Hello Everyone! When I am in my hometown, down in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, I work in our own community garden while also giving presentations for broader education on the injustices of our current food system. It feels so good to make those connections and get people excited about change in our communities! I was hoping to share
My name is Marina Sáenz-Luna and I work with Just Harvest USA, a national organization that seeks to join the growing movement of a more just and sustainable agricultural industry where "green" also means "fair" by advancing farmworkers' rights through the "Campaign for Fair Food". I'M ASKING FOR YOUR HELP IN CALLING ON FLORIDA GOVERNOR CHARLIE CRIST TO ADDRESS THE PLAGUE OF MODERN-DAY SLAVERY IN FLORIDA'S FIELDS BY SIGNING THIS PETITION: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Governor_Crist_stand_against_slavery While this may seem like an issue best dealt with by Florida residents, the CIW has asked allies nationwide to take action. In part because Florida provides the U.S. with approximately 90% of its tomatoes during the winter months but also because modern-day slavery anywhere in the country should be addressed by society as a whole. Not to mention the most recent slavery case involved workers who picked tomatoes for one of the large corporate tomato growers. Just this past December, farm labor supervisors were sentenced in federal court for enslaving tomato pickers, including beating, chaining, and locking them inside a truck at night. Unfortunately, this case is not the only one; SINCE 1997, THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE HAS SUCCESSFULLY PROSECUTED SEVEN CASES OF SLAVERY INVOLVING WELL OVER 1,000 FARMWORKERS IN FLORIDA. Additional cases are currently under investigation. Furthermore, those farmworkers who are not enslaved face sweatshop conditions every day. Workers earn an average of only $10,000 per year and have not received a real wage increase since 1978. They have no right to overtime pay, no benefits of any kind and no right to organize or collectively bargain. Yet when a reporter called Governor Crist's office about this most recent slavery 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 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 the COALITION OF IMMOKALEE WORKERS, a community-based farmworker organization, and consumers nationwide in telling Governor Crist that now is the time to break the silence and ensure that this latest slavery case will be the last. Click here now: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Governor_Crist_stand_against_slavery _ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND INFO:_ Fortunately, there is hope for eliminating slavery and ensuring a future of dignity in the fields. Yum! Brands, McDonald's, Burger King, Subway and Whole Foods Market have all reached precedent-setting agreements with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to improve tomato pickers' wages and enforce codes of conduct for fair conditions in the fields, including zero tolerance for modern-day slavery. Yet, while the marketplace has recognized basic standards of fairness, the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange has blocked the implementation of these agreements. The email 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 Coalition of Immokalee Workers 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. *Please consider forwarding this email to friends, family, co-garderners and, when possible, your other networks.* As always, I am available through e-mail or by phone to answer any questions! Together we can work towards a more just and sustainable food system! Yours, Marina Marina Sáenz-Luna Just Harvest USA, National Organizer E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (956)358-3547 For more Visit: www.ciw-online.org[1] To endorse the Campaign for Fair Food: www.allianceforfairfood.org[2] Links: ------ [1] http://www.ciw-online.org [2] http://www.allianceforfairfood.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20090206/99708fb3/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
