The exploitation of farmworkers should not be tolerated in Florida. It should not be tolerated anywhere in the United States. There are many social problems that are extremely difficult to solve. This is not one of them. – Eric Schlosser, investigative reporter and author of Fast Food Nation

Yesterday, at a packed Senate hearing on working conditions for tomato workers, Senator Bernie Sanders asked Detective Charlie Frost, investigator for the human trafficking unit at the Collier County Sheriff's Office, "Do you believe that there is human trafficking happening in Florida agriculture as we speak right now?"

"It's probably occurring right now while we sit here," Frost said. "Almost assuredly it's going on right now."

"Detective, would you agree that in these slavery cases, there are people higher up the economic chain who are complicit and who benefit financially from what goes on?" Sanders asked. "[And if so,] do you believe we need to change the law to prevent the growers from shielding themselves from responsibility?"

"They isolate themselves from what is occurring, and they benefit from what's going on," Frost said. "We have to do something. We have to hold them accountable. This is occurring in their backyard, this is occurring in our fields, this is occurring in our country."

Not a single Republican committee member was on hand to hear this or any of the other testimony that described slavery in the US in 2008; worker conditions that are – as Eric Schlosser put it – "like something you might encounter in the year 1868, not 2008"; or the loopholes in labor laws which allow systemic exploitation to continue. The "party of Lincoln" was simply MIA, while Sen. Sanders was joined by his Democratic colleagues, Senators Edward Kennedy, Richard Durbin, and Sherrod Brown.

Mary Bauer, Director of the Immigrant Justice Project at the Southern Law Poverty Center, testified that "for every [slavery] case we hear about, there are hundreds of other cases with similar kinds of power relationships… less dramatic but still incredibly oppressive circumstances that in effect amount to forced labor that are extremely common, and in fact close to the norm in many industries…. I do not believe that the American people would be comfortable if they knew how their food is being produced. They would not want to eat food that had been produced in this way."

The hearing revealed that even when multibillion-dollar corporations like McDonald's and Yum! Brands (whose subsidiaries include Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silver's and A&W) attempt to do the right thing – and pay the workers more – powerful agribusiness interests have stood in the way. These corporations agreed to supplement the workers at a rate of an additional penny per pound for the tomatoes they purchase. Doesn't sound like much – and it isn't for the corporations – but it would result in about a 75 percent salary increase for workers who a 2001 US Department of Labor report described as "a labor force in significant economic distress… [with] low wages, sub-poverty annual earnings, [and] significant periods of un- and underemployment."

As some growers began to implement the Yum/McDonald's agreement – an extra paycheck cut to the farmworkers by the buyers, not the growers, mind you – the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange (FTGE), representing 90 percent of the state's growers, said any members who adopted this policy would be fined $100,000 per worker benefiting from the agreement.

Reginald Brown, Executive Vice President of the FTGE, was at the hearing trying, desperately, to justify opposition to the agreement as stemming from legal concerns.

Sen. Sanders entered into the record a letter from 26 legal professors specializing in labor law, including antitrust dimensions of labor standards, writing that "the ostensible legal concerns of the Growers Exchange are utterly without merit." (In fact, the experts concluded, the only real antitrust issue might be several growers agreeing amongst themselves to reject the deal.) He noted that McDonald's and Yum! Brands also entered letters into the record stating that there are no legal problems with the extra penny deal and that they want it implemented.

"I gather that McDonald's and Yum have some money to hire some pretty good attorneys," Sen. Sanders told Brown. "You might want to reconsider the attorneys you are using and rethink this issue."

Then Brown argued that it wasn't just the legal argument, but also that buyers would look to Mexico for cheaper tomatoes (even though it's the buyers who are offering to pay the extra penny). Brown said that the "tomato industry will go away, and Florida's economy will suffer."

It was as if Brown were acting out the very analogy that Lucas Benitez – a former tomato worker, co-founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), and recipient of the 2003 RFK Human Rights Award – drew in his testimony between the opposition farmworkers rights advocates face today and that which confronted abolitionists 200 years ago. (These early 19th century abolitionists were the predecessors to those who later founded The Nation in 1865.)

"Exactly 200 years ago, near this very spot, men in your position voted to outlaw the importation of slaves into the United States," Benitez testified through a translator. "That little known act did not end slavery, but it was an important step toward the eventual abolition of a brutal institution. At the time, passing that piece of legislation was complex, controversial and courageous. Those who supported the status quo argued that most slaves were happy with their lot, that they were certainly better off than where they came from, and that the economic collapse of US agriculture would surely follow."

Indeed, it's not too much of a stretch to view Brown and his cohorts as 21st century George Wallaces or Bull Connors, standing in the way of the progress of human rights in our own nation. Brown boasted of the workers who continue to return to the fields; of the "entry level job" tomato picking represents on the way towards achieving the American dream; of the "shock" that FTGE felt in response to the slavery cases – cases Schlosser pointed out were never uncovered by the growers who work with the labor contractors, but by CIW – in the relatively small town of Immokalee; and, time and again, Brown pointed to Socially Accountable Farm Employers (SAFE) – "an independent third party" that is auditing growers to make sure workers are treated with respect and paid fair wages. But Sanders revealed that two of the five members of the SAFE Board of Directors are Brown himself and Mike Stuart, President of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association (FFVA). FFVA lists helping growers meet their labor needs while keeping costs down as one of its key responsibilities. Further, neither Brown nor Stuart reveal their positions in the industry on the SAFE website.

It's in this environment that a worker picks an average of two tons of tomatoes a day for about $50, or $10,000-$12,500 annually (a Department of Labor figure inflated by including supervisory personnel); where much if not all of their salaries go towards paying for trailers where 8-10 workers live together; where complaints are met with threats, beatings or worse. And when these workers – whether US citizens or immigrants, and witnesses testified that these issues apply to both – are enslaved, or forced into debt-servitude, or beaten, or sexually harassed, or not paid, or having their families back home threatened, their access to help is far more limited than that of other workers. Bauer noted that they have no right to organize; no overtime pay; no federal minimum wage law on smaller farms or in short harvest seasons; exemptions to child labor laws; and state health and safety laws that exclude farmworkers. She said this isn't a Florida-only problem, it's the widespread result of "agriculture exceptionalism." Schlosser said that as recently as the 1950's Florida police would prosecute African-Americans under vagrancy laws and send them to the fields to work off the fines.

Both Senators Kennedy and Sanders said this is just the beginning of investigating these injustices. In his concluding statement, Sen. Sanders said a GAO audit of wage and hour records of the growers is needed; agriculture workers need to be covered under both the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act; changes need to be made to the federal trafficking statutes to address growers and others who are avoiding prosecution by remaining willfully blind to the abuses around them; anti-trust implications of the FTGE activities need to be examined; and "we need to make sure that slavery, servitude and other abuses in the Florida tomato industry continue to receive the attention both in and outside Congress that they deserve so that it is stopped once and for all."

As for Benitez, he's been a part of this struggle for decades. He recalled during a 1997 worker hunger strike a grower saying that they would never meet the workers' single demand for dialogue. "‘Let me put it to you like this,'" the grower said. "‘The tractor doesn't tell the farmer how to run a farm.'" Benitez continued, "That's how they've always seen us, just another tool and nothing more. But we aren't alone anymore. Today there are millions of consumers with us willing to use their buying power to eliminate the exploitation behind the food they buy. And a new dawn for social responsibility in the agriculture industry is on its way. With the help of Congress and with the faith that the complicated will be made clear under the purifying light of human rights, today, just as it was 200 years ago, we will witness the dawn of that new day."

This article was co-authored by Greg Kaufmann, a freelance writer residing in his disenfranchised hometown of Washington, DC.

Comments (49)

1. "Today there are millions of consumers with us willing to use their buying power to eliminate the exploitation behind the food they buy. And a new dawn for social responsibility in the agriculture industry is on its way. With the help of Congress and with the faith that the complicated will be made clear under the purifying light of human rights, today, just as it was 200 years ago, we will witness the dawn of that new day."

   I predict....Sanders and Kennedy are STILL investigating a year from now, and nothing is moved on this from Reid or Pelosi as far as actual legislation.

   And I also predict that Ms vanden Heuvel's "millions of consumers" still keep frequenting Burger King and ordering their Whoppers with a slice of 'mater.

   I'm not rejoicing in that prediction....merely saying it's likely.

   Posted by Mask at 04/16/2008 @ 11:32am

2. KVH, where is the proof that Florida farmers are exploiting its workers? The real fuss is coming from the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange (FTGE) and other fringe anti-agribusiness groups. They're upset that big agribusiness won't cave in to their demands. I'm inclinded to believe that FTGE are making up these stories about immigrant laborers being exploited and "enslaved". Otherwise, there would have been prosecutions all across the state of FL by now. They're even using the Collier County Sheriff's Office (who, by the way, can't produce any solid evidence that tomato workers are "enslaved") to justify going to Congress to force big agribusiness to comply, knowing they don't have a case against them.

   I wonder how many illegal immigrants did FTGE promised green cards to if they testified against big growers?

   Posted by ACook at 04/16/2008 @ 12:04pm

3. Posted by ACOOK 04/16/2008 @ 12:04pm

   ready to go pickin'?

   Posted by frosty zoom at 04/16/2008 @ 12:39pm

4. I'm not rejoicing in that prediction....merely saying it's likely.

   Posted by MASK 04/16/2008 @ 11:32am

   most likely.

   what's your solution?

   Posted by frosty zoom at 04/16/2008 @ 12:41pm

5. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 04/16/2008 @ 12:39pm

   FZ, you know full well FTGE and those other fringe unions are all out for themselves. God forbid any of the big agribusinesses goes belly up. Not only would the worker lose his livelyhood, but his union won't be around to help him while he's unemployed.

   Posted by ACook at 04/16/2008 @ 1:11pm

6. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 04/16/2008 @ 12:41pm |

   Enforce the labor laws on the books.

   But we're nearly 50 years since Murrow's "Harvest of Shame"....45 since Cesar Chavez and "grape boycotts"...and plenty of Democratic Congresss and Democratic Presidents in the interim...

   not expecting much action in the future.

   Posted by Mask at 04/16/2008 @ 1:20pm

7. Posted by ACOOK 04/16/2008 @ 1:11pm

   if i remember correctly, your ancestors were involved in pickin' and harvestin'..

   it took a really big UNION to get THEM some kind of rights (albeit few and poorly-enforced)

   Posted by frosty zoom at 04/16/2008 @ 1:23pm

8. hey mask,

   jr's put me on ignore for trying to show happy and jm the "light" coming from the canyon's abyss.

   that's wacky.

   Posted by frosty zoom at 04/16/2008 @ 1:25pm

9. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 04/16/2008 @ 1:25pm

   I know, I told him that....of course, he probably has ME on Ignore, because I keep calling him by his former nick, JOHANNESROLF....

   and he's just such a goofy guy.

   Posted by Mask at 04/16/2008 @ 2:01pm

10. ACOOK, yes the poor poor agribusiness's, what would they do if they had to pass along money intended for the pickers that is not coming out of their pockets!!!

    I am sure that your ancestors were given all the food/water/clothing that they needed, all the hooey about mal-treatement of slaves was just more gad-damned hippy lies!!!

    and the poor, sheriff, he must be a liar. We know law enforcement has a long history of being used by "the left".

    Take a look at this, or keep your eyes closed to the folks that want to make 1 penny more a pound,

    http://www.palmbeachpost.com/hp/content/moderndayslavery/index.html

    Where were the "Family Values Freedom Fighting republicans"? Were they too tied up freeing Iraqis from wmd's to free people on American soil?

    I find it truly disgusting that these kinds of practices still go on in America in 2008. Anybody that scoffs at the idea that is does go on is blind, willfully so.

    De 16, 2007- Miami Herald-

    The workers trapped on the Navarrete work crew told of a harrowing existence, forced to work for meager wages while accruing charges for two meager meals a day, with extra charges tacked on for beer, soda, even water, until the debits outstrapped their wages.

    Quitting was no option. Anyone who attempted to leave the Navarretes, they said, were hunted down, beaten, brought back to the slave house.

    … The details coming out in federal court made for a shocking story, except farm crew slavery stories and the brutal exploitation of undocumented workers have long since lost their shock value in Florida. The Navarrete case made The Naples Daily News, but the state's major media outlets paid little attention.

    No one really wants to know about the origins of those cheap tomatoes.

    no one named ACOOK, at least. What about HAPPY?

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/16/2008 @ 2:32pm

11. U.S. vs. Flores -- In 1997, Miguel Flores and Sebastian Gomez were sentenced to 15 years each in federal prison on slavery, extortion, and firearms charges, amongst others. Flores and Gomez had a workforce of over 400 men and women in Florida and South Carolina, harvesting vegetables and citrus. The workers, mostly indigenous Mexicans and Guatemalans, were forced to work 10-12 hour days, 6 days per week, for as little as $20 per week, under the watch of armed guards. Those who attempted escape were assaulted, pistol-whipped, and even shot. The case was brought to federal authorities after five years of investigation by escaped workers and CIW members.

    U.S. vs. Cuello -- In 1999, Abel Cuello was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison on slavery charges. He had held more than 30 tomato pickers in two trailers in the isolated swampland west of Immokalee, keeping them under constant watch. Three workers escaped the camp, only to have their boss track them down a few weeks later. The employer ran one of them down with his car, stating that he owned them. The workers sought help from the CIW and the police, and the CIW worked with the DOJ on the ensuing investigation. Cuello worked for Manley Farms North Inc., a major Bonita Springs tomato supplier. Once out of prison, Cuello supplied labor to Ag-Mart Farms, a tomato company operating in Florida and North Carolina.

    U.S. vs. Tecum - In 2001, Jose Tecum was sentenced to 9 years in federal prison on slavery and kidnapping charges. He forced a young woman to work against her will both in the tomato fields around Immokalee, and in his home. The CIW assisted the DOJ with the prosecution, including victim and witness assistance.

    U.S. vs. Lee - In 2001, Michael Lee was sentenced to 4 years in federal prison and 3 years supervised release on a slavery conspiracy charge. He pled guilty to using crack cocaine, threats, and violence to enslave his workers. Lee held his workers in forced labor, recruiting homeless U.S. citizens for his operation, creating a "company store" debt through loans for rent, food, cigarettes, and cocaine. He abducted and beat one of his workers to prevent him from leaving his employ. Lee harvested for orange growers in the Fort Pierce, FL area.

    U.S. vs. Ramos - In 2004, Ramiro and Juan Ramos were sentenced to 15 years each in federal prison on slavery and firearms charges, and the forfeiture of over $3 million in assets. The men, who had a workforce of over 700 farmworkers in the citrus groves of Florida, as well as the fields of North Carolina, threatened workers with death if they were to try to leave, and pistol-whipped and assaulted -- at gunpoint -- passenger van service drivers who gave rides to farmworkers leaving the area. The case was brought to trial by the DOJ after two years of investigation by the CIW. The Ramoses harvested for Consolidated Citrus and Lykes Brothers, among others.

    U.S. vs. Ronald Evans -- In 2007, Florida employer Ron Evans was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on drug conspiracy, financial re-structuring, and witness tampering charges, among others. Jequita Evans was also sentenced to 20 years, and Ron Evans Jr. to 10 years. Operating in Florida and North Carolina, Ron Evans recruited homeless U.S. citizens from shelters across the Southeast, including New Orleans, Tampa, and Miami, with promises of good jobs and housing. At Palatka, FL and Newton Grove, NC area labor camps, the Evans' deducted rent, food, crack cocaine and alcohol from workers' pay, holding them "perpetually indebted" in what the DOJ called "a form of servitude morally and legally reprehensible." The Palatka labor camp was surrounded by a chain link fence topped with barbed wire, with a No Trespassing sign. The CIW and a Miami-based homeless outreach organization (Touching Miami with Love) began the investigation and reported the case to federal authorities in 2003. In Florida, Ron Evans worked for grower Frank Johns. Johns was 2004 Chairman of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, the powerful lobbying arm of the Florida agricultural industry. As of 2007, he remained the Chairman of the FFVA's Budget and Finance Committee.

    http://www.ciw-online.org/slavery.html

    PONTIFICUS, what is your take on all of this?

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/16/2008 @ 2:40pm

12. Posted by HAPPY2 04/16/2008 @ 3:03pm

    Exactly..

    I have a better idea, one that would solve 2 great issues for the US..

    I propose that the US stop all veggie production on a grand scale, private gardens excluded...and move all these companies and their machinery to Mexico...then we would import all the veggies we use, the illegals would head for the jobs(back into Mexico), and the cheap labor, union arguements would be ended...

    and we would still have veggies on our table at a cheap price..

    the Mexicans would be back home and employeed....

    The unions could head down there and set up shop...

    The land formerly used for growing food could produce weeds fopr ethanol(subsidized, of course) or the land allowed to turn back to green land..unless a better tax production could be found.

    and Katrina could take an issue off her revolving article schedule.

    When do we get another Walmart bashing story?

    Posted by JOMAMMA at 04/16/2008 @ 3:23pm

13. Posted by PLAIN BRUCE 04/16/2008 @ 3:36pm

    I endeavor to provide workable solutions for all mankind.....:)

    Posted by JOMAMMA at 04/16/2008 @ 3:50pm

14. and you call us "loons"?

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/16/2008 @ 4:26pm

15. Nope, no comment from the Freedom Fighters about slavery going on in their own country, The United States of God Bless America.

    just "Whiny workers". They should be thankful they get locked down at night!

    ya know, just when I think you guys might have a shred of humanity left in you...

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/16/2008 @ 4:34pm

16. Posted by CRABWALK 04/16/2008 @ 2:40pm

    U.S. vs. Flores -- In 1997

    U.S. vs. Cuello -- In 1999

    U.S. vs. Tecum - In 2001

    U.S. vs. Lee - In 2001

    U.S. vs. Ronald Evans -- In 2007

    Sorry Crabbie, but these are individuals who broke the law and rightfully they belong in prison there for their crimes. However, they didn't own any of the agribusinesses they worked for. Tell me, do you think the CEOs of any of those businesses should be held accountable for not knowing that the creep(s) they hired to managed their farms turned out to be such a monster to their workers? I think they would have fired them on the spot had they truly known.

    As for my ancestors, there's no comparison.

    Posted by ACook at 04/16/2008 @ 5:27pm

17. "and you call us "loons"?

    Posted by CRABWALK 04/16/2008 @ 4:26pm

    Well, if you didn't act like a loon, we'd call you some other water foul instead. Like an albatross or a blue-footed booby.

    Posted by ACook at 04/16/2008 @ 5:31pm

18. Agriculture has always enjoyed favored treatment in the United States. Agricultural land is taxed at lower rates than residential and commercial property; farmers are largely free of the burden of providing worker's compensation; in some states truck licenses are less expensive for farmers than the rest of us. This is just another example of agricultural interests getting favored treatment.

    Posted by jsens at 04/16/2008 @ 6:03pm

19. Not a single Republican committee member was on hand to hear this or any of the other testimony...Sen. Sanders was joined by his Democratic colleagues, Senators Edward Kennedy, Richard Durbin, and Sherrod Brown

    But you find no problem with the fact that most of the Dems were not there either, including these members of the Committee. Just Republicans being absent bothered you.

    Christopher Dodd (CT),Tom Harkin (IA),Barbara A. Mikulski (MD), Jeff Bingaman (NM),Patty Murray (WA),Jack Reed (RI),Hillary Rodham Clinton(NY),Barack Obama (IL)

    Also, one of the best ways to end these practices is by stopping the flow of illegal immigrants into the country. It will raise wages for everyone else.

    As noted by ACook, it seems that justice has been served when indictments are brought.

    Posted by lvliberty1 at 04/16/2008 @ 6:49pm

20. So many apologists for slavery.

    Sad sate of affairs when those that are so willing to declare war for "humanitarian" purposes are so willfully blind of their own countries faults. Ya'll remind me of Achinijaed , "We don't have slavery in the united States".

    and Yes ACOOK, a CEO should damn well know if slaves are being held on one of his/her plantations. That is part of the problem with corporations, the legal indemnity held by top managers. They are not responsible for the bottom line, Bear Stearns, malfeasance in acct, ENRON, or slavery in their workforce.

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/16/2008 @ 7:53pm

21. Also, one of the best ways to end these practices is by stopping the flow of illegal immigrants into the country. It will raise wages for everyone else.

    NAFTA did that, remember?

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/16/2008 @ 7:54pm

22. As for my ancestors, there's no comparison.

    Posted by ACOOK 04/16/2008 @ 5:27pm

    Really? Who were your ancestors?

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/16/2008 @ 7:55pm

23. Posted by CRABWALK 04/16/2008 @ 7:53pm

    Crabbie, there are no apologists here for slavery. Get a grip. What happen to those migrant workers in FL was wrong and everyone involve deserved very lengthy prison terms.

    Going back to the thread, this is about FTGE trying to force many agribusinesses (both large and small) to bend to their will. And this congress is more than happy to give them free press in the process.

    Posted by ACook at 04/16/2008 @ 9:39pm

24. "Really? Who were your ancestors?"

    Posted by CRABWALK 04/16/2008 @ 7:55pm

    People whom your ancestors hated and looked down on.

    Posted by ACook at 04/16/2008 @ 9:41pm

25. When do we get another Walmart bashing story?

    Posted by JOMAMMA 04/16/2008 @ 3:23pm

    hey mr. china,

    what's your take on this:

    Illegal Chinese immigrants land in U.S. limbo

    Beijing stalls return of 39,000 of its nationals, frustrated DHS officials say

    But dealing with illegal immigrants from China is rarely so simple. Though they are vastly outnumbered by illegal immigrants from Latin America -- perhaps 500,000 among the estimated 13 million "unauthorized migrants" -- they are tougher to remove, for reasons as complex as the U.S.-China relationship itself.

    It's all but certain, say immigration enforcers and experts, that the stowaways detained in Seattle will make their way into the byzantine immigration or asylum system. In the process, some will gain legal residency -- but many will disappear and slip quietly into the workforce and eventually gain a solid toehold in America.

    Of the more than 39,000 Chinese who have been ordered deported, only 300 are now in detention.

    With China, it's different. Even though Beijing officially prohibits illegal emigration and has full diplomatic relations with the United States, just 800 Chinese nationals were successfully repatriated to China from the United States last year.

    Posted by frosted zoom at 04/16/2008 @ 10:15pm

26. Of course, I'm NOT talking about those labor-intensive organic products grown for high-faluting, Whole Food Market taste buds like that of Barack Obama's.

    Posted by HAPPY2 04/16/2008 @ 3:03pm

    enjoy your fungicides....

    Posted by frosted zoom at 04/16/2008 @ 10:16pm

27. Well, if you didn't act like a loon, we'd call you some other water foul instead. Like an albatross or a blue-footed booby.

    Posted by ACOOK 04/16/2008 @ 5:31pm |

    Albaloon boob?

    Posted by usc1 at 04/16/2008 @ 10:24pm

28. Back in the sixties I saw a sign in a day labor agency in San Francisco that said "tomato pickers wanted". I signed up. The next morning at a nearby location, a bus full of assorted semi-derelicts & bohemians waited. we pulled away & while moving toward a field somewhere in Sonoma County, I found that we had to pay for our bus ride out of our wages. We arrived & someone said "Shit, this fields already been picked". Some stayed on the bus. It was a gleaning situation. Down the road, up comes a Thunderbird driven by a leisure-suited dude who says to us, "Gee, guys, didn't know this one was already done, but I'll tell you what, clean up this field & you won't have to pay for the ride. There were some muffled "fuck yous". A few guys sat in the field eating tomatoes. Some filled bags to take home. The prick had left long ago in his Tbird. The gist of it is, the Chicanos who made the "good money" had wiped out the field the day before. None of the guys I was with would have lasted a week with the "pros" & none of us would have been "compensated". Some of us went on to bigger & better things.

    Posted by Sorelish at 04/16/2008 @ 11:35pm

29. People whom your ancestors hated and looked down on.

    Posted by ACOOK 04/16/2008 @ 9:41pm

    Truly? In Germany? When were your ancestors in Cologne?

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/17/2008 @ 07:25am

30. Crabbie, there are no apologists here for slavery.

    I guess you did not read your fellow cons statements.

    --

    Posted by USC1 04/16/2008 @ 10:24pm

    hmm, another "look away, nothing to see here folks." From another Finger Fighter For Sunni Freedom.

    so, what is the deal with people that are willing to borrow billions from communists to fight a war in Iraq, but are unwilling to pay 1 penny more a pound for tomatoes? and would like to see all food production moved to countries with no labor laws?

    What can we say about the morality of such scum?

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/17/2008 @ 07:33am

31. ACOOK, do you mean to say that my ancestors (who came to the US in the 1920's) looked down on yours, like you look down on immigrant workers? Is that kind of what you are saying here?

    I think I have a new term for you, but in order to keep somewhat civil, I will withhold it for now. It is not birdlike.

    BOY! I can just feel Christs love exuding form the pores of the conservative freedom fighters. Can't you?

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/17/2008 @ 07:51am

32. First of all, ACOOK, the FTGE is the GROWER's association, i.e., the ones you are defending. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Collier County Sheriff's Office are your supposed "fringe anti-agribusiness groups."

    Second, if I had a dime for every time some apologist for business has said, "Oh, the CEO or owner couldn't have know what they're subordinates were doing to those poor workers!" I'd be a very rich man. Heck, in this case, we're not even talking about Archer Daniels Midland's CEO, we're talking about honest to God farmers and growers who are probably only removed from the laborers by a couple of layers of bosses.

    Yes, MASK, I've seen Harvest of Shame (1960) and some of the follow-up documentaries on the horrors of migrant farm labor that seem to be made every 10 years or so. Hopefully, an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress will force a Democratic president to sign revisions in the FLSA and the NLRA that bring agricultural and domestic workers under the purview of the acts. These two classes of workers were excluded by Dixiecrats trying to screw over ACOOK's ancestors when the laws were first passed in the 1930's, since they both were predominantly filled by people of color, in particular Blacks, back then.

    Posted by cka2nd at 04/17/2008 @ 12:22pm

33. Second, if I had a dime for every time some apologist for business has said, "Oh, the CEO or owner couldn't have know what they're subordinates were doing to those poor workers!" I'd be a very rich man.

    Posted by CKA2ND 04/17/2008 @ 12:22pm

    we know.

    Posted by frosted zoom at 04/17/2008 @ 1:16pm

34. meaning, "if we know the obvious, ¿how can they not?"

    Posted by frosty zoom at 04/17/2008 @ 1:27pm

35. It is sad and shocking how some people cannot understand that these farm workers are being exploited. Hopefully most Americans are working for a fairer, more just society. I am not content to let our society slip into some barbaric, plantation, fascist, corporate hell.

    Posted by askkeynes at 04/17/2008 @ 3:49pm

36. The CIW is just a run of the mill self-serving attack group. They create endless conflict with emotional lies to keep the cash from supporters coming. Nothing is nearly as simple as the CIW would have you believe and noting will come of the emotional drama created for the Congress. The CIW protested YUM, McDonald's and Burger King for 6 years and the workers in Immokalee get nothing today. The CIW has fooled everyone with its slick internet stories and is clearly riding on the backs of hard working tomato workers in Immokalee to line its own pockets.

    Posted by AKAactivist at 04/17/2008 @ 4:11pm

37. ACOOK, why don't you try actually reading the column before you try and discount everything in it. The group that you say is trying to bring down big-agri, the FTGE, is actually BIG-AGRI...I really hate morons who don't read and just spew out lies to try and defend the corporations that are absolutely ruining this country.

    Posted by binski116 at 04/17/2008 @ 4:23pm

38. ACOOK -- why the hell do you care whether or not "big agribusiness" has to comply with some rules and pay some of their workers a few dollars more? Who the hell are you? You are the type of person ruining this country.

    Posted by binski116 at 04/17/2008 @ 4:26pm

39. Last year, here in Florida, the popularity of Ugly Tomatoes from a pennsylvania grower, began to gather steam and overtake our Florida tomatoes, at a huge margin.

    Ugly Tomatoes are not the prettiest of tomatoes as the name implies, but they are delicious and nutritious. Grown in a more "MODERATE" climate and in real soil, not sand, they are a perfect balance of sweetness and acidity, moisture and pulp.

    The Florida tomato growers association lobbied the state to regulate the shape of tomatoes. Now, since the legislation was passed, six out of ten Ugly Tomatoes must be thrown away for the remained is all that passes muster for the shape of tomatoes sold in Florida. I fought hard against this unfair move. The Florida Tomato Growers assoc. fought me back as if they were innocent lambs, sitting on the sidelines.

    If Florida Tomato growers could do this to fellow Americans with a good product, you expect them to willfully and wontonly protect tomato pickers? They don't have respect for anything other than their revenue. They are not interested in human trafficking or slavery conditions. They are worried about their bottom line and protecting their inferior product.

    Americans have a lackluster sense of ethics and morals. We expect to dictate to other nations their policy on human rights, but right here at home, we shoot human rights to hell in a hand basket. Don't look for fair, don't look for honesty. Look to the almighty dollar, the goddess of Amerika.

    Sorry about my sarcastic tone, I am truly embarrassed by it. I was such a patriot at one time. We had something to be proud of in America once. It's gone, and we sit quietly on the sidelines while human trafficking is going on all around us. I've eaten with these poor victims. I've taught "ESOL" to them, tried to teach them what America is supposed to be about. What I met (in them) were people with their soul's ripped out and their stomachs hungry. All during this abuse, the governor of this undemocratic state sits in Tallahasee eating fine food and drinking fine wines at his dinner table. So do the "good 'ol boys" of the Florida legislature.

    It's almost time for me to move to Belize and bid Amerika adieu.

    Posted by Robert Ray at 04/17/2008 @ 5:28pm

40. Posted by ROBERT RAY 04/17/2008 @ 5:28pm

    bye-bye

    Posted by lvliberty1 at 04/17/2008 @ 5:35pm

41. Posted by LVLIBERTY1 04/17/2008 @ 5:35pm

    can't ya'll feel the love?

    Apologists for slavery.

    grrr, kill, kill, lock em down boys! They is wanting 1 penny a pound, it will kill AmeriKKKA if we do that!!

    ACOOK, you are a joke of a human being.

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/18/2008 @ 10:35am

42. Posted by AKAACTIVIST 04/17/2008 @ 4:11pm

    are the convictions listed about lies?

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/18/2008 @ 10:37am

43. oops, "listed above".

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/18/2008 @ 10:38am

44. this august, i invite all comers to come and pick a spell of tomatoes with me.

    any takers?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 04/18/2008 @ 12:38pm

45. About those "hardworking tomato workers". Do any of you right-wing boobs have any idea how agonizing it is to be 45+ and out under the hot sun laboring in a field? I doubt it. You are the ones sitting on your butts & wailing how "you just can't find good help anymore". And if you are the help, you better get smart quick. There's someone hungrier & more desperate on the horizon.

    Posted by Sorelish at 04/18/2008 @ 12:58pm

46. Oh gosh, Mr. Bravado, Please don't use the L. word. I reallly am concerned about your health & well being. Please use plenty of sun-screen & Preparation H,but don't confuse them, please.

    Posted by Sorelish at 04/19/2008 @ 01:06am

47. wow RIO, I thought you would be in court defending the Jeffs right to impregnate minors!

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/19/2008 @ 01:41am

48. So, mr RIO, you got paid by the hour. Did you have to pay for the ride in, ride out? Did you pay for materials used? And I assume, at the end you got paid the agreed price, not a re-nigged deal, as happens to many ag workers. Did you get locked in a trailer at night?

    Yes, I can see your experience closely resembles that of those talked about in the above cases. Clearly.

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/19/2008 @ 01:50am

49. growers and corporations that profit off misery in the fields are responsible for the misery created,

    the fact that they profit is one thing, but the reality of how they operate is another, many of you priveleged folks have been defending the growers and ceo's because they are ignorant of the conditions in which the food is picked or because they do not have this relationship with the agriculture workers, the fact of the matter is that the environment in which slavery and oppression grow is created by the operating methods of the profiteers,

    we are not tractors, we are not illegal, we are not criminals, we are workers, we are international, borders are not respected by capital, borders are not respected by militarism, why should workers respect borders, immigrant rights are human rights,

    support the campaign for fair food, sign the petition against the burger king corporation, demand that they come to the table and sign agreements with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers,

    democracy now!

    the king must pay, fair food will reign

    Posted by jose nadien at 04/21/2008 @ 4:04pm