope that more buyers join the agreements we have established and that the FTGE allows the workers to receive the penny per pound.

We hope that the governor takes responsibilty and the appropriate action in all of this. We are not hoping for these changes soley because they are our hopes, but because these are questions of universal Human Rights and we all have a moral obligation in this.

Wishes for our families, our allies, and the FTGE:

To our families: Never lose hope or faith, and never forget that our promise to build a better future remains alive. Do not forget us, as we will never forget you.

To our allies: We wish you much happiness, and that we continue, together, in our campaign to transform how food is produced in this country. We urge you to continue the struggle because what we seek is not only just, but is possible.

To the FTGE: We know that one day we will celebrate together, at the same table, toasting to a new agricultural industry, a better, more humane, agricultural industry.

Happy New Year to all, from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers