"Labor trafficking is so preventable in this country [US]. That's why it's all the more outrageous that it's still existing. Because there is actually a solution, it is very clear. To end slavery, to end human trafficking, you have to end sweatshops. If the big buyers, the major corporate buyers, if they were to say "We don't ever want to see modern day slavery again in our supply chain," it would disappear."
Laura Germino
Anti-Slavery Campaign Coordinator
Coalition of Immokalee Workers
On the tradio21 web site I have posted an audio documentary: "McTrafficked: The Fast Food Industry and Modern Day Slavery in the US". The piece centers around the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' current national campaign against McDonald's for better wages and working conditions for tomato pickers in Florida.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is a Florida based farm worker organization that has helped free over 1000 people held in peonage, forced labor, debt bondage and conditions of trafficking in the United States. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is recognized as one of the leaders in the US counter-human trafficking movement.
Some human trafficking experts and human rights activists believe there is a connection between the US fast food industry and modern slavery in the United States. The premise of this argument is that the large buyers have a leverage over growers and distributors to keep cost extremely low. This pressure in turn, leads to very poor working conditions on many US farm fields and in some cases it can lead to extreme exploitation.
This has been a topic discussed from several different angles on Kos. In "McTrafficked" I have tried to present the perspective of some in the US counter-trafficking movement on how this buying power creates the conditions that allow human trafficking and modern day slavery to take place in the United States.
Two more quotes from Laura Germino, the Anti-Slavery Campaign Coordinator of
Coalition of Immokalee Workers:
"The key factor [to labor trafficking] is not people's citizenship status, it's the imbalance of power.. between the employers and the employees, and when you are in an industry where there is not a huge imbalance of power you do not see modern day slavery occurring, or human trafficking."
...
"Modern day slavery doesn't take place in a vacuum. It doesn't fall out of the sky and graft itself onto an otherwise healthy industry. It takes root in industries where there's already a wide range of labor violations, sub poverty wages, no benefits, a contingent work force with little rights. Just flip it over and look at it the other way, you would not see it in a unionized work place. You see it where there's already serious labor violations and then it takes just a little bit to have it tip over from sweatshop conditions into actual slavery, meaning when you are not able to leave even if you'd like to, when you are being held against your will."
In 2001 the Coalition of Immokalee Workers began a national boycott of Taco bell in an effort to increase farm worker's wages and develop procedures that would lead to better working conditions. Universities around the United States pushed Taco Bell restaurants off their campuses. The US Presbyterian Church and several student organizations became national organizing forces behind the boycott.
In 2005 Taco Bell, through its parent company Yum brand foods became the only fast food restaurant to establish a working relationship with the Immokalee Workers in Florida. The Coalition's national boycott of Taco Bell ended when Taco Bell agreed to pay one additional cent per pound of tomatoes.
The additional penny per pound increases a tomato pickers wage by approximately 75%.
In March of this year the Coalition of Immokalee Workers came to Chicago to launch a national campaign against McDonalds. Chicago is home to McDonald's corporate headquarters.
Beginning on the Southside of Chicago, a march proceeded through the city, passing by various McDonalds restaurants. The march culminated with a public rally at the 12th busiest McDonalds in the United States; known to Chicagoans as the Rock-n-Roll McDonalds.
In response to the penny per pound campaign, McDonalds commissioned a report to look specifically at wages, benefits and conditions of Florida tomato pickers within the McDonalds supply chain. The report sated that McDonald's suppliers had made a public commitment to provide their workers with compensation equal to or better than the proposed "penny-per-pound" increase.
In a public petition, 30 US labor experts claimed the McDonalds report did not meet accepted standards of research, was riddled with errors, and that the conclusions should not be taken seriously.
Former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich along with two colleagues issued a response to the McDonalds' report. The response stated "McDonalds has refused to act constructively in the face of serious infringements of the rights of farmworkers who pick tomatoes that go into McDonalds' products."
The letter highlighted miserable conditions experienced by generations of farmworkers, including forced labor.
This year the Coalition of Immokalee Workers was awarded the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award by the Freedom Network USA for their efforts to combat human trafficking in the United States.
In 2003 Julia Gabriel, Lucas Benitez and Romeo Ramirez of the CIW were the first US recipients of theRobert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. Gabriel, Benitez, and Ramirez were commended for becoming "...leaders in the fight to end slave labor, human trafficking and exploitation in agriculture fields across the U.S."
For those interested in more information on the CIW's efforts visit their web site as well as the Student Farmworker Alliance for additional information.
I would look forward to any Kossacks taking the time to download and listen to "McTrafficked". I believe you will find the voices in the piece to be very compelling. Furthermore they point to a troubling, but addressable, reality that exists in our country today.