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Gerardo Reyes Chavez, 25, sat atop a desk against a mustard-colored wall surrounded by images of Che Guevara, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Martin Luther King Jr. and Our Lady of Guadeloupe.
He held up a drawing of the Statue of Liberty and spoke of its history and symbolism to nearly 30 migrant farmworkers from Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti.
"It is sad when you hear that an immigrant represents something dirty or bad or negative because when you go back and think of the Statue of Liberty, you learn that so many people came just like we did to this place," said Chavez, a native of Zacatecas, Mexico.
"And what did they come for? They came looking for freedom, a new life — and for work."
Hard to come by for migrant workers who harvest fruit and produce each year in Florida and across the nation. But this spring, the humble organization created by the laborers — the Coalition of Immokalee Workers — won what many consider a big victory.
Their nearly four-year boycott of Taco Bell ended with one of the nation's largest fast-food chains agreeing to pay a penny-per-pound increase to nearly 1,000 workers who harvest tomatoes for their suppliers. That's about a 75 percent increase over the usual rate of 1.3 cents per pound.
More importantly, the fast-food chain's owner, Yum! Brands Inc., agreed to lead an industrywide effort to provide greater protections for migrant workers, who are excluded from many of the legal rights and benefits given other laborers in the United States.
The Immokalee activists now have launched the second phase of their campaign, with letter-writing barrages aimed at enlisting McDonald's, Burger King and Subway in the reforms.
"The coalition is a remarkable human-rights group doing impressive work at a grass-roots level, and I think there is real substance, as well as symbolism, to their victory," said Terry Coonan, director of the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University.
"It shows how the farmworkers have come of age," he added.
Gerardo Reyes Chavez, 25, sat atop a desk against a mustard-colored wall surrounded by images of Che Guevara, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Martin Luther King Jr. and Our Lady of Guadeloupe.
He held up a drawing of the Statue of Liberty and spoke of its history and symbolism to nearly 30 migrant farmworkers from Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti.
"It is sad when you hear that an immigrant represents something dirty or bad or negative because when you go back and think of the Statue of Liberty, you learn that so many people came just like we did to this place," said Chavez, a native of Zacatecas, Mexico.
"And what did they come for? They came looking for freedom, a new life — and for work."
Hard to come by for migrant workers who harvest fruit and produce each year in Florida and across the nation. But this spring, the humble organization created by the laborers — the Coalition of Immokalee Workers — won what many consider a big victory.
Their nearly four-year boycott of Taco Bell ended with one of the nation's largest fast-food chains agreeing to pay a penny-per-pound increase to nearly 1,000 workers who harvest tomatoes for their suppliers. That's about a 75 percent increase over the usual rate of 1.3 cents per pound.
More importantly, the fast-food chain's owner, Yum! Brands Inc., agreed to lead an industrywide effort to provide greater protections for migrant workers, who are excluded from many of the legal rights and benefits given other laborers in the United States.
The Immokalee activists now have launched the second phase of their campaign, with letter-writing barrages aimed at enlisting McDonald's, Burger King and Subway in the reforms.
"The coalition is a remarkable human-rights group doing impressive work at a grass-roots level, and I think there is real substance, as well as symbolism, to their victory," said Terry Coonan, director of the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University.
"It shows how the farmworkers have come of age," he added.
Now that is a job I would not do. First of all Immokalee is one of those Lake Okeechobee squalor towns, whose sole reason for existence is to grow tomatoes and sugar cane and owned by Corporate agri business entities who acquired the land through WWII giveaways designed to not grow crops. Nobody but 4th world immigrants would do that work.
Got to keep the 99 cent value menu in place. Lets see if the picking price goes up 1 cent per pound and Yum! Corp puts 1 ounce of tomatoes on your Chalupa, the cost of that morsel should go up .0625 cents.. Oh yes, big concession. There goes your 99 cent value menu to Hell in a handbasket. The glory days are over.
P.S. They have a Wal Mart in Immokalee, so that new discretionary income will mostly get recycled and bolster the economy. Come on folks. A freaking penny a pound.
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In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." --Voltaire
*sigh* Yes, let's give immigrant workers a bigger slice of the pie. Ugh.
are YOU gonna pick them 'matoes?
I don't know what they make per day, but it must not be much, and I hear the benefits suck. I don't see any suburbanites out in those fields.
I guess it comes down to you see "immigrant" and I see "worker".
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"Seachicken - it's what's for dinner" - me (until the 'Hawks sweep the Cards)
Check out Dephinger on our MySpace page.
I'm not crying about prices going up. That's not my concern. My concern is illegals having any kind of rights in this country. They get none, IMO. Job rights? Well, since it's illegal for them to be here, then no, they should have none. Employment rights? Ditto. Tough luck.
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Veni, vidi, vici--this goes out to all our NFC West chums
Thank you for breaking the circle of suck, Bidwill--Stout, December 7 2008.
I'm not crying about prices going up. That's not my concern. My concern is illegals having any kind of rights in this country. They get none, IMO. Job rights? Well, since it's illegal for them to be here, then no, they should have none. Employment rights? Ditto. Tough luck.
Fair enough.
I guess that's why the workers in question went to the boycott strategy, normal labor action not feasable.
__________________
"Seachicken - it's what's for dinner" - me (until the 'Hawks sweep the Cards)
Check out Dephinger on our MySpace page.
I'm not crying about prices going up. That's not my concern. My concern is illegals having any kind of rights in this country. They get none, IMO. Job rights? Well, since it's illegal for them to be here, then no, they should have none. Employment rights? Ditto. Tough luck.
Don't forget Wal-mart's cleaning crews.Picking them maters during the day as their 2nd job while the big money is at night cleaning the local Wal-Mart for a little less than min. wage.
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