What is life like for Florida farmworkers right now?
Florida is one of the most backward states in relation to organizing agricultural workers. Many people may remember Harvest of Shame, [Edward R. Murrow’s 1960] documentary that dramatized the horrendous conditions facing workers in the fields. More than 40 years later, all that has changed are the faces. During the past five years, we have taken before the Department of Justice documentation of three slavery operations existing in our midst. One employer, for instance, held more than 400 people in bondage, forcing them to work 10 to 12 hour days, six days a week, for as little as $20 a day. They were watched by armed guards in both the fields and camps. After years of investigation, two crew leaders were sentenced in 1997 to 15 years each in federal prison. Another employer is serving three years for having held some 30 other workers in two trailers in a swamp near Immokalee. The third case is still under investigation. What has the CIW been able to accomplish in terms of actually chan
