Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Like Machines in the Fields

Big brand companies in the fresh produce industry are driving down employment conditions for millions of farmworkers in the U.S.

...Instead of receiving a fair share in the advantages of increased global trade, workers are paying the price by working harder usually for less money under more hazardous conditions.

"It is unacceptable that huge profits are being made off the back of the hardest working and lowest paid workers in the world. It is unconscionable for that to be happening right here in the United States," says Oxfam America President Raymond C. Offenheiser.

...In the United States nearly two million farmworkers, mainly immigrants, toil without rights, earn sub-living wages and exist in dehumanizing conditions. The piece rate paid to tomato pickers in Florida, for example, has dropped by 65 percent over the past twenty five years. In the fields of Florida, California, North Carolina and other states, one million farmworkers earn less than $7,500 per year.

Farmworkers are excluded from most federal labor law protections, including the right to organize and bargain collectively. As a result, poor sanitation, sub-poverty wages, no overtime pay, no health benefits, insufficient water, and violence and abuse of workers are frequently part of farmworkers' daily reality.
  article

America. The land of (corporate) opportunity.

...but, hey....do what you want....you will anyway.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated. There may be some delay before your comment is published. It all depends on how much time M has in the day. But please comment!