The Political Bridge

Report of the Kentucky Poverty Task Force; Issued December, 2009 from Rep. Reginald Meeks, Member

 

One of the most persistent issues facing the Commonwealth is that of poverty.  Many questions have been raised from the work of the Kentucky Poverty Task Force:  how do we acknowledge and recognize poverty as it manifests itself in different communities across the state; what safeguards are in place to help Kentucky families break the cycle of poverty; and how do we realize the policy decisions needed to adequately respond to the many ways poverty impacts each of us.

Speaker Greg Stumbo and House Leadership understood the need for an in-depth study of poverty in the Commonwealth.  I was honored to be asked to serve on this important task force, which included 25 members of the House. We studied, reviewed data and information, and heard testimony throughout the summer and fall on five (5) key areas of impact.  Our purpose was to examine national and regional efforts -- current and emerging -- which might be effective in fighting poverty in Kentucky. The task force was also to report on recommendations for legislative actions.  We met four (4) times in the 2009 Interim to gather information and formulate recommendations.

The key areas of impact we examined included (1) an overview of poverty in the state; defining it and putting it in a national context. We also made several policy recommendations; (2) a look at children in poverty in the state, and programs that are available to these children; we heard from a number of offices and agencies providing services to this vulnerable population; (3) financial literacy and bank financing along with available programs and policy recommendations in these areas; (4) transportation issues in both rural and urban communities and issues related to access to transportation in these areas; and finally (5) addressing the issue of homelessness in the Commonwealth and the related mental health issues accompanying this population; and having a special emphasis on the homeless veteran population in the state.

Please see a copy of our work at http://www.lrc.ky.gov/lrcpubs/rm504.pdf

As always, your feedback is encouraged.

[email protected]

502.564.8100

 

Take Action to Help Farm Workers: Join the Student/Farmworker Campaign to End the Harvest of Shame

From the Student/Farmworker Alliance

The Student/Farmworker Alliance, in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), is calling on food service industry leaders Aramark and Sodexo to do their part to end the exploitation of farmworkers in their supply chains! Add your voice to this call today by sending a message to executives at Aramark and Sodexo!

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: End the Harvest of Shame

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Robert Dennill, Associate Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility Aramark 1101 Market St. Philadelphia, PA 19107

Michel Landel, Chief Executive Officer Sodexo 255, quai de la Bataille de Stalingrad 92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux France

Arlin Wasserman, Vice President, Corporate Citizenship Sodexo 9801 Washingtonian Blvd. Gaithersburg, MD 20878

As concerned students and community members, we urge your companies to follow the recent example set by Compass Group North America in working with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to eliminate human rights violations in its tomato supply chain.

According to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, "the norm is a disaster, and the extreme is slavery" for tomato harvesters in Florida's fields. The tomato picking piece rate has remained stagnant since 1980. A worker today must pick and haul roughly two and a half tons of tomatoes to earn minimum wage for a typical ten-hour day. These wages -- combined with the precarious and seasonal nature of farm labor -- result in workers' sub-poverty annual earnings and create an environment where horrific forms of labor abuse flourish.

In the extreme, workers face situations of forced labor. The CIW -- a Florida-based human rights organization leading the movement to reform the state's farm labor relations -- has aided the US Department of Justice in the successful prosecution of seven modern-day slavery cases involving a total of more than one thousand farmworkers in the past decade.

On September 25, the CIW and Compass Group North America announced sweeping changes to improve tomato harvesters' wages and working conditions. Compass is the first major foodservice provider to join Yum Brands, McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Whole Foods Market and Bon Appetit Management Company in partnering with the CIW to address the human rights crisis in Florida's fields.

Now we turn to your companies. Aramark and Sodexo claim to adhere to high standards of corporate citizenship and social responsibility, and to hold your suppliers to those same standards.

With news of the Compass agreement, your companies can no longer claim that they meet the highest ethical standards. We expect that Aramark and Sodexo will follow suit and establish agreements with the CIW with all due diligence to demand those same higher standards of your tomato suppliers. Until that time, however, we have no choice but to intensify our educational efforts to inform our campuses and communities of Aramark's and Sodexo's role in prolonging Florida's harvest of shame.

Sincerely,

Sincerely,   Campaign Launched:
October 13, 2009

Background Information

On September 25, 2009, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW; a Florida-based worker-led farmworker organization) and Compass Group North America (parent company of campus food service provider Chartwells) announced sweeping changes to improve tomato harvesters' wages and working conditions. The groundbreaking agreement signals, in the words of US Senator Bernie Sanders, "the beginning of the end of the harvest of shame that has existed for far too long in Florida's tomato fields."

Farmworkers who pick tomatoes for the corporate food industry are among the country's worst-paid, least protected workers. They earn about 45 cents for every 32-lb. bucket of tomatoes they pick -- a rate that has not changed significantly in 30 years -- working from dusk to dawn without the right to overtime pay. They receive no benefits and are excluded from the right to organize. In the most extreme cases, workers are held against their will by their employers through threats or violence. There have been seven federal prosecutions by the Department of Justice for forced labor in the Florida agricultural industry in the past eleven years, involving a total of well over one thousand farmworkers.

Through an alliance of farmworkers and consumers, the CIW has reached historic agreements with Yum Brands (parent company of Taco Bell), McDonald's, Burger King, Whole Foods, Subway, food service provider Bon Appetit, and Compass to directly improve farmworker wages and working conditions and set new standards for social responsibility in Florida agriculture.

Aramark and Sodexo, however, have refused to come to the table and work with the CIW.

While farmworkers toil in poverty and endure human rights abuses, students have little to no say in where the food on their campuses comes from and under what conditions it was produced, or in the procurement policies of their universities and the corporations they contract with.

Video Presentation: U.S. Senate Hearing into the Mistreatment of Farm Workers in Florida

The Ghosts of Thanksgiving 1960: Pax Americana and the Harvest of Shame by DrTed

Thanksgiving Weekend 1960 was the best of times for America, which was about to enter a glamorous new frontier.  

Pax Americana was everlasting.  We were, undeniably, the supreme military power on earth, with the capacity to bomb any country from here to eternity.   Few Americans were bothered by military skirmishes happening in such remote and strange-sounding countries as The Congo, Laos, and Vietnam.  

The American economic machine dominated the globe.  Automakers rolled out cars at a record pace. George Romney had just added the compact car to America Motor Company’s fleet.    

Thanksgiving 1960 herald a golden age of sports. The American Football League commenced play that Fall as did the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings. Cassius Clay won his first professional bout after bringing home the gold from Rome.

Nothing could seemingly shake White America’s sense of comfort. 

However, at 10:00 Eastern Time on Friday the 25^th, Fred Friendly and Edward R. Murrow endeavored to do just that by airing: “CBS Reports: A Harvest of Shame.”   For fifty-five minutes, the programs’ audience watched disturbing scenes (underscored by Murrow’s hard-hitting words) of migrant workers’ picking our (Thanksgiving) food for very little money under the most horrible of working conditions.  Morrow and Friendly juxtaposed these scenes of human bondage with those of the growers enjoying the fruits of the harvest (Edward R Murrow).

 Murrow closed that program (and his broadcasting career) with these words:

    “…The people you have seen have the strength to harvest your fruit and   vegetables. They do not have the strength to influence legislation. Maybe we do. Good night, and Good Luck” (Harvest of Shame)

In the nearly fifty ensuing years, America has gone to the Moon and beyond and has won the Cold War. Its technological geniuses have helped re-shape the world.  The financial markets (as manifested by the Dow Jones Industrial Index) have soared a thousand-fold.  An African American has become President.  Cassius Clay has become Muhammad Ali aka “The Greatest,” and the Dallas Cowboys are America’s team.

Caesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and others have formed the United Farm Workers (UFW), which has organized over 27,000 farm workers. Farm workers and their families now have health insurance, credit unions and pension plans thanks to the UFW.The UFW has also enabled Hispanic farm workers to flex their political muscle, as manifested by recent rallies in support of comprehensive immigration reform.

America has apparently changed for the better since that thanksgiving of nearly a half-century ago.   Not necessarily so.

Human bondage is still pervasive in America’s agribusiness.  As of 2008, 25% of America’s farm workers are undocumented immigrants who are paid poorly (Pew Hispanic Center).   They are not entitled to any benefits.

Agricultural workers who are American citizens or guest workers are denied many of the basics-- a paycheck that meets the minimum wage to live; a place to sleep; and healthcare(California’s Harvest of Shame).  Farm workers Justice News reports that Federally-funded migrant health centers only reach about one quarter of farm laborers.

Despite being one of the most dangerous jobs in America, farm workers are not eligible to enroll in workmen’s compensation programs.  Efforts to change this injustice have been met with fierce opposition from agribusiness interests. The New Mexico Legislature has failed in 2007 and 2009 to pass legislation that would amend the state’s workmen’s compensation program to include ranch and farm laborers.

This deplorable treatment of those who gather our food must stop.   Otherwise, can we ever truly enjoy our Thanksgiving meal?  

 

A Must Read New Book from Barbara Ehrenreich: "Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America"

(Barbara Ehrenreich is one of America's foremost writers on economic justice and social justice, DrTed)

From Campus Progress

Inklings of Barbara Ehrenreich’s latest book, Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America, are seen in Bait and Switch, a 2005 text where the author went undercover and discovered various corporate gurus dedicated to teaching a philosophy of über optimism to employees. In her most recent book, she expands upon the theme, extending her analysis to the financial meltdown and beyond.