[PEN-L:7420] Pickle workers put things in perspective

[Tom Lehman <uswa12@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Slave-like conditions

Impoverished farmworkers in North Carolina
face conditions among the most oppressive in
the United States. A statement by a grower near
New Bern, quoted at FLOC¹s website, puts the
slave-like conditions in perspective: "The North
won the War on paper but we confederates
actually won because we kept our slaves. First
we had sharecroppers, then tenant farmers, and
now we have Mexicans." Another grower
claimed ownership of the workers, and said they
could not talk to FLOC representatives without
going through the North Carolina Growers
Association, which has a contract with the
Department of Labor that allows growers to
prohibit visitors from seeing migrant workers
living in housing owned by the growers. All this
is legal under the federal government¹s "guest
worker" program, H2A.

In a scenario eerily reminiscent of the days of
the Confederacy, about 100 "guest workers" in
Pink Hill had to escape their grower under the
cover of darkness. Workers at this grower ?
known as El Diablo (The Devil) ? had been
forced to work 14-hour days, with only one
break to ride a bus back to the camp and eat
lunch ? all in a half-hour. Their
"accommodations" included no mattresses or
sheets. And there are rumors that workers there
have been beaten and held at gunpoint. FLOC,
which did not initiate the walkout in Pink Hill,
learned of it after the fact.

In a scenario eerily reminiscent of the days of
the Confederacy, about 100 "guest workers" in
Pink Hill had to escape their grower under the
cover of darkness. Workers at this grower ?
known as El Diablo (The Devil) ? had been
forced to work 14-hour days, with only one
break to ride a bus back to the camp and eat
lunch ? all in a half-hour. Their
"accommodations" included no mattresses or
sheets. And there are rumors that workers there
have been beaten and held at gunpoint. FLOC,
which did not initiate the walkout in Pink Hill,
learned of it after the fact.

In a scenario eerily reminiscent of the days of
the Confederacy, about 100 "guest workers" in
Pink Hill had to escape their grower under the
cover of darkness. Workers at this grower ?
known as El Diablo (The Devil) ? had been
forced to work 14-hour days, with only one
break to ride a bus back to the camp and eat
lunch ? all in a half-hour. Their
"accommodations" included no mattresses or
sheets. And there are rumors that workers there
have been beaten and held at gunpoint. FLOC,
which did not initiate the walkout in Pink Hill,
learned of it after the fact.

In a scenario eerily reminiscent of the days of
the Confederacy, about 100 "guest workers" in
Pink Hill had to escape their grower under the
cover of darkness. Workers at this grower ?
known as El Diablo (The Devil) ? had been
forced to work 14-hour days, with only one
break to ride a bus back to the camp and eat
lunch ? all in a half-hour. Their
"accommodations" included no mattresses or
sheets. And there are rumors that workers there
have been beaten and held at gunpoint. FLOC,
which did not initiate the walkout in Pink Hill,
learned of it after the fact.

In a scenario eerily reminiscent of the days of
the Confederacy, about 100 "guest workers" in
Pink Hill had to escape their grower under the
cover of darkness. Workers at this grower ?
known as El Diablo (The Devil) ? had been
forced to work 14-hour days, with only one
break to ride a bus back to the camp and eat
lunch ? all in a half-hour. Their
"accommodations" included no mattresses or
sheets. And there are rumors that workers there
have been beaten and held at gunpoint. FLOC,
which did not initiate the walkout in Pink Hill,
learned of it after the fact.

In a scenario eerily reminiscent of the days of
the Confederacy, about 100 "guest workers" in
Pink Hill had to escape their grower under the
cover of darkness. Workers at this grower ?
known as El Diablo (The Devil) ? had been
forced to work 14-hour days, with only one
break to ride a bus back to the camp and eat
lunch ? all in a half-hour. Their
"accommodations" included no mattresses or
sheets. And there are rumors that workers there
have been beaten and held at gunpoint. FLOC,
which did not initiate the walkout in Pink Hill,
learned of it after the fact.

In a scenario eerily reminiscent of the days of
the Confederacy, about 100 "guest workers" in
Pink Hill had to escape their grower under the
cover of darkness. Workers at this grower ?
known as El Diablo (The Devil) ? had been
forced to work 14-hour days, with only one
break to ride a bus back to the camp and eat
lunch ? all in a half-hour. Their
"accommodations" included no mattresses or
sheets. And there are rumors that workers there
have been beaten and held at gunpoint. FLOC,
which did not initiate the walkout in Pink Hill,
learned of it after the fact.

This was sent to me by Mike Ferner of FLOC from a story written by Scott
Cooper.  If you would like to help FLOC email Mike at  mferner@xxxxxxxx