Monday, September 20, 2010

 

CANADIAN LABOUR ONTARIO:
PROTEST MIGRANT WORKER DEATHS IN ONTARIO FIELDS:


The migrant workers support group Justicia For Migrant Workers is calling for two protests over the recent deaths of two migrant agricultural workers in Ontario. The first will be held this Friday at the Ontario Ministry of Labour (see graphic and click for better viewing if needed). The second will be during the Thanksgiving long weekend. Here's a brief notice of them from the Go-Jamaica website.

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Citizens to protest over Jamaican farm workers deaths

The Canadian lobby group Justice for Migrant Workers is to spearhead a series of protests over two days against the conditions that led to the deaths of two Jamaican farm workers in Ontario just over a week ago.

Thirty-six year-old Ralston Whyte and 44-year-old Paul Roach died on September 10 on the Filsinger Farm from environmental suffocation.

Chris Ramsaroop, the convener of Justice for Migrant Workers says this Friday, his group will be leading a protest outside the gates of the Canadian labour ministry ( the Ontario Ministry of labour actually-Molly ).

On October 10, the group will be leading a 10-hour march in Ontario.

According to Ramsaroop, the group wants to highlight that migrant workers are being forced to operate under substandard and unsafe conditions:

Paul Roach and another Jamaican worker, Robert Samuels, were pumping about six inches of cider vinegar from one tank into another on the Filsinger Farm when the pump stopped working.

The pump is believed to have been clogged by a sludgy substance that develops on fermenting alcoholic liquids that had settled at the bottom of the tank.

It’s reported that Roach climbed inside the tank, to clear the blockage, and was overcome by fumes.

The other victim Ralston Whyte went to help and he too was overcome by the fumes.
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Here's more from the website of Justicia for Migrant Workers about the October 10 demonstration.
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Pilgrimage to Freedom:
Breaking the Chains of Indentureship
Thanksgiving Weekend -
October 10, 2010

Support migrant workers and allies who will be marching from Leamington to Windsor, Ontario to call attention to the living and working conditions of migrant workers who grow and process our food this Thanksgiving.

Migrant workers are marching to demand status, an end to exorbitant recruitment fees, better housing, safe working conditions and an end to racism and sexism in the workplace.

Allies will be walking alongside workers in solidarity with their call for justice.


Call for Support

1) Donations
· Financial and in-kind donations are needed to help make the march a success and to cover costs of transportation, food and other supplies.
· Please contact Justicia if your organization or local can assist with in-kind or financial support at pilgrimage2freedom@gmail.com

2) March in solidarity with migrant workers
·We are inviting allies to walk alongside migrant workers for some or all of the march. Buses for rest and other support will be provided to marchers during the march.

· Contact Tzazna Miranda Leal or Chris Ramsaroop from Justicia for Migrant workers to register as a marcher and to get more information at pilgrimage2freedom@gmail.com

· Please contact us to register by October 3rd.

3) Spread the word!

· Help share information about the march with members of your community, organization or local.

·Contact Justicia for Migrant workers for copies of posters and other outreach tools at pilgrimage2freedom@gmail.com

Background

Approximately 18,000 migrant farm workers from Thailand, Mexico, Guatemala, the Philippines, and the Caribbean arrive in Canada to work in our fields, orchards and greenhouses every year.

Many workers pay thousands of dollars in fees to recruiters to get work in Canada, sometimes for jobs that do not even exist. Once they arrive, many workers face dangerous working conditions, sub-standard housing and employment standards and human rights violations.

Because of their precarious immigration status, migrant workers have little protection against being sent home by employers for speaking up about their rights. Migrant workers and allies are marching in the Pilgrimage to Freedom to demand status, an end to exorbitant recruitment fees, better housing, safe working conditions and an end to racism and sexism in the workplace.

Justicia for Migrant Workers is a volunteer-run collective that strives to promote the rights of migrant farm workers.

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# posted by mollymew @ 7:05 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

 

CANADIAN LABOUR QUÉBEC:
NEW EXPLOITATION OF FARM WORKERS IN QUÉBEC:

Always in search of new sources of underpaid migrant labour to exploit agribusiness in Québec has finalized a deal with a new source- Honduras. Here's the story from the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).
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Federal Government Asked to Intervene After Quebec Agribusiness Owners
Cut a Deal With Honduras Under Federal Temporary Foreign Workers Program
Migrant agricultural workers from Honduras began toiling in Quebec fields this week, after a Quebec farm lobby group and Honduran officials cut a deal to bring the workers to Canada under the federal government's controversial Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) program. The TFW program provides no oversight to prevent the abuse of foreign workers contracted to Canadian employers, yet it is a program the federal government has aggressively been expanding by the tens of thousands of workers.

"The TFW program is the federal government's "Exploitation Express" that delivers migrant workers to Canada as a vulnerable and disposable work force," says Wayne Hanley, the national president of UFCW Canada - the country's largest private sector union.

"The collusion between the farm lobby and the governments is not only appalling, but an assault on the rights and safety of precarious workers who are fired and shipped out if they voice any concerns."

While the newly arrived Honduran workers do have visas and a work permits, the employment contract they are forced to sign clearly states that Canada "has no power to intervene or ensure the contract is enforced" in case of dismissal, abuse or exploitation.

The abuse of migrant workers under TFW program was recently in the news after UFCW Canada and community allies launched a campaign to denounce the nefarious living and working conditions of migrant Guatemalan farm workers. For a number of years workers from Guatemala have been brought to Canada under TFW contracts that force them to sign away some of their basic workplace rights to get the job and keep it.

Yet in spite of the well documented problems with the TFW program, the federal government has begun discussions, along with industrial agriculture lobbyists, to "harmonize" the system; potentially allowing employers even less supervision, as well as passing housing and transportation costs that are now paid for by employers onto the workers.

"The TFW program absolutely has to change," says Hanley, "but what's going on here is the private sector, behind closed doors, calling the shots on employment and immigration policy."

"The abuse has to end - not increase. That will only happen with an open and just public review and reform of the programs that bring temporary workers to Canada," said the UFCW Canada national leader.

"Whether workers come from Honduras, Mexico, the Caribbean, Guatemala, Thailand, the Philippines or other sending countries, the story is the same. They are forced to surrender their human and workplace rights at the border in order to work here. The federal government would say it's not so but a public review would definitely show otherwise."

UFCW Canada has been an ally and advocate for migrant agricultural workers in Canada for more than three decades, and in association with the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA) operates ten agriculture worker support centres across Canada.

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# posted by mollymew @ 11:06 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

 

CANADIAN LABOUR-MANITOBA:
AN OFFER THEY COULDN'T REFUSE ?:
When the United Food and Commercial Workers-Canada (UFCW-C) signed up migrant farm workers at Mayfair Farms the other year it seemed like a breakthrough and the start of an encouraging trend. It was less encouraging this year when workers at Mayfair voted to decertify the union, citing lack of benefit from their membership in the union. While it may or may not have been true that the UFCW union didn't do all that it could to press workers' interests a brief glance at the figures presented showed that they did benefit, even if only marginally. At the time when this was reported I was suspicious that there was more to the story than was initially reported.
Indeed there was, as the following from the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), with information from our local paper the Winnipeg Free Press lays bare. The first question was whether union supporters had been deliberately weeded out from the pool of migrant labour returning to Canada each spring. Yup true, but that wasn't all. No less a personage than the Mexican Consul took it upon himself earlier this year to visit all farms in Manitoba employing Mexican nationals to give a little "sweet advise". Read all about it below.
I wonder how you say "leaned on" in Spanish ?
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Mexican consul tampered with migrant farm vote
Threatened Mayfair Farms workers with blacklisting before union decertification vote was held.

Winnipeg (17 Aug. 2009) - The Mexican consul visited migrant Mexican farm workers in Manitoba and threatened to blacklist them from ever coming to Canada again if they did not vote to decertify their union at Mayfair Farms in Portage La Prairie, says a spokesperson for group supporting the workers.

The vote to abandon the union, which they had previously chosen to join, was announced earlier this month.

Jennifer deGroot, a member of a coalition supporting seasonal workers in Manitoba and a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), outlines what happened in an article published by the Winnipeg Free Press on Friday.

"Recent media reports state that workers at Mayfair Farms in Portage La Prairie chose to decertify after the long struggle to unionize," deGroot writes.

"What those reports don't talk about is the threats that workers received when they expressed interest in unionizing. At least one strong union supporter was denied return to Mayfair Farms this year," she reports.

"The day before the decertification vote the Mexican consul – which has a vested interest in keeping workers in Canada, as their remittances are a major source of national income – held a closed-door meeting with workers at Mayfair Farms.

"Early this summer the Mexican consul visited all farms with seasonal agricultural workers in Manitoba letting workers know that should they unionize they would be blacklisted.

"The lack of permanent status, the ever-present threat of being sent home, their isolation and their inability to communicate in either official language leave them among the most exploited of Canadian workers. Yet, they keep coming back."

The full Winnipeg Free Press article is available at the links below.
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has signed a formal protocol with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW Canada) to support the union in its ongoing drive to organize long-exploited migrant farm workers in Canada.
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE
More information:
Winnipeg Free Press: How clean are your carrots? - PDF version
More than 12,000 Mexican agricultural workers in Canada in 2009

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# posted by mollymew @ 9:26 PM 0 comments

Saturday, July 11, 2009

 

AMERICAN LABOUR:
IN MEMORY OF AUDON FELIX:
The following appeal from the United Farm Workers is a personal one. It's from the niece of Audon Felix who died of heat stroke on February 9, 2008. She adds her voice to others who support the UFW in their campaign to support legislation in the California Assembly that will make it easier for farm workers to organize and thereby prevent future tragedies.
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Request from Alma Felix on the anniversary of the heat death of her uncle:
 Nearly a year ago I remember sitting at my parents’ dining room table. We had just finished having an early dinner when my mom, dad and myself began talking about the Felix brothers and sisters. (How ironic, right?) We were talking about where everyone was now and what had become of the family after the tragic death of my grandfather who had been killed by a hit and run accident. The phone began to ring and none of us had bothered to pick it up since we were so in depth into our conversation.

It's very rare that I pick up my parents’ home phone...but on this particular day that the phone kept ringing. I picked it up. On the other end was my uncle Raudel, whom we had not spoken to in years.

He asked to speak to my mom and after talking to him for a couple of minutes he broke the news to me about my uncle Audon being in the hospital. A minute later he confessed my uncle had just passed.

How could I tell my mom that one of her baby brother had just passed? How did I become the one to break this news to her? I gave her the news of what seemed to be the most dreadful conversation I've ever had with my mother and right then and there IT HIT ME THAT I HAD LOST MY FAVORITE UNCLE...the one who helped raised me while my mother would be at work, the one who would pick me up from school and the one to always give me my "domingo" because I WAS his favorite little niece.

That same day I looked up information about my uncle's death and noticed that the UFW had immediately began with providing information to the public. I e-mailed the UFW to thank them for what they had begun to do. For that MY FAMILIA and I thank you ALL tremendously for what you have done, not only for my uncle, but for those who have died a preventable death.

Thank you all for reaching out to us in a very personal level and know that this has helped us with dealing with my uncle's death. I have made it now my personal mission to educate those who I cross paths with because I have learned that by educating/informing one person I have reached five!The UFW is working on a bill that would give farm workers like my uncle a voice in the fields. It could help stop more preventable heat deaths like my uncle’s so other families don’t have to suffer like ours. The bill SB789, CA Employee Free Choice Act for Farm Workers passed the Assembly appropriations last week. It can soon be voted on by the full Assembly and then go to CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Governor has talked a lot about how he cares about this issue, but his actions have not shown it. Farm workers like my uncle are dying due to heat. Violations of safety laws--like water and shade--in the fields occur way too much. It has to change. I can't bear the thought of more families dealing with what we had to.

Please help. Send CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger an e-mail today and tell him to pass this bill. GRACIAS for all that you've done!Alma Felix & Familia

http://www.ufwaction.org/ct/2dzuCuF1LQzT/takeaction
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THE LETTER:
Please go to the link above to send the following letter to California Governor Arnold Schwartenegger.
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It is simply unacceptable that 15 farm workers have died due to heat since the summer of 2004. We need your help to do more to prevent unnecessary deaths this year. Having laws on the books that are often unenforced is not enough. Please sign SB789, a bill that will give farm workers the power to protect themselves.

Today I join with the UFW and thousands of others to mourn the anniversary of the passing of Audon Felix Garcia, Ramiro Carillo Rodriguez, Salud Zamudio Rodriguez and Ramon Hernandez.

* Audon Felix Garcia, 42, died July 9, 2008 - Audon died while working for Sunview Vineyards in Arvin. After loading grapes in 108 degree temperatures, Audon and a coworker were driving the fruit to a cold storage facility when he collapsed. The co-worker called 911 but when the ambulance arrived, Audon was not breathing. He died at the hospital where his body temperature was recorded at 108 degrees. Audon was married and the father of 3 children.
* Ramiro Carrillo Rodriguez, 48, died July 10, 2008 - The father of two children, Ramiro picked nectarines for Sun Valley Packing in Reedley. After working all morning in temperatures that reached 112 degrees, he complained of feeling ill and was left to rest under a tree for two hours. Eventually the foreman took Ramiro home where he lost consciousness. "Why did no one run over to help him in an emergency?" asked his grieving sister Natividad. "Maybe his life could have been saved." Ramiro died on the way to the hospital.
* Salud Zamudio-Rodriguez, 42, died July 13, 2005 -Salud was stricken while laboring in the pepper fields near Arvin, CA, as he tried to keep pace with a work speed-up in 105 degree heat. On this day, the grower's foreman doubled the usual pace. A few minutes before his shift ended, Salud became delirious, began to shake violently and then walked up to his boss and collapsed.The boss tried to bring him around by fanning him with his hat. Salud was subsequently moved to some shade under an almond tree and workers insisted that an ambulance be called. It took 30 minutes for help to arrive but by then it was too late. "We watched him die in the field," said one of the workers who was there that day.
* Ramon Hernandez, 42, died July 14, 2005- Ramon's desiccated body was discovered in a melon field near the west Fresno County town of Huron in California's Central Valley.

Please support SB789, CA Employee Free Choice Act for Farm Workers (Steinberg). This important bill will make it easier for farm workers to organize and enforce the laws that California's government is not enforcing.

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# posted by mollymew @ 8:39 AM 0 comments

Thursday, July 02, 2009

 

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-INDIA/ENGLAND:
DEFINITELY NOT TESCO'S FINEST BLEND:
This item from the international union federation, the IUF, is mainly for our readers in the United Kingdom. It does, however, illustrate a larger point- don't necessarily believe corporations when they trumpet their "social responsibility".
ILILILILILILIL
Tesco's finest tea – produced in far from finest conditions?:
Share this article.
The IUF fully supports the call from our UK affiliate Unite for the UK-based supermarket Tesco to close the gap between its public policy commitments on socially responsible sourcing and its practices.
The call comes in a shareholder resolution to be put to Tesco's AGM Friday, July 3, 2009. The resolution highlights discriminatory practices in Tesco's meat supply chain and calls on the company to "allocate a non-executive board member to Tesco's Corporate Responsibility Committee to share accountability for the implementation and achievement of Tesco's policy commitments" on human and trade union rights.
West Yorkshire Pension Fund Chairman Ian Greenwood, who supports the Unite resolution, told the UK Guardian "We don't enter these things lightly but there's no question there is evidence of problems in many, many supply lines." In addition to problems in the Tesco meat supply chain identified by Unite, the IUF has now uncovered disturbing conditions on an Indian tea plantation which it has strong grounds to believe to be a part of Tesco's tea supply chain.
In June 2009, an experienced team of IUF researchers investigated living and working conditions on the large Talup plantation in Assam, India which IUF understands to supply tea for Tesco's Finest blends. The plantation management clearly failed to apply even the minimum requirements of the Indian Plantation Labour Act of 1951.
The researchers found clear evidence of:
-- substandard housing including homes with no toilets or electricity
-- shockingly poor sanitary facilities
-- lack of potable water
-- evident malnutrition amongst workers
-- pesticides being applied by workers without protective clothing.
In addition evidence gathered strongly suggested the presence of child labour
Tesco's Finest? The IUF research team found no evidence that personal protective equipment was provided to workers applying pesticides on the Talup plantation ....including evidence of children working on the estate.
"Tea was the first own brand product sold by Tesco company founder Jack Cohen", commented IUF General Secretary Ron Oswald. "Tesco is currently running a campaign to revive the British tea time, yet at the same time they place at risk their reputation and the company's brand by selling teas sourced from plantations which pay so little attention to working conditions. The IUF calls on Tesco to take all necessary measures to ensure that all tea workers on estates producing for it are truly in compliance with international standards."
While the IUF acknowledges that Tesco is not the only UK retailer to buy from this plantation, Tesco claims that "In addition to its own strict standards", the company plays "a leading role within the wider industry to address ethical and other issues of concern." Its own claims, and its role as market leader, therefore impose a leading responsibility.
Tesco also claims to ensure that its "Suppliers adhere to our voluntary guidelines" and in reply to the UNITE resolution says "we are not in breach of any laws". Their tea supplier in Talup cannot make the same claim.
The full report is available here in PDF

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# posted by mollymew @ 8:51 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

 

AMERICAN LABOUR:
COURT DECISION LOWERS FARM WORKER PROTECTION:
The following item is from the United Farm Workers down in the USA.
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A Dire Ruling for the Nation's Farm Workers:
Federal Court Decision Regarding Bush Guest Worker Program Lowers Wage Rates, Worker Protections for Nation’s Farm Workers
 Back in May we told you the exciting news that new Labor Secretary Hilda Solis suspended the Midnight(ie last minute regulations before leaving office- Molly) Bush-Chao H-2A regulations.

We deeply regret to tell you that a North Carolina federal court judge has overturned this ruling. He said the H-2A growers would suffer irreparable harm if not permitted to pay the lower wage rates that the Bush-Chao regime allowed.

As a result of this action, thousands of vulnerable farm workers in the United States—including both domestic and foreign workers--will suffer lower wages, lost benefits, and reduced enforcement of their labor rights.

These midnight H-2A regulations changes by the Bush administration gut existing protections for both domestic and foreign farm workers. They make it easier for growers to slash the pay of domestic farm workers and hire imported foreign laborers instead of U.S. field workers. They weaken government protections in an industry known for violating the minimum wage, housing requirements and other rules.

Current Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis made the right decision, the moral decision, and the lawful decision in a public process to suspend the Bush Administration rules and reinstate the regulations that had been in place previously.

We urge the Secretary of Labor Solis and the Department of Labor to appeal this decision immediately.

The United Farm Workers vows to do all we can to fight for farm workers’ interests and overturn these harmful rules. As part of our fight, the UFW along with Farmworker Justice, will continue with the lawsuit we filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. in January.
We will keep you updated with future developments.
For the latest UFW immigration news, click here

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# posted by mollymew @ 5:23 PM 0 comments

Friday, March 13, 2009

 


AMERICAN LABOUR-FLORIDA:
PETITION THE GOVERNOR:
The following appeal is from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers via the United Students Against Sweatshops. The latest news(not mentioned in the article below), as of 2 days ago is that the Governor of Florida has indeed agreed to meet with the Coalition, but your emails are still needed to show the Governor's office how much support the Coalition has.
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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, involving a total of well over 1,000 workers.





Yet, when a reporter called Governor Crist's office about 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 ensure that this latest slavery case is 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!
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THE LETTER:
Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to Governor Crist of Florida.
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Subject:
Governor Crist: Take a Stand Against Slavery!
Dear [ Decision Maker ],
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.

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# posted by mollymew @ 8:22 AM 0 comments

Friday, July 04, 2008

 

CANADIAN LABOUR:
MIGRANT FARM WORKERS IN CANADA:
The following came to Molly's mailbox, unsolicited, from an organization that styles itself as the 'Socialist Project'. A little "public health advisory" is in line here. The SP is a Trotsykist front dedicated to the tactics of "deep entry". Not being a Trotskyist, it is hard for me to comment on the "effectiveness" of such tactics from their point of view. What is sad to me is that the authors of this organization appear to be of the International Socialist Tendency, which was once a shining exemplar of "left Trotskyism" that would have nothing to do with such conspiratorial tactics. How the mightily clean have fallen ! I have to admit, effectiveness-wise, that it took me a little effort to sort them out from their website. THIS on the part of somebody who has been an anarchist, let alone a leftist for years before, much longer then the VAST majority of Trots in the world today have been simply alive. So I guess I have to hand them kudos for sheer sneakiness. I'm sure that they could fool a great number of younger people who lack the experience.
Not that I have any great hate-on for Trotskyists. Even before I became an anarchist way back in the Triassic I concurred with other independent socialists in finding them rather "cute" in an earnest, if somewhat ridiculous, "anemic poodle" sort of way. So dedicated, yet so ultimately futile. What I find disgusting about their latest incarnation as presented in organizations such as this is their cutsy, "non-sectarian"(the final refuge of those who believe in bullshit as speech) desire to "rebuild the left" in collaboration with hardened and unrepentant Maoists and others who they should run to get away from, let alone try and organize with. Molly will state it here plainly. The Canadian 'New Left' degenerated, like its American counterpart but nowhere near as seriously, for good and sufficient reasons. This corpse is long past the time when it should have a decent burial, let alone trying to resurrect it by some bizarre Marxist necromancy. The new "ultra-left" is anarchist. The other, more reformist, left has gone far beyond Marxist dogma. It's a new world. Personally I want to see anarchism take its conquest of the "ultra-left" position towards formulating a challenge to left social democracy ie the gradualism that I often advocate here. Ideas about salvaging the decaying corpse of leftism circa the 1970s are totally irrelevant to me.
All that nastiness aside, the Trots are one of the few more or less rational remnants of the "left that was", and their position on certain issues are indistinguishable from that advocated by anarchists who recognize the importance of the class struggle. It's in light of this that I reproduce the following that appeared in my mailbox. The situation of migrant agricultural workers in Canada is indeed important, and, whatever I think of the messenger, the message deserves to be delivered.
.................................
Harvest of Injustice: The Oppression of Migrant Workers on Canadian Farms
Adriana Paz
Some say that nothing happens by chance. At the very least, it was a fortunate accident that my first job, when I arrived in Canada from Bolivia three years ago, was in a tomato greenhouse in South Delta, British Columbia -- one of the first in the province to request migrant farm workers from Mexico under the federal Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). My job was to run from the office managers' office to the greenhouse and back relaying information on workers' productivity levels.

My first observation was that brown bodies are the pickers and white bodies are the managers. I naively asked my boss why there are no Canadians picking tomatoes. He answered me simply, "Because this is not a job for them."

That was my first lesson in Canadian social history. In B.C., most farm workers are and have long been immigrants of colour, including recently a growing number of seasonal migrants under SAWP and a related federal scheme, the Temporary Foreign Workers Program. Battered by the whims of global capital and local government policy, farm workers are the most vulnerable part of the work force, facing extreme job and economic insecurity.

According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives B.C., most farm workers in the province are immigrants from India, chiefly women in their 50s and 60s who came to Canada under the family reunification program. Lack of language skills and the obligation to their families to repay money advanced for their immigration and settlement pressure them to accept working conditions that Canadian workers find unacceptable.

Their plight is worsened by the Farm Labour Contractor (FLC) system, unique to the agricultural sector. The FLCs act as coyotes or intermediaries between farm workers and greenhouses/farms, determining how workers will get to the job, how long they will work, what they will earn, and so on. Obviously the FLCs do nothing to ensure respect for employment standards and safety regulations, leading to all sort of violations while the provincial authorities close their eyes.

For generations, South Asians have toiled in the fields of British Columbia under unsafe and exploitative conditions, enduring low wages and long hours of hard work while creating massive profits for agrobusiness.

Although fully informed about the corrupt FLCs and their blatant violations of employment and safety regulations, the provincial government decided in 2001/2002 to reduce enforcement. Then in 2003/2004 they excluded farm workers from various provisions of the Employment Standards Act, leaving this group of racialized labour even more vulnerable to hyperexploitation.
How to create a labour shortage.

Since 2000, farm operators in B.C. have been complaining of a shortage of labour to harvest their crops. Little science is needed to find the cause. When wages are low, often less than the legal minimum, and working conditions are substandard, workers are unwilling to work in agriculture if they have a choice.

The farm operators are of course passing on downwards the immense pressures they face from the forces of globalization and the power of agribusiness monopolies. Far from providing protection against these profiteers, the government, urged on by the farm/greenhouse operators, has adopted policies that have worsened the "labour shortage."

Nothing was done to raise farm labour wages or to increase the supply of immigrant labour. On the contrary, their measures serve to make agricultural labour not only unattractive but unlivable. To make matters worse, Citizenship and Immigration Canada in 2003 restricted the family reunification program, reducing the traditional South Asian labour source of those utilizing this program to immigrate to Canada.

Meanwhile the federal government is closing the door to permanent immigration of farm workers while steadily moving towards a U.S-style policy based on temporary migration.
All this is of course the total opposite of the "free market" policies that the government claims to support. In a free market, when demand for something goes up, so should its price. If there's a labour shortage in Canadian agriculture, wages should tend upwards until the supply of labour increases. By aggressively expanding Temporary Worker Programs, the government is manipulating market conditions to keep wages and working conditions low in order to increase corporate profits.
Continue reading:
www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/bullet117.html#continue

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# posted by mollymew @ 7:51 PM 0 comments

Thursday, June 26, 2008

 

CANADIAN LABOUR:
FIRST EVER CONTRACT FOR MIGRANT FARMWORKERS IN CANADA:
The following item is from the IUF. It seems that many attempts to organize seasonal migrant farm workers here in Canada(yes, we do have more than you might imagine) have finally born fruit- and it's in Molly's own home province of Manitoba. The United Food and Commercial Workers here in Canada have endured almost two years in the courts because the company, Mayfair Farms, of Portage la Prairie tried to argue that the people that they employed were not "employees" because their workers were supplied to them via the Canadian and Mexican governments. it didn't fly. On June 20 the workers at Mayfair Farms voted 93% in favour of a three year contract that their union had negotiated for them. Here's the announcement.
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Landmark Contract for Seasonal Migrant Farmworkers in Canada
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The first-ever collective bargaining agreement to apply to seasonal migrant workers in Canada has been overwhelmingly ratified by workers at Mayfair Farms, a fruit and vegetable producer in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. On June 20 workers voted 93% in favor of a 3-year agreement negotiated by the UFCW Canada, capping a 21-month struggle for union rights and representation.
The UFCW applied for official certification of the Mayfair workers' union in October 2006, when two-thirds of the workers - nearly all Mexicans recruited and employed through the Canadian federal government's Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) - signed up for union representation. Mayfair Farms challenged the certification, arguing that the Mayfair Farm workers were not employees of the company, nor was the company an employer, since the labour was contracted by the Canadian and Mexican governments. The workers were therefore not to be considered as employees for collective bargaining purposes. The Manitoba Labour Board in a comprehensive decision last year rejected these contentions, invoking the language of the federal Labour Relations Act that “employee means a person employed to do work and includes any person designated by the board as an employee for the purposes of this Act.” Mayfair functioned as an employer in, for example setting hours and conditions of work. "Viable and meaningful collective bargaining” was therefore possible, the Board ruled, and certified the union last June.
The ratification vote for the collective agreement means, in the words of the UFCW Canada, "That for the first time a group of migrant agricultural workers in Canada have a grievance procedure, a right to be recalled each season based on seniority, as well as other contract language to protect them from being evicted from their employer-owned lodgings, or expelled from Canada until their case is heard by an independent arbitrator.
"Equal labour rights for migrant workers is now more than a concept. It's a contract," said UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley. "It shows the way for thousands of other migrant and temporary workers brought to Canada for agriculture and other industries."

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# posted by mollymew @ 9:56 PM 0 comments

Sunday, May 11, 2008

 


AMERICAN LABOUR:

SOLIDARITY WITH EVICTED FARM WORKERS:

There are liars, damn liars and then there are bosses. Down California way many agricultural workers from Washington state were lured by promises of jobs, complete with the whole ten yards of housing,etc.. Once there the story was quite different. The following article and appeal from the United Farm Workers tells it all.


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One hundred plus farm workers evicted following news coverage. Take action now.
Yesterday more than 100 migrant farm workers were living in an orchard. Tonight they have no place to go.






Why, you ask? These Washington state cherry pickers came to Shafter(What an appropriate name-Molly), California after being told by company representatives to come to California for a job in the cherries. Consequently workers and their families traveled from Washington State to work at the Kyle Mathison Orchards. Kyle Mathison is part of the Wenatchee, Washington based Stemilt Growers Company—which, according to its web site, is the largest shipper of fresh-market sweet cherries in the world.






When these farm workers reached California, things were not as expected. A number of the workers were hired, but other workers were told to just wait and see if jobs were available. According to KERO 23 news, a farm worker said, "I came from Washington state. We came here to work, but they haven't treated us like they should and we're a little worried because we may not have enough money to go back to Washington."






While in Washington, some of the workers were informed that housing would be available to them when they got to California. However, when they got here there was no housing. They had no choice but to sleep in the fields. Some stayed in tents, others in cars and still others slept on cardboard or simply the dirt.






Workers complained of rashes from having to bathe in irrigation water. The KERO 23 news report quoted another worker as saying, "I asked where do we shower? And he said 'There's the water hole.' ... and there's ducks and fish! I asked, 'We shower there?! Where do the women shower?!' He said the same place."






When workers went public about being left out in the cold, things only got worse. Last night Bakersfield area television stations showed the workers’ bleak situation. Today, Stemilt company representatives' called the sheriffs to have the 100 plus workers and their property evicted from the orchard.






The workers who are currently working were told they would still be allowed on Monday—however they now have no place to live. The others have no place to live and no job—the company told them to still wait and see.






Stemilt says their core values include treating workers, growers and customers fairly. How is this fair?






Take action now. Tell Stemilt to provide housing for these out of state workers tonight, pay reasonable travel expenses and immediately hire the rest of the Washington workers instead of forcing them to wait and see.


You can read more and send the following letter by going to http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/cherryworkers

I am appalled at the way you treat the farm workers who labor for your company. Yesterday more than 100 migrant farm workers were living in a orchard in Shafter because they came all the way from Washington state to work for you after your representatives said a job would be available. When these farm workers reached California, things were not as expected. A number of the workers were hired, but other workers were told to just wait and see if jobs were available.

While in Washington, some of the workers were informed that housing would be available to them when they got to California. However, when they got here there was no housing. They had no choice but to sleep in the fields. Some stayed in tents, others in cars and still others slept on cardboard or simply the dirt.

Tonight they have no place to go because after the story was televised, company representatives' called the sheriffs to have the workers thrown out.

I demand that you immediately provide housing for these out of state workers, pay reasonable travel expenses and hire the rest of the Washington workers instead of forcing them to wait and see.

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# posted by mollymew @ 9:44 AM 0 comments

Sunday, September 16, 2007

 

BRAZIL: 5TH CONGRESS OF BRAZIL'S LANDLESS MOVEMENT: CREATING THE BASIS FOR A NEW WORLD:
There's an interesting recent article over at the Autonomy and Solidarity site about the 5th Congress of the Brazilian Landless Rural Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurals Sem Terra- the MST). Since 1979 the MST has engaged in land occupations of large estates. Today they have 5,000 settlements occupying 55 million acres and housing about 2 million people. There are also 150,000 landless workers camped on the side of highways still struggling to obtain land. This Congress was notable in that despite having called for support for President Lulu's Workers' Party(the PT) less than a year ago Lulu was pointedly not invited to this event, and there were far fewer representatives of the PT than at previous congresses. The actuality of social democracy in power has proven to be disappointing for the MST and many other social movements in Brazil. In relation to agriculture the MST is particularly disturbed by the acquiescence of the PT with neoliberalism's plans for genetically modified crops and ethanol production, all of which means support for agribusiness rather than small peasant farmers.
The article at Autonomy and Solidarity is by Raul Zibechi of Brecha, a weekly journal in Montevideo, Uruguay. Excerpts follow:
"The largest social movement on the continent, and one of the most important in the world, held its 5th Congress in mid-June 2007 in Brasilia. Despite successful mobilization of masses of people and significant media impact, under Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government the movement faces strong challenges to activate its base against new enemies such as agribusiness....
"This was the central dilemma for the 5th MST Congress. To make agrarian reform viable, first the neoliberal model that is advancing in Brazil under the administration of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva must be rejected. The recent agreement between Lula and George W. Bush for the production of biofuels proved to the MST that it can no longer no longer count on Lula to support its goals. Stedile sees Lula's second term, which began in January 2007, as likely to be even more conservative than his first (2003-2006)....
"In contrast with previous congresses, this one had fewer representatives from Lula's Workers' Party (PT), and Lula was not invited. Although less than a year before, the MST had called to support Lula in the second round of the presidential election, relations have never been worse. The first leftist government in Brazil's history not only failed to accomplish the agrarian reform expected by the landless; it also supported agribusiness by approving transgenetically modified crops and promoting biofuels....
"Agrarian Reform for Social Justice and Popular Sovereignty was the theme of the 5th Congress. MST believes its main enemy now is agribusiness linked to multinationals, which wrests land and resources from the type of family agriculture that assures sufficient food for the national population. The organization proposes five steps:democratize ownership of the land; reorient agricultural production by turning towards the internal market and away from the external market preferred by multinationals; develop new agricultural techniques that do not harm the environment; spread education among farm workers; and develop small agroindustries to create employment....
"As a result of this, Stedile says in an article in Folha de Sao Paulo that the movement focus is on a democratic agricultural model that guarantees access to work, land, water and seeds for all. As an example of an undemocratic model he points to Lula's first four years in power, during which the State transferred US $300 billion to the financial sector because Brazil's interest rate is the highest in the world."
To read the entire article go to the Autonomy and Solidarity site HERE.

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# posted by mollymew @ 3:08 PM 0 comments

Saturday, July 28, 2007

 




DOZENS OF FARM WORKERS EXPOSED TO TOXIC PESTICIDE CHLORPYRIFOS:

On Saturday, July 21, more than 75 workers were labouring at grape picking in California when an adjacent almond orchard was sprayed with the toxic chemical chlorpyrifos. Some workers were hospitalized soon after while the others were told to go home and "take a shower". They were later phoned and told to go to the hospital, but most farm workers can afford neither the medical costs nor the loss of wages (God bless the American medical system). When some of these workers attempted to return to work on M0nday, July 23rd, they fell ill again. This is the second serious major pesticide exposure incident in California this month. On July 10th over a dozen workers were exposed to chlorprifos while picking oranges. The United Farm Workers are calling on people to email the California Department of Pesticide Regulations and demand that they investigate these incidents to the full extent of the law. They are also calling for a ban on dangerous chemicals such as chlorpyrifos. To join this campaign go to http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/chlorpyrifos .

If you'd like more information on the chemistry and effects of chlorpyrifos go to the Wikipedia article on same. Or for much better information go to Pesticideinfo.org's page on same. The latter, by the way, is a great resource, its home page I mean. PesticideInfo.org is a project of the Pesticide Action Network North America. Molly went there expecting to find the usual cranks and nuts of the "my naturopath diagnosed me with multiple chemical sensitivity but then I took the homeopathic remedy prescribed, meditated, adjusted my chakras and read more of Deepass Chopra and I'm cured and will live forever or at least until I transcend the illusions of this state of being" ilk. I was very pleasantly surprised. Now I admit that I didn't go over the full site with an inquisitor's eye, but what I did see was actually based on reality rather than quackery, neurosis, new age conmanship and a crude substitute for better religions. I found no bullshit on what I examined, including those things that I know very well such as fleas. I even found a few unique suggestions for my life long project to kill every ant in the world- a crusade that I signed up to in childhood- without poisoning my cats. Ants, crows, gastrointestinal parasites, primitivists, fleas, etc....there are some life forms that have no useful function to anything else. Am I wrong in this in terms of the ants ? Anyways Molly was impressed, and she'll add panna to her links list soon.

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# posted by mollymew @ 5:17 PM 0 comments

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