CANADIAN LABOUR ONTARIO:

FARM WORKER DEATHS SHOW NEED FOR CHANGES:

The recent deaths of two Jamaican migrant workers in southern Ontario highlights the need for changes in the system of migrant labour employment. Here's a press release from the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) on what happened.

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Migrant worker fatalities at Ontario farm under investigation
Deaths of two Jamaican seasonal workers at Ontario agriculture operation was “job-related” says Jamaican official

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 12, 2010) -

The cause of death of two Jamaican migrant agriculture workers who died Friday, September 10, at a central Ontario farm is still under investigation. The chief liaison officer in the Jamaica Liaison Service (JLS) in Toronto would only describe it as a "job-related accident".

The two men, aged 36 and 44, were working at the Filsinger's Organic Foods apple orchard and processing facility in Ayton, Ontario - about 70 kilometers south of Own Sound. Their bodies were transferred to a hospital morgue in Hanover, Ontario awaiting an autopsy.

Provincial police and the Ontario Ministry of Labour are conducting an investigation. The names of the victims have not been released.

"We are saddened by the death of these two men, and our sincere condolences go out their families," said Wayne Hanley, the National President of UFCW Canada, and the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA).

For more than two decades UFCW Canada has led the campaign for improved safety and workplace rights for migrant and domestic farm workers. UFCW Canada, in association with the AWA, operates ten agriculture worker support centres across Canada, including centres in Leamington, Simcoe, Virgil and Bradford, Ontario.

"The deaths of the two workers in Ayton is a tragic reminder of the dangers and risks in involved in the agriculture sector," said Hanley, the leader of Canada's largest private-sector union.

"Certainly what happened has to be investigated, but at the same time the Ministry of Labour must also take a more proactive role - with stepped up inspections and increased regulations - to reduce and prevent farm place fatalities and accidents."

Jamaican migrant agriculture workers have worked each season in Canada since 1964. This season more than 6,000 Jamaican migrants were employed on over 300 Canadian farms.


/For further information:
www.ufcw.ca
www.awa-ata.ca/

CANADIAN LABOUR-ALBERTA:

END THE HARVEST OF DEATH:

It has been only 14 months since the workplace death of Kevan Chandler in Alberta, but in that short time there have been 13 other farm worker deaths in that province. Across the country there have been 59 such deaths. This carnage must stop. Here's a story and appeal from the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) who are campaigning to have Alberta apply the simple minimum protection that other workers enjoy to farm workers in that province.

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Premier Stelmach: End the Harvest of Death!
Premier Ed Stelmach: 14 months and
13 deaths later and still no action
It’s been 14 months since Justice Peter Barley told Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach that farm workers in Alberta should be granted the same health and safety rights as everyone else.

Despite asking Justice Barley for his advice, the Premier doesn’t want to hear it, and farm workers are paying the price.

After being asked by the Premier to investigate the workplace death of farm worker Kevan Chandler, Justice Barley found that farm workers must be included in Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) to prevent future workplace injuries and deaths.

To date, Premier Stelmach has ignored that advice, and since then 13 more people have been killed on Alberta farms in work-related accidents.

Since Kevan Chandler died at work on Father’s Day nearly four years ago, an additional 59 people have been killed in agriculture-related accidents.

As the leader of a majority government, Premier Stelmach is the “decider”. He has the power to save lives with stroke of a pen by granting basic health and safety rights to farm workers – they’re the same rights that most of us already have.

Tell Premier Stelmach to do the right thing by ending the deadly discrimination against Alberta farm workers.

Click here to tell Premier Stelmach: End the Harvest of Death!

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Please go to this link from the online labour solidarity site Labour Start to send the following message in support of Alberta farmworkers to Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach.

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Dear Premier Stelmach:

I am writing to you to express my displeasure over your government’s inaction in providing farm workers in Alberta coverage under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, R.S.A. 2000 CH.0-2.

In the Public Fatality Inquiry into the death of farm worker Kevan Chandler, Judge Peter Barley recommended that farm workers be covered under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Mr. Premier the death of one farm worker is one too many, yet Alberta has averaged nineteen farm worker deaths per year since 1997. I urge you and your government to take a proactive role in preventing further industry deaths and join the national consensus by immediately implementing the recommendation of Judge Barley and give Occupational Health and Safety coverage to the farm workers of Alberta.

CANADIAN LABOUR- ALBERTA:

THE HARD LIFE IN THE FIELDS OF ALBERTA:

Canada plays host to an increasing number of foreign temporary workers, and their lot is not an easy one. Unless they have the good fortune to be represented by a union they pretty much fall outside of the normal legal protections that Canadian workers enjoy. Here's a story from Alberta about just how grasping their employers can be. From a press release by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union...

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Alberta stats confirm frontline evidence of foreign worker abuse

Workplace violation statistics released as UFCW Canada delegation and allies gather for national conference on challenges faced by immigrants and foreign workers

March 18, 2010 — The violation of the workplace rights of many Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) in Alberta “reinforces what we’ve reported for years now,” says Wayne Hanley, the National President of UFCW Canada. “Except for locations where those workers have a union, TFWs in Alberta and across Canada are regular targets for exploitation and workplace abuse.”

UFCW Canada is Canada’s largest private sector union, and represents thousands of TFWs under collective agreements. These agreements protect these TFWs against workplace violations, require health and safety information in the workers’ language, and provide a legal pathway for these workers to permanent Canadian residency.

“So the story for UFCW Canada members who are Temporary Foreign Workers is positive. But outside the union, TFWs are treated by thousands of employers like disposable commodities, with no respect for their safety or other workplace rights. The latest stats from Alberta back that up.”

The UFCW Canada president’s remarks come in the wake of newly released Alberta Ministry of Labour inspection statistics that show that of the 407 Alberta TFW workplaces inspected this year, 74% of those employers had violated the Employment Standards Act regarding pay rates and record keeping. The data was released by the Alberta NDP, which obtained the records under a Freedom of Information application. ( In other words the Alberta government had to be squeezed to provide the information- Molly )

“We agree with the Alberta NDP and the Alberta Federation of Labour that the federal government’s TFW program needs to be revised to fully respect the human and labour rights of these vulnerable workers. That should also include the right to build a permanent life in Canada for these workers and their families. And that goes across this country — not just Alberta,” said Hanley.

“Unless you’re unionized, the treatment of Temporary Foreign Workers continues to be a national disgrace,” says Naveen Mehta, Director of Human Rights, Equity and Diversity, UFCW Canada.

Mehta is also one of a 25 UFCW Canada delegates from across the country who are attending the 12th Annual Metropolis Conference on Immigration and Diversity being held in Montreal. UFCW Canada is presenting and participating as one of the country’s leading advocates, in the community and on the front lines, for migrant workers in Canada.

“The federal government has to stop turning a blind eye to what happens to these workers once they get to Canada,” says Mehta. “Canada was built on generations of immigrants. That is a proud legacy that is being cast aside by federal migrant worker programs that treat these workers like inputs and not people. We are here with our allies to change that.”

AMERICAN LABOUR:
THE GRAPES OF....WALMART:
Molly has reported before on the struggle of the United Farm Workers for justice for the agricultural workers employed by the Giumarra company. Here's the latest front in this campaign. The UFW are asking you to pressure the dreaded WalMart to demand responsibility from their main grape supplier- Giumarra. I dunno. Sorta like demanding that Hitler ask Mussolini to be more humane. (Actually such a thing did happen-once-in the course of the Second World War when the Nazis were offended by the brutality of the Vatican/Italian backed Ustasi in Yugoslavia)Worth a try anyways, as it is only part of a much larger campaign.
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No smiley faces for Nature's Partner:
Tell Walmart to stop its supplier Giumarra's unlawful behavior
Walmart says it wants you to live better. But they apparently don't feel the same way about the workers who pick the grapes and other produce they sell in their stores. They sell grapes and other produce from Giumarra's Nature’s Partner label--despite knowing that this mega company abuses the grape workers who work in their vineyards.





Giumarra harvests approximately 1 out of every 10 bunches of grapes picked in the US. In addition they are a major label of imported and domestic produce. Combined with the market power of the Walmart behemoth, this huge conglomerate helps set the industry standard.





How does Giumarra abuse its workers? Here's an example. California law says a person needs to make twice the minimum wage before they can be required to buy equipment necessary to do their job. Giumarra workers make minimum wage plus on a good day perhaps an additional $8 a day piece rate bonus. Giumarra knows this law, but does that keep them from violating it? Not according to many workers we've spoken to.





Farm worker Monica Martinez, who has worked at Giumarra for the last ten years, tells the story:





"The equipment--gloves and scissors for grapes and other items--we must buy ourselves without any type of reimbursement or compensation. In 2005, after the election, they gave us the equipment for a while and then they stopped. Now they only give it when they want to. There are times when we need gloves and no one provides them. Making us work without gloves ruins our hands."





Enough is enough. Giumarra's illegal behavior must be stopped.
As a key buyer of Giumarra's imported and domestic produce--including grapes--Walmart has the ability to influence this produce giant. Please send Walmart an e-mail today and demand they exercise control over their suppliers by telling Giumarra/Nature's Partner to demonstrate corporate responsibility.
http://www.ufwaction.org/ct/n1zuCuF1DQa4/takeaction
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THE LETTER
Please go to the link above or to THIS LINK to send the following letter to WalMart.
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Walmart says it wants customers to "Save Money, Live Better". However, your good wishes do not appear to extend to the workers who pick the grapes and other produce you sell in your stores, because you sell produce under the "Nature's Partner" label from Giumarra--a company with a shameful record of abusing the grape workers who work in their vineyards.





Giumarra has a history of intimidating and bullying workers. Back in 2005, Giumarra's unlawful interference forced a union election to be thrown out by an administrative judge. This company's history with worker protection is also dismal with at least two farm workers dying from heat-related causes while laboring in their fields.





As a consumer, the "Nature's Partner" label doesn't mean good produce to me; it means produce brought to my table by a company, Giumarra, that consistently violates its workers' rights and endangers their lives.





Walmart can and should demand better from its suppliers. I ask you to exercise control over your suppliers by telling Giumarra/Nature's Partner to act responsibly towards its workers.

AMERICAN LABOUR:

THE HARVEST OF SHAME:

The following item comes Molly's way via the United Students Against Sweatshops. It is originally from the Student/Farmworker Alliance.

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Take Action for Farmworker Justice- End the Harvest of Shame!:
The Student/Farmworker Alliance, in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), is calling on food service industry leaders Aramark and Sodexo to do their part to end the exploitation of farmworkers in their supply chains! Add your voice to this call today by sending a message to executives at Aramark and Sodexo!

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THE LETTER

Please go to either of the two websites above to send the following message to management at the Aramark and Sodexo companies.

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Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):

Aramark Associate Vice-President CSR Robert Dennill

Sodexo Chief Executive Officer Michel Landel

Sodexo VP Corporate Citizenship Arlin Wasserman
Below is the sample letter:

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Subject: End the Harvest of Shame
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
Robert Dennill, Associate Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility

Aramark

1101 Market St.

Philadelphia, PA 19107

Michel Landel, Chief Executive Officer

Sodexo

255, quai de la Bataille de Stalingrad

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

Arlin Wasserman, Vice President, Corporate Citizenship

Sodexo

9801 Washingtonian Blvd.

Gaithersburg, MD 20878

As concerned students and community members, we urge your companies to follow the recent example set by Compass Group North America in working with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to eliminate human rights violations in its tomato supply chain.

According to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, "the norm is a disaster, and the extreme is slavery" for tomato harvesters in Florida's fields. The tomato picking piece rate has remained stagnant since 1980. A worker today must pick and haul roughly two and a half tons of tomatoes to earn minimum wage for a typical ten-hour day . These wages -- combined with the precarious and seasonal nature of farm labor -- result in workers' sub-poverty annual earnings and create an environment where horrific forms of labor abuse flourish.

In the extreme, workers face situations of forced labor. The CIW -- a Florida-based human rights organization leading the movement to reform the state's farm labor relations -- has aided the US Department of Justice in the successful prosecution of seven modern-day slavery cases involving a total of more than one thousand farmworkers in the past decade.

On September 25, the CIW and Compass Group North America announced sweeping changes to improve tomato harvesters' wages and working conditions. Compass is the first major foodservice provider to join Yum Brands, McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Whole Foods Market and Bon Appetit Management Company in partnering with the CIW to address the human rights crisis in Florida's fields.

Now we turn to your companie s. Aramark and Sodexo claim to adhere to high standards of corporate citizenship and social responsibility, and to hold your suppliers to those same standards.

With news of the Compass agreement, your companies can no longer claim that they meet the highest ethical standards. We expect that Aramark and Sodexo will follow suit and establish agreements with the CIW with all due diligence to demand those same higher standards of your tomato suppliers. Until that time, however, we have no choice but to intensify our educational efforts to inform our campuses and communities of Aramark's and Sodexo's role in prolonging Florida's harvest of shame.

Sincerely,

AMERICAN LABOUR:

MORE PRESSURE ON GIUMARRA:

The Giumarra Corporation is the world's largest supplier of table grapes. Despite their size and profitability they are determined to squeeze every last cent of profit out of their workers. The campaign of the United Farm Workers against abuses by this corporation was mentioned earlier this month on this blog. Here's another appeal from the UFW to sign their online petition against this high handed way of treating workers.

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We're almost there. Won't you help?:
We've been telling you about the situation that exists at Giumarra vineyards and the online petition we launched for the workers. Our goal is to get 25,000 signatures by the end of the month.

We are almost there. With the number of signatures supporters have committed to turning into us this week, we have more than 23,000. We just have approximately 2,000 more signatures to go.

Please help: Sign the petition demanding that Giumarra treat its workers with dignity and respect!

Approximately one out of every ten bunches of grapes picked in the U.S. comes from workers for a single company--Giumarra. Yet, for all their hard work, Giumarra has for years refused to treat those workers with even the most basic level of respect.

Farm workers should have the same rights as everyone else. It's time Giumarra got that message loud and clear. Help pump up the volume by signing the workers’ online petition today.

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THE PETITION

Please go to THIS LINK to sign the following online petition to the Giumarra Corporation. Show them that the world is watching.

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Full Petition Text:
I am astonished and dismayed at the length that Giumarra goes to in order to keep workers under control. It reflects negatively on your company and the Giumarra Corporation's new label, Nature's Partner.

Giumarra has a history of intimidating and bullying workers. Back in 2006, Giumarra's unlawful interference forced a union election to be thrown out by an administrative judge. Your history with worker protection is also dismal with two farm workers dying from heat-related causes while laboring in your fields. While charges are being filed left and right, your company continues to violate the law.

Instead of moving forth in a new era, under your new label, you have chosen to rise to new levels of bad behavior. Using this tactic to force workers to pick faster under triple digit temperatures or to retaliate against a worker who has the nerve to question a supervisor is just wrong. How can you be Nature's Partner when your absurd quotas and intimidation force workers to endure the searing sun and go without water, shade and breaks?

It's time for your company to realize that you are not above the law. The consumers of Giumarra and your new Nature's Partner label are watching you. Treat the workers laboring in your fields with dignity and respect and stop retaliating against UFW supporters.
Sincerely:

AMERICAN LABOUR:

THE LEGACY OF BUSH:

"The evil that me no lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones"

-Billy

The following appeal is from the United Farm Workers in the USA, and they want you to add your voice to the chorus for removal of one of the last evil acts of the reign of Emperor George Bush II.

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Help overturn Bush Administration's devastating H2A regulations:
Comment period ends Oct 5
Early this year we told you about the terrible actions taken by the Bush administration to change the regulations on H-2A guest worker program. The Bush administration regulations became effective on January 17 and have made devastating changes for farm workers.

Thousands of vulnerable farm workers in the United States—including both domestic and foreign workers--have suffered lower wages, lost benefits, reduced enforcement of their labor rights and lack of government oversight. The UFW, Farmworker Justice, PCUN and other farm worker organizations have challenged the legality of these regulations.

The H-2A agricultural guest worker program is supposed to ensure that U.S. workers are offered decent wages and working conditions before employers are permitted to hire foreign guest workers based on claimed labor shortages. But the Bush Administration’s changes gave agricultural employers access to cheap foreign labor with little government oversight.

On September 3rd, Department of Labor Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced a proposal to restore labor protections to the H-2A guest worker program.

It is absolutely essential that farm workers’ voices be heard in numbers as growers will fight to keep laws that do not protect farm workers.

Please take action today and submit a comment to the Department of Labor. Then take an extra step and ask your friends, colleagues and family to submit comments as well.

http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/h2aregs10509

Help us fight for farm workers’ interests and overturn these harmful rules.

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THE LETTER:

Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to the US Department of Labour.

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We join the UFW and other farm worker organizations in supporting changes to the H-2A guest worker program regulations. The terrible actions taken by the Bush administration to change these regulations have made devastating changes for farm workers.

Thousands of vulnerable farm workers in the United States--including both domestic and foreign workers--have suffered lower wages, lost benefits, reduced enforcement of their labor rights and lack of government oversight.

The H-2A agricultural guest worker program is supposed to ensure that U.S. workers are offered decent wages and working conditions before employers are permitted to hire foreign guest workers based on claimed labor shortages. But the Bush Administration's changes gave agricultural employers access to cheap foreign labor with little government oversight.

The Bush wage provisions adopted a badly chosen method for the deliberate effect of lowering workers' pay. Many workers suffered a $2.00 per hour wage cut this season.

We support the reinstatement of the job preference for U.S. workers, the minimum-work guarantee and other processes and protections. We also support the effort to regulate employers' use of farm labor contractors who recruit and hire guestworkers for the benefit of employers. However, more must be done to stop the victimization of guestworkers during recruitment abroad. The employers must be responsible for what their recruiters promise.
It is essential that the administration immediately overturn negative changes made last January. Farmworkers should not be forced to suffer another season under these unfair and unlawful policies.
Thank you.

CANADIAN LABOUR-BRITISH COLUMBIA:

FARM WORKERS VICTORY IN BC:

The following announcement is from the website of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). It seems that their campaign to organize migrant farmworkers in Canada is bearing fruit, at least in the province of BC. The following is, of course, an official union announcement, and, as such, it avoids any 'hard spots' about this victory. To my mind is a very good thing, but it will take a great amount of attention on the part of the union to avoid screwing it up, as they did here in Manitoba.

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Historic victory for migrant farm workers:
Contract sets new precedent for rights of workers
A breakthrough collective agreement was reached September 21 between UFCW Canada and Floralia Growers of Abbotsford, B.C.

The new UFCW Canada Local 1518 contract provides wage improvements, but is particularly noteworthy for the protections it establishes for the rights of seasonal migrant agriculture workers to return to Canada under the federal government’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP).

“We have had a lot interest from migrant farm workers in joining the union,” said Ivan Limpright, President of UFCW Canada Local 1518, “and this contract is a huge step forward in providing the kinds of basic protections and recall rights that migrant farm workers in Canada deserve.”

“These are among the most vulnerable workers in Canada, because too often when workers would dare complain, let alone join a union, the farm employers would make sure they didn’t call those workers back for the next season’s work, or just send them straight back to their home country,” said Limpright.

“This contract establishes a real measure of justice and dignity for the Floralia workers.”

The new contract establishes recall rights for migrant agriculture workers (one of the very important things that was neglected here in Manitoba-Molly ), and the union and employer have agreed to a process for recalling SAWP workers that will enhance workers’ opportunities to return year after year.

In addition, when the growing season slows down and a smaller workforce is needed, a process is now established whereby those volunteering to return home would be the first to go, and if necessary, other workers would then return to their home based on seniority.

“Previously, the workers would be ‘repatriated’, as the employers like to call it, and strictly at the employer’s whim,” said Limpright. “For example, we have had cases where there was a slowdown in the growing season and a worker volunteered to go home because his wife was pregnant or there was another family emergency, but the employer would refuse and send someone else home instead. Now, under this contract, the workers at least have some control over their own fates, and this is a huge and important breakthrough.”

The migrant agriculture workers at Floralia are from Mexico, and make up approximately 90 percent of the Floralia workforce.

In addition to recall rights, the crucial topic of overtime was also addressed in the new contract. It had been apparent that when workers developed an interest in joining UFCW, those workers were punished by having their overtime eliminated or minimized. (Another important point neglected in the efforts here in Manitoba- Molly )

The new contract has a process by which overtime will be balanced among all workers, and monitored so that it is not awarded by favouritism nor used as a form of punishment against workers interested in the union.

Other achievements in the contract include:
• contract language that will see workers paid for all hours worked from their start time forward. Previously, workers went unpaid for travel time between fields, which could be as much as 1.5 hours per day;

• The formation of a Health & Safety committee with worker representation;

• a procedure to address grievances;

• improvements for domestic agriculture workers as well - start rates for domestic workers went from the $8.00 minimum wage to $9.09 per hour, equivalent to what SAWP workers earn.

• Improvements to vacation language - a number of workers have been employed for two years of more, and under terms of the new contract, they will be entitled to 6 percent vacation pay with three years service, a substantial improvement for the workers.

• Wage increases set at SAWP rate-plus .10 cents, 10 cents, and 12 cents respectively in the final three years of the contract.

“I want to welcome our newest members,” said Limpright, “and we are delighted that at last these members have a voice and a say in their workplace. This is a big step forward, and should be a strong, positive signal to other farm workers, domestic and migrant alike, that joining the UFCW makes sense.”

"This a great victory for the workers at Floralia, who have exercised their Charter rights to join a union and bargain collectively," said UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley.

"The Charter is not stopped by provincial borders," said Hanley, "so it is shameful that Ontario and Alberta continue to trample the human rights of agricultural workers by blocking their access to unionize."

UFCW Canada in association with the Agriculture Workers Alliance operates a number of support centres across Canada for agriculture workers. UFCW Canada is also Canada's largest private-sector union with over 250,000 members across the country working in every sector of the food industry from field to table.

AMERICAN LABOUR:

THAT'S ONE MEAN TACO:

The following comes Molly's way from the American Rights at Work coalition.

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"Food with integrity.":
That's what Chipotle – America's fastest-growing fast-food restaurant – vows to serve in its restaurants.

Tell that to the Florida farmworkers who pick many of Chipotle's tomatoes. They have one of the worst jobs in America, with sub-poverty wages, back-breaking labor, and unimaginable exploitation.

Click here to urge Chipotle's CEO Steve Ells take a stand for Florida farmworkers.

In spite of its "food with integrity" pledge condemning the "exploitation of animals, farmers, or the environment," Chipotle refuses to partner with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which represents farmworkers, to help improve their working conditions.

More than two dozen leading writers, organizers, filmmakers, and farmers have called on Chipotle to do the right thing. The list includes Eric Schlosser, writer and director of Fast Food Nation; Frances Moore Lappe, author of Diet for a Small Planet; and Robert Kenner, director of the new hard-hitting documentary Food, Inc.

Add your name: Call on Chipotle to partner with Florida farmworkers and end the exploitation.

In the past, American Rights at Work activists helped put pressure on big companies like McDonald's, Burger King, and the parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut – convincing them to commit to a raise for Florida farmworkers: an extra penny per pound of picked tomatoes.

Chipotle has also agreed to pay an extra penny per pound. Now, with your help, we can achieve an even greater victory: a huge chain pushing for real justice for these workers.

Tell Chipotle to live up to its promise and partner with the Florida farmworkers in its supply chain.

The average farmworker puts in a 10 hour day in the scorching Florida sun and must pick two and a half TONS of produce a day to earn $50 – that's only $10,000 per year. As major buyers, companies like Chipotle have a responsibility to exert their influence and give a fair deal to the workers who help boost their bottom lines.

End the exploitation: tell Chipotle's CEO to partner with Florida farmworkers now! Then, ask all your friends to do the same.
Thanks you for all that you do.
Sincerely,
Liz Cattaneo

American Rights at Work

http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/
P.S. Click here to check out the open letter signed by two dozen leaders of the sustainable food movement demanding that Chipotle be "a true partner in the protection of farmworkers' rights." Then, add your name.

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THE LETTER:

Click on one of the links above or CLICK HERE to sign the following open letter to Chipotle CEO Steve Ells.

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We write with admiration for your efforts to create a socially just and environmentally responsible restaurant chain. We applaud your goal of sourcing "food with integrity," food that's "unprocessed, seasonal, family-farmed, sustainable, nutritious, naturally raised, added hormone free, organic, and artisanal." Chipotle points the way to a new business model for national-scale restaurant chains: rather than scouring the globe for the cheapest commodities, restaurants should source in a region-appropriate way - bolstering and not undercutting regional food production networks.

Yet for us, naturally raised meat - important as it is - does not trump decently treated human beings. We are outraged by the working and living conditions in the Immokalee area of Florida, source of some 90 percent of the winter tomatoes consumed in the United States. We see Immokalee as a stark example of the vast power discrepancies in our food system. In the winter-tomato market, a small number of very large buyers dictate terms to the seven or eight entities that control land in tomato country; those growers, in turn, squeeze the workers in brutal fashion. Real wages have fallen dramatically in Immokalee over the decades and now hover well below poverty level; housing conditions would not be out of place in apartheid-era South Africa. These are the normal conditions experienced by thousands of workers in south Florida. No one can be surprised that in some extreme cases, right now, some of the people who pick our tomatoes are living in what can only be called modern-day slavery: held against their will and forced to harvest tomatoes without pay. In this context, Chipotle cannot claim the same integrity for the tomatoes it serves as it does for its meat, much less guarantee its customers that the tomatoes in its burritos were not picked by slaves.
We realize that Chipotle has announced that it's paying an extra penny per pound for tomatoes, but we have to ask: What has Chipotle done since that announcement to identify and cultivate growers who are willing to raise their labor standards and pass the penny along to their workers? Your company has shown admirable leadership in working with - and incubating - meat suppliers willing to meet your higher standards. But your failure to do that same hard work in the Florida tomato industry - together with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) - threatens to render your announcement an empty gesture aimed more at public relations damage control than an effort to make real change.




We view the CIW's struggle for dignity as a non-negotiable part of the struggle for a sustainable food system. Therefore, we strongly urge you to enter into an agreement with this worker-led organization that has been fighting tirelessly to improve conditions in tomato country since 1993. As you know, the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange has acted to block the penny-per-pound raise agreed to by McDonald's, Yum Brands, Burger King and others, by threatening to fine any grower who cooperates with the buyers and the CIW. The extra penny paid out by these companies now sits in an escrow account, and workers in the fields continue making the same dismal wage. The growers clearly fear the power tomato pickers have galvanized through the efforts of the CIW and Chipotle's refusal to sign an agreement with the CIW only bolsters the growers' intransigence.





Last month, another national-scale food company with a social mission, Bon Appetit, signed a far-reaching deal with CIW that goes well beyond the penny per pound raise. We urge you to study the CIW-Bamco agreement and step up your efforts to identify growers - big or small - who will work with you to make "food with integrity" truly "fair food."





If Chipotle is sincere in its wishes to reform its supply chain, the time has come to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers as a true partner in the protection of farmworkers rights.
Respectfully,
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MORE:
The main force behind the drive to improve conditions of farm labour in Florida is the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Here is more from their website about the hypocrisy of Chipotle.
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HYPOCRISY AND CHIPOCRICY:
Dictionary:
hy·poc·ri·sy
1. The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.
Dictionary:
Chi·poc·ri·sy...
6/22/09: The phenomenon known as "Chipocrisy" was in the news this past week, beginning with the June 15th open letter by more than two dozen leading sustainable food activists calling on Chipotle to live up to its claims of "Food with Integrity" and "work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers as a true partner in the protection of farmworkers' rights."





But it didn't stop there. Also last week, the ABC news show "Nightline" did a piece on Chipotle's relationship with Polyface Farms, a model sustainable farm in Virginia that, in the words of owner Joel Salatin, "fully respects and honors the pigness of the pig." (Believe it or not these flac runners say things like this all the time with a totally straight face-Molly)





In the same Nightline story, Chipotle CEO Steve Ells professed, "I think it's really important that people know where their food comes from. I mean we spend a lot of time researching the very best sources, so that when people go to Chipotle, they can rest assured they are getting the very best food."





Really? The Nightline piece, while valuable for shedding light on Mr. Salatin's admirable operation, was incomplete, and therefore deeply flawed. By allowing Mr. Ells to effectively direct the spotlight, the story revealed only that part of Chipotle's supply chain that the company wished to showcase, creating the impression of an ethical restaurant company that indeed earns its claim to "Food with Integrity."





If, however, Nightline had only turned that same spotlight on the fields where Chipotle's tomatoes are picked, perhaps it would have found that the "humanness" of the men and women who pick those tomatoes isn't afforded the same honor or respect.





This might be a good moment to quote a relevant passage from last week's impeccably-timed sustainable food movement letter to Mr. Ells:





"... (F)or us, naturally raised meat – important as it is – does not trump decently treated human beings... Your company has shown admirable leadership in working with – and incubating – meat suppliers willing to meet your higher standards. But your failure to do that same hard work in the Florida tomato industry – together with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) – threatens to render your announcement an empty gesture aimed more at public relations damage control than an effort to make real change."

Chipotle's failure to live up to the virtues it professes to hold dear was not lost, however, on one Denver-based blogger last week. Writing on the Denver Fair Food blog, "Robert" noted that, on its corporate website, Chipotle strongly recommends that its customers read Eric Schlosser's hard-hitting analysis of the fast-food industry's ills, "Fast Food Nation". The contradiction was too much to stomach for the Fair Food blogger, who undoes Chipotle's claims to sustainability using a series of quotes by none other than Mr. Schlosser himself. His conclusion is withering, and it shall be our conclusion here as well:





"... It’s abundantly obvious. Quoting Eric again: 'the exploitation of farm workers 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.' Plain and simple, the solution is for Chipotle to work in partnership with the CIW. That’s been Eric’s demand of fast-food companies for a long time and that’s his demand explicitly of Chipotle today.





It’s funny really, Chipotle isn’t listening to the guy that Chipotle recommends everyone listen to. Chipotle’s “further reading” is demanding that Chipotle go further, and yet Chipotle refuses to take its own advice. This is a phenomenon that’s become so common place we have a name for it: Chipocrisy.
That’s the thing about further reading – sometimes you end up eating your words."
Read the Denver Fair Food blog post in its entirety here.

AMERICAN LABOUR:

ANOTHER DEATH IN THE FIELDS OF CALIFORNIA:

The following story and appeal for a "virtual vigil" is from the United Farm Workers.

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Join the virtual vigil for heat victim Eladio HernandezTake action to prevent future deaths:
Fifteen farm workers have died of heat-related complications since July 2004. We will be conducting vigils on the anniversary of each of their deaths--where we will share the worker's story--and invite you to join in virtually by telling legislators and Gov. Schwarzenegger that enough is enough, farm workers need a tool where they can protect themselves.

On May 9, 2007, 54-year old Eladio Hernandez died while working under the scorching California sun. He was working for the farm labor contractor YNT Harvesting at Hillside Orchards in California's San Joaquin Valley. Eladio's story is especially horrendous as the company waited for almost 3 hours before calling for medical assistance. Even then, the foreman just took Eladio and dropped him off near the sorting facility and left him. Other workers were the ones who called 911. Co-worker Rodrigio Gonzalez told us how Eladio told workers, "I don't want to die." (Click to read Eladio's story.)

Cal OSHA initially fined the farm labor contractor YNT Harvesting $25,300 for being in serious violation of several health and safety standards. However, they later reduced the fine to $7,300--less than one third of the original fine. This is the system that is supposed to protect farm workers.

Disturbingly, in an April 2008 article, YNT employer, farm labor contractor Yolanda Calvillo said she operated her firm in a manner similar to that of other FLCs.

An OSHA inspection report's findings reveal that YNT's thoughtless and careless disregard for these regulations helped lead to Hernandez' death. Some of the findings outlined in the report include:

---"The field was located in a remote, isolated location and the employer failed to provide the crew boss proper equipment or a telephone communication system for contacting a doctor to avoid unnecessary delay in treatment. As a result, medical treatment was delayed and an employee of YNT Harvesting FLC died on 5/9/07. "

---"It was determined that employees were not acclimatized. The OSHA investigation report detailed how the employer callously disregarded this by saying, It would be impossible to check each employee and determine if the worker needed an extra break just because certain new hires were not used to working in the heat. She also stated that she could not monitor each individual employee because it would be discrimination to allow one employee more time for a break. "

Violations of the laws designed to protect farm workers occur every day and little is done. Complaints regarding lack of drinking water, shade and work breaks to make use of these simple, but lifesaving, measures are an everyday occurrence for farm workers. (To read more worker stories, click here.)

The state's failure to protect farm workers from heat illness is just one of the reasons farm workers need a system to protect themselves. It's why SB789 is so vital. SB789, CA Employee Free Choice Act for Farm Workers (Steinberg), will make it easier for farm workers to organize and help enforce the laws that California's government cannot enforce. SB789 passed the California state senate on April 23. It will next be heard in the state assembly and then go to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Please take action today and tell them to pass SB789, a bill that will give farm workers the power to protect themselves.

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THE LETTER:

Please go to the link below to send the following letter to the government of California.
http://www.ufwaction.org/ct/o7zuCuF1EcKN/takeaction

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Today I join with the UFW and thousands of others to mourn the passing of 54-year old farm worker Eladio Hernandez who died while working under the scorching California sun in May 9, 2007.

Fifteen farm workers have died of heat-related complications since July 2004. The UFW will be conducting vigils on the anniversary of each of their death to keep the memory of these hard working men and women alive and to tell you that enough is enough--farm workers need a tool where they can protect themselves.

Please support SB789, CA Employee Free Choice Act for Farm Workers (Steinberg), which has passed the senate and will next be heard in the assembly. This important bill will make it easier for farm workers to organize and enforce the laws that California's government is not enforcing.Eladio Hernandez died while working for the farm labor contractor YNT Harvesting at Hillside Orchards in California's San Joaquin Valley. Eladio's story is especially horrendous as the company waited for almost 3 hours before calling for medical assistance. Even then, the foreman just took Eladio and dropped him off near the sorting facility and left him. Other workers were the ones who called 911. Co-worker Rodrigio Gonzalez told us how Eladio told workers, "I don't want to die."

Cal OSHA initially fined the farm labor contractor YNT Harvesting $25,300 for being in serious violation of several health and safety standards. However, they later reduced the fine to $7,300--less than one third of the original fine. This is the system that is supposed to protect farm workers.

Disturbingly, in an April 2008 article, YNT employer, farm labor contractor Yolanda Calvillo said she operated her firm in a manner similar to that of other FLCs.

An OSHA inspection report's findings reveal that YNT's thoughtless and careless disregard for these regulations helped lead to Hernandez's death. Some of the findings outlined in the report include:
* The field was located in a remote, isolated location and the employer failed to provide the crew boss proper equipment or a telephone communication system for contacting a doctor to avoid unnecessary delay in treatment. As a result, medical treatment was delayed and an employee of YNT Harvesting FLC died on 5/9/07.
* It was determined that employees were not acclimatized. The OSHA investigation report detailed how the employer callously disregarded this by saying, It would be impossible to check each employee and determine if the worker needed an extra break just because certain new hires were not used to working in the heat. She also stated that she could not monitor each individual employee because it would be discrimination to allow one employee more time for a break.

Violations of the laws designed to protect farm workers occur every day and little is done.

Complaints regarding lack of drinking water, shade and work breaks to make use of these simple but lifesaving measures are an everyday occurrence for farm workers We need your help to do more to prevent unnecessary deaths from occurring this year. Having laws on the books that often are not enforced is not enough. Please pass SB789, a bill that will give farm workers the power to protect themselves.

AMERICAN LABOUR:

PUTTING THE HEAT ON ARNIE:

Despite a seemingly never ending stream of platitudes from the government of California farmworkers continue to die every year at a very unfortunate frequency. Here's an appeal from the United Farm Workers, asking you to put the heat on California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for action that really works to prevent these tragedies.

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Rhetoric is not enough to protect farm workers from the heat:
Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Cal-OSHA has announced today that they are kicking off a campaign to train employers to protect farm workers from the heat. Ironically, the same agency just proposed changes that actually undermine the current regulations aimed to protect workers from dying or becoming ill from extreme heat.

Teaching growers how to avoid illness and deaths among their workforce is important, but it’s not enough. At the same time, the governor must make sure the laws are enforced. Such a system surely includes giving farm workers the tools to protect themselves.

For the past four years, the United Farm Workers has worked tirelessly to prevent heat deaths. In response to pressure from the UFW and their supporters, Gov. Schwarzenegger issued heat regulations. Despite these regulations, six farm workers died in the summer of 2008—as the rules went unenforced and ignored by employers.

The evidence points to neglect--not ignorance--as the cause of farm worker deaths. Also, the state's consistent reduction of fines for violations has made these regulations ineffective. Please take action today and help us tell the governor that more of the same will not prevent deaths. Farm workers need a system that works. This requires a multi-faceted approach which would include: enforcing existing laws, giving farm workers the tools to protect themselves, and seeking serious criminal penalties for those whose gross negligence has caused the death of innocent people.

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THE LETTER:

Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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Since you have been governor, 15 farm workers' deaths have been investigated as heat-related. This is simply unacceptable. Your state agency, Cal-OSHA, has just announced that they are kicking off a campaign to train employers to protect farm workers from the heat. Teaching growers how to avoid illness and deaths among their workforce is important, but it's not enough.
More of the same will not prevent deaths. Farm workers need a system that works. This requires a multi-faceted approach which would include: enforcing existing laws, giving farm workers the tools to protect themselves, and seeking serious criminal penalties for those whose gross negligence has caused the death of innocent people.

For the past four years, the United Farm Workers has worked tirelessly to prevent heat deaths among farm workers. In 2006, you issued new heat regulations. However despite these regulations, six farm workers died in the summer of 2008--as the rules went unenforced and ignored by the employers.

The evidence points to neglect--not ignorance--as the cause of farm worker deaths. In addition, the state's consistent reduction of fines for violations has rendered these regulations ineffective. After last summer's death of 17-year old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez you said, "Maria's death should have been prevented, and all Californians must do everything in their power to ensure no other worker suffers the same fate." You promised to "work together in California to prevent this from happening to anyone else." Your enforcement has not saved lives. And your administration has not "rigorously enforced" the law.

In May 2008, 17-year old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez died of heat illness, working for Merced Farm Labor. The Associated Press reported that the state ignored collecting the fine on Merced Farm Labor for not complying with heat regulations back in 2006. Worse, the state also did not perform follow-up inspections. Consequently, young Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez died while working at a company that provided no shade, did not have adequate water, and had no emergency plan in place. All due to the same type of negligence Cal-OSHA had fined the same company for in 2006. After Maria Isabel's death, you boasted that enforcement was at its highest level. Yet sadly, the lives of five more farm workers were lost this past summer.

It's time to stop talking and to start taking action.

CANADIAN LABOUR:

LABOUR RIGHTS FOR ONTARIO FARMWORKERS:

While here in Manitoba farm workers won their first ever union contract last June down Ontario way the provincial government bans them from joining unions and going on strike. This legislation was overturned as violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by a decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal last November. Yet the Ontario government, wanting to keep its repressive legislation intact, is planning to take the case to the Supreme Court. Here's the story from the IUF.

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Canadian Supreme Court to Rule if Farmworkers are Human Beings… or 'Disposable Tools':

Human rights, including the right of workers to form trade unions, to strike and to bargain collectively with employers, are universal and indivisible rights which inhere in all human beings by virtue of their humanity.

The Liberal Party government of the Canadian province of Ontario, however, is challenging this notion by calling on the Supreme Court of Canada to rule whether farmworkers are in fact human beings, or part-time, precarious humans who abandon their humanity when they are working.

Federal Canadian legislation explicitly excludes agricultural workers. In 1990, when Ontario was governed by the union-backed New Democratic Party, provincial legislation was adopted affirming agricultural workers' right to form unions. The law was replaced with a new ban on union organization in the sector when the provincial Tory party came to power in 1995. In 2001, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down this legislative exclusion, resulting in Ontario's 2002 "Agricultural Employees Protection Act" This law gives Ontario farmworkers the "right" to form "associations" but denies them the right to join a union, bargain collectively or go on strike.

In response to legal action by UFCW Canada arising from its organizing work at the country's largest mushroom producer, Rol-Land Farms, the Ontario Court of Appeal last November told the Ontario government to drop its ban on farmworker unions because it violates the human rights set out in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms embedded in the federal Constitution. The provincial government was given one year to bring in legislation to allow farmworkers to participate in the provincial industrial relations regime by bargaining collectively with employers. Many of these agricultural workers are temporary foreign workers (TFWs) or workers who come to Ontario under the Federal Government’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program from countries such as Mexico, Jamaica, and Thailand.

On January 13, The Liberal Pary government of Ontario Premier McGuinty confirmed its intention to appeal to the country's Supreme Court.

The appeal was slammed by the UFCW, which has led the fight for farmworker rights. UFCW Canada together with the Agriculture Workers Alliance operates eight support centres across Canada.

In June 2008, in the province of Manitoba, the UFCW won the first-ever collective bargaining agreement to apply to seasonal migrant workers in Canada. The recognition victory at Mayfair Farms capped a nearly two-year struggle in which the company challenged the initial union certification, arguing that the Mayfair Farm workers were not employees of the company, nor was the company an employer, since the labour was contracted by the Canadian and Mexican governments. The workers were therefore not to be considered as employees for collective bargaining purposes. The Manitoba Labour Board in a comprehensive decision last year rejected these contentions, invoking the language of the Manitoba Labour Relations Act that “employee means a person employed to do work and includes any person designated by the board as an employee for the purposes of this Act.” Mayfair functioned as an employer in, for example setting hours and conditions of work. "Viable and meaningful collective bargaining” was therefore possible, the Board ruled.

So in Manitoba, at least, farmworkers are "employees". The Supreme Court will now decide whether they are human beings, with all the corresponding rights set out in international human rights law. Rol-Land Farms, where the UFCW has been heavily engaged in organizing, last December announced the repatriation of over 50 Guatemalan workers labouring in Ontario under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. One month earlier, the company had fired a group of some 70 workers from Mexico and Jamaica. Many of these workers had not earned enough to repay loans needed to pay for the application fees, visas and medicals which the TFW rules require.

UFCW president Wayne Hanley has denounced the migrant worker programs for treating immigrants as "disposable tools", demanding that migrant workers be granted permanent resident status.

AMERICAN LABOUR:

LATEST SUCCESS FOR THE COALITION OF IMMOKALEE WORKERS:

Founded in 1993 the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW)has tirelessly struggled to improve the lot of its immigrant farmworker members and halt abuses by Florida tomato growers that amount to modern day slavery. This "community-based worker organization" has settled on pressuring the corporate customers of the growers to pay an increased price to assure higher wages for the labourers involved. This is their "penny a pound" campaign. Their first success was with Yum Foods, owners of the Taco Bell chain, in 2005. In 2007 it was the turn of the McDonald's chain which, after 5 years of resistance agreed to the CIW's demands. Earlier this year the recalcitrant Burger King franchise which once hired spies to gather information on the CIW came to terms, and last September Whole Foods market agreed as well. Now, yet another corporate domino has fallen- the Subway Restaurant group. Here's the story from the AFL-CIO Blog. See the CIW website for more details.

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TOMATO WORKERS WIN AGREEMENT WITH SUBWAY:

The campaign to bring better wages and improve working conditions to Florida’s tomato fields took a big step last week when the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) reached agreement with Subway, the world’s third largest fast-food chain and biggest fast-food buyer of Florida tomatoes.

Subway also joins other fast-food industry leaders and the CIW in calling on the Florida tomato industry to institute an industry-wide penny per pound surcharge to increase wages for all Florida tomato harvesters. That means the workers will get 72 cents to 77 cents for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick, up from 40 cents to 45 cents.

Subway is the latest restaurant or supermarket chain to sign an agreement with CIW. Yum! Brands, McDonald’s, Burger King and Whole Foods Market all have signed pacts. Geraldo Reyes of CIW says:

" With this agreement, the four largest restaurant companies in the world have now joined their voices to the growing call for a more modern, more humane agricultural industry in Florida. Now it is time for other fast-food companies and the supermarket industry to follow suit and for the promise of long-overdue labor reform in Florida’s fields contained in these agreements to be made real. "

The Subway/CIW pact also calls for a tougher supplier code of conduct that allows farm workers to help monitor the growers’ compliance and includes strict “zero tolerance” guidelines for the most egregious labor rights violations. Subway also has voluntarily extended the higher standards to its entire supply chain, not just tomatoes.

Gerardo Reyes (seated, right) of the CIW and Jan Risi of Subway’s purchasing arm celebrate the signing of an agreement to improve wages and working conditions in Florida’s tomato fields.
Leading up to all the agreements, the AFL-CIO mobilized thousands of workers to march, rally and protest the injustice in the tomato fields.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has championed the tomato workers’ cause, says the new agreement is “yet another blow to the scourge of slavery that continues to exist in the tomato fields of Florida.”

"Subway is to be congratulated for moving to ensure that none of its products are harvested by slave or near-slave labor. Sadly, too many other companies continue to tolerate this travesty.
The tomato workers also picked up some high-profile support from the religious community."

The Rev. Gradye Parsons, the top official of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), issued a statement praising the CIW and Subway for their agreement and challenging the remainder of the retail food industry to now follow suit.

"Subway’s decision sends an unmistakable message to the rest of the retail food industry and to Florida growers: The industry can and must ensure human rights for farm workers…
…Will the rest of the restaurant and grocery industry now step forward to become part of this momentous advance for human rights? The answer is not only up to the companies but to those of us who are conscious consumers as well. "

A little more than a week ago, more than 80 human rights, labor, student, faith and community organizations—members of the Alliance for Fair Food—sent a letter to some 50 supermarket, restaurant and food service companies calling on them to join the fight for justice in the tomato fields. The letter says, in part:

"It is vitally important that your company take an active role in advancing human rights and fair wages for farm workers given that your company’s low-cost, high-volume tomato purchasing practices help to create conditions in the fields where poverty wages and other human rights abuses flourish. Through these purchasing practices, retail food companies such as yours share responsibility for farm worker poverty and human rights abuses. However, your company also has the power to be a leader by improving wages and conditions in your supply chain by working with the CIW to implement socially responsible purchasing practices."

The Subway agreement came the same day that CIW began a Northeast Fair Food Tour to 10 cities along the East Coast to educate people about their cause and to highlight the role supermarkets and restaurants can play in solving the problem.

The tour began in Miami and continues through Dec. 10 with stops in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; Philadelphia; Boston; Providence, R.I.; New Haven and Milford, Conn.; and New York City. For more information and to follow the tour, click here.