Recipes, both original and favorite ones from other authors. Vegetarian with vegan-friendly (most of the time!) options.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Farm Workers

So, here's the promised food politics on this blog. This just arrived in my inbox:

Farm workers who pick tomatoes for McDonald's sandwiches earn 40 to 50 cents
for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick, a rate that has not risen
significantly in nearly 30 years.Workers who toil from dawn to dusk without the
right to overtime pay or any benefits must pick two tons of tomatoes to earn
$50 in one day. Worse yet, modern-day slavery has reemerged in Florida's fields;
since 1997, the U.S. Department of Justice has prosecuted five slavery rings,
freeing more than 1,000 workers.As a major buyer of Florida tomatoes, McDonald's
high-volume, low-cost purchasing practices place downward pressure on farmworker
wages, putting corporate profits before human dignity.

+ Click Here to Tell McDonald's to Ensure Fair Wages for Farmworkers: http://go.sojo.net/ct/-dwa1h71eR7p/Fair_Wages

Source: Sojourners e-newsletter

2 comments:

Harmonia said...

Thank you for posting those stats. It seems some large corporate businesses can't seem to do MUCH right can they? hummm...

Anonymous said...

yes and they are all illegal aliens who have broken our laws to get here. I am far more concerned about the loss of american jobs to american workers than about taking care of a bunch of people who snuck into our country against the law anyway. these companies are more than happy to hire illegals because then they can pay them real cheap. they would never get away with treating american workers the way they treat illegals. if they were forced to pay a decent wage not only would it stop the exploitation but I bet it would take care of a lot of the illegal immigration problem too.

 
SC