Slavery in Florida. Just sayin'...

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Labor in America: kidnapped, drugged, beaten, murdered.

http://www.ciw-online.org/slavery.html

The tomatoes these men pick are purchased by Taco Bell and Burger King. Others harvest our oranges.





These trailers are owned by the management of the tomato farm. Workers are kidnapped and forced to work here. Sometimes beaten and drugged. They earn $50 a day for hauling 2 tons of tomatoes. The management charges them $1200 a month to rent one of these trailers. Ten workers live together in the single-wide trailers without air conditioning in order to survive. (If the rent is $1200, imagine how much the food costs at the company store.) It's like slavery, accept you tease the slaves by giving them a little money and making them 'indebted' to you.


Some other quotes:

At one labor camp:
The employers were charged with beating workers who were unwilling to work or who attempted to leave their employ picking tomatoes, holding their workers in debt, and chaining and locking workers inside u-haul trucks as punishment

At another:
The workers, mostly indigenous Mexicans and Guatemalans, were forced to work 10-12 hour days, 6 days per week, for as little as $20 per week, under the watch of armed guards. Those who attempted escape were assaulted, pistol-whipped, and even shot.

At another:
Operating in Florida and North Carolina, Ron Evans recruited homeless U.S. citizens from shelters across the Southeast, including New Orleans, Tampa, and Miami, with promises of good jobs and housing. At Palatka, FL and Newton Grove, NC area labor camps, the Evans' deducted rent, food, crack cocaine and alcohol from workers' pay, holding them "perpetually indebted" in what the DOJ called "a form of servitude morally and legally reprehensible." The Palatka labor camp was surrounded by a chain link fence topped with barbed wire, with a No Trespassing sign.

[ngant17]

1. some of this story isn't believeable

for one thing, there's no way you could get a crack cocaine addict to work as a farm hand picking tomatoes all day in the hot Florid sun. So if they are paying workers in crack cocaine, work productivity is guaranteed to immediately decline.

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3. Well, I guess the Department of Justice felt it was believable. Harper's Magazine too.

Didn't you follow the link?

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6. Forbes Magazine, Ft. Myers News-Press, The New Yorker, BBC World News have all covered this story.

* "Slaves to Profit," Review of "Nobodies" in Forbes Magazine, 12/07

* “Group accused of keeping, beating, stealing from Immokalee laborers,” Ft. Myers News-Presss, 1/08

* CIW wins 2007 Anti-Slavery International Award in London!... See a report from the award ceremony here

* "Coalition honored for war on slavery," Ft. Myers News Press, 11/07

* "Labor camps keep workers in servitude with crack cocaine," Naples Daily News, 9/06

* "Nobodies: Does slavery exist in America?," New Yorker, 4/03

* "21st Century Slaves," National Geographic, 10/03

* "Modern-day Slavery: Still Harvesting Shame," Multi-part special report, Palm Beach Post, 12/03

* "Fear and knowing in Immokalee," St. Petersburg Times,12/02

* "Florida employers guilty of slavery," Labor Note 8/02

* "Trafficking for labour," BBC World News radio report

* "For pickers, slavery tastes like tomatoes," Op/Ed Palm Beach Post 3/03

* "Report: Modern-day slavery alive and well in Florida," CNN 2/04

* "Slavery? In Florida? In 2003? Yes," Palm Beach Post Op/Ed 11/03

* "Esclavitud en el siglo XXI," Univision (reporte de internet con Jorge Ramos), Enero 2004

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7. A list of some slavery charges against bosses in Florida

U.S. vs. Flores -- In 1997, Miguel Flores and Sebastian Gomez were sentenced to 15 years each in federal prison on slavery, extortion, and firearms charges, amongst others. Flores and Gomez had a workforce of over 400 men and women in Florida and South Carolina, harvesting vegetables and citrus. The workers, mostly indigenous Mexicans and Guatemalans, were forced to work 10-12 hour days, 6 days per week, for as little as $20 per week, under the watch of armed guards. Those who attempted escape were assaulted, pistol-whipped, and even shot. The case was brought to federal authorities after five years of investigation by escaped workers and CIW members.

U.S. vs. Cuello -- In 1999, Abel Cuello was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison on slavery charges. He had held more than 30 tomato pickers in two trailers in the isolated swampland west of Immokalee, keeping them under constant watch. Three workers escaped the camp, only to have their boss track them down a few weeks later. The employer ran one of them down with his car, stating that he owned them. The workers sought help from the CIW and the police, and the CIW worked with the DOJ on the ensuing investigation. Cuello worked for Manley Farms North Inc., a major Bonita Springs tomato supplier. Once out of prison, Cuello supplied labor to Ag-Mart Farms, a tomato company operating in Florida and North Carolina.

U.S. vs. Tecum - In 2001, Jose Tecum was sentenced to 9 years in federal prison on slavery and kidnapping charges. He forced a young woman to work against her will both in the tomato fields around Immokalee, and in his home. The CIW assisted the DOJ with the prosecution, including victim and witness assistance.

U.S. vs. Lee - In 2001, Michael Lee was sentenced to 4 years in federal prison and 3 years supervised release on a slavery conspiracy charge. He pled guilty to using crack cocaine, threats, and violence to enslave his workers. Lee held his workers in forced labor, recruiting homeless U.S. citizens for his operation, creating a "company store" debt through loans for rent, food, cigarettes, and cocaine. He abducted and beat one of his workers to prevent him from leaving his employ. Lee harvested for orange growers in the Fort Pierce, FL area.

U.S. vs. Ramos - In 2004, Ramiro and Juan Ramos were sentenced to 15 years each in federal prison on slavery and firearms charges, and the forfeiture of over $3 million in assets. The men, who had a workforce of over 700 farmworkers in the citrus groves of Florida, as well as the fields of North Carolina, threatened workers with death if they were to try to leave, and pistol-whipped and assaulted -- at gunpoint -- passenger van service drivers who gave rides to farmworkers leaving the area. The case was brought to trial by the DOJ after two years of investigation by the CIW. The Ramoses harvested for Consolidated Citrus and Lykes Brothers, among others.

U.S. vs. Ronald Evans -- In 2007, Florida employer Ron Evans was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on drug conspiracy, financial re-structuring, and witness tampering charges, among others. Jequita Evans was also sentenced to 20 years, and Ron Evans Jr. to 10 years. Operating in Florida and North Carolina, Ron Evans recruited homeless U.S. citizens from shelters across the Southeast, including New Orleans, Tampa, and Miami, with promises of good jobs and housing. At Palatka, FL and Newton Grove, NC area labor camps, the Evans' deducted rent, food, crack cocaine and alcohol from workers' pay, holding them "perpetually indebted" in what the DOJ called "a form of servitude morally and legally reprehensible." The Palatka labor camp was surrounded by a chain link fence topped with barbed wire, with a No Trespassing sign. The CIW and a Miami-based homeless outreach organization (Touching Miami with Love) began the investigation and reported the case to federal authorities in 2003. In Florida, Ron Evans worked for grower Frank Johns. Johns was 2004 Chairman of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, the powerful lobbying arm of the Florida agricultural industry. As of 2007, he remained the Chairman of the FFVA's Budget and Finance Committee.

[cornermouse]

2. Wouldn't deducting costs of crack cocaine from a

paycheck put someone in the position of being a drug dealer and result in prison time?

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4. Yes. And many of the owners are in prison now.

See the link.

[flashl]

5. Slavery cases in Florida are numerous and well documented. The U.S. and FL LEO are slow to respond.

[TreasonousBastard]

8. Aside from the crack, I have seen these conditions...

on Long Island back in the 80s when crew leaders went to the shelters in NYC and recruited men with promises of fresh air and good pay. Some crews came up from the South, but we never figured out just what the mix was. Not that many Hispanics visible in the 80s.

The famous documentary "Harvest of Shame" highlighted conditions around Cutchogue, Long Island, and while there were claims that things were cleaned up, the camps remained at least into the 80s and there were outbreaks of tuberculosis and other health problems the county refused to deal with.

It's better now, as this Newsday story claims, and many of the ruder camps have been closed. Local houses have been bought for workers, who are now primarily Hispanic again, but Newsday doesn't seem to have been able to get farmers to admit how much of that is going on.

http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-history-hs815g,0,7944138.story

BTW, speaking of Hispanics, thanks to the Federal immigration cockups, local businesses, and not just farmers, are worrying about just how they're going to be able to hire this summer. The winter homeless program I help with is usually loaded with Hispanics of vague legal status toward the beginning of spring when they show up looking for jobs and housing, but this year there were none.