Think slavery was ended in the United States with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863? Some farm workers in Florida don’t. These are the workers who make up the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and they are embarking on a multi-city Modern Slavery tour this summer. The tour has worked its way up the East Coast and is headed to New York City from August 2 to August 4.
The tour consists of a produce truck of the same model that farmworkers were locked and chained inside of in one of the latest slavery prosecutions (U.S. v. Navarrete, 2008), accompanied by displays on the history and evolution of slavery in Florida agriculture. The creators of the tour include workers who have escaped from one of the seven farms raided by the Justice Department for using slave labor.
The CIW is a group of farm workers who toil in the fields around Immokalee, Florida. Faced with low pay and grueling work conditions, these primarily Central American, Mexican and Haitian workers banded together to demand job improvements from the farm owners. However, they soon learned that multinational food companies dictated prices to the growers who, in turn, forced down wages.
The CIW then embarked on a mutli-city solidarity campaign to pressure food companies to support a one cent a bushel increase in the salaries of tomato pickers in Immokalee. But, the workers couldn’t do it alone. Working with allies in the Student Farmworker Alliance, picket campaigns supported the workers’ demands. Eventually, the pressure forced concessions from giants such as Taco Bell, Burger King and Whole Foods.
The Modern Slavery tour is meant to continue this process by putting the conditions of farm workers on vivid display for Northern consumers. Organizer Gerardo Reyes sees a continuity between old and new forms of slavery, "Slavery in Florida agriculture today is not separate from the past - indeed, its roots extend deep within our state's history. Farmworkers have always been, and remain today, the state's poorest, least powerful workers."
The tour’s stop in New York City is particularly important since a solidarity campaign is being launched that targets Trader Joe’s. Once again, a large-scale enterprise that advertises healthy organic food has decided to hold out against the one cent demand of the CIW. And, once again, pickets and protests will back the workers.
On August 2nd the tour will appear at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue. On the 3rd at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South and the 4th Middle Collegiate Church, 50 E. 7th Street (between First and Second Avenues). All of the events will run from 10 am until 9 pm.
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Billy Wharton is the editor of the Socialist WebZine, a writer and activist whose articles have appeared in the Washington Post, the NYC Indypendent, Spectrezine and the Monthly Review Zine. He can be reached at whartonbilly@gmail.com
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