Florida Students Rally for Tobacco Workers
Students at the University of Florida (UF) and the University of Central Florida (UCF) spent last Saturday morning raising their voices for justice for tobacco workers. Chanting ”Justice now!” and holding signs that read “Hasta la Victoria” (”Onward to Victory”), dozens of students marched and rallied on UF’s Gainesville campus.
The students joined members of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), the Student/Farmworker Alliance and the National Farm Worker Ministry to demand justice for tobacco farm workers in North Carolina who suffer low wages and poor working conditions at the hands of Big Tobacco.
The rally followed a UF Student Senate resolution calling for a pay increase and better treatment of Immokalee farm workers, who pick the tomatoes used by Aramark, UF’s food provider. “Somebody’s got to fight for social justice,” said UF junior Justin Wooten.
Texas May Bar Students from Learning About Cesar Chavez, Thurgood Marshall
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| César Chávez and Thurgood Marshall: Outlaws in Texas? |
United Farmworkers founder César Chávez is an unfitting role model for students, and former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall is not an appropriate historical figure. So say “expert reviewers” in their report to the Texas State Board of Education, which recommends removing the two U.S. leaders from the social studies curriculum taught to its 4.7 million public school students.
The ranting of these extremists has the potential to turn into mass censorship—Texas is such a mega-purchaser of textbooks that the state’s required curricula drives the content of textbooks produced nationwide.
The Texas Freedom Network, which monitors actions by religious reactionaries on the state’s school board, points out that two of the “expert reviewers” are unqualified to be on the panel and were appointed mainly because of their background as religious ideologues.
David Barton, founder of the conservative Christian advocacy group WallBuilders, and the Rev. Peter Marshall, an evangelical minister from Massachusetts who runs Peter Marshall Ministries, were appointed to the state school board in March.
New Coalition Set to Push Immigration Reform Now
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| AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker joins members of trade, faith and labor organizations to launch the Reform Immigration for America campaign. |
More than 200 organizations today launched a national coalition to push for comprehensive immigration reform. The election of a new president and Congress with strong immigrant support, coupled with solid public backing for reform, have created a new political landscape for immigration legislation, the group’s leaders said at a news conference in Washington, D.C.
Reform Immigration for America includes the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, the National Council of La Raza, the NAACP and the Asian American Justice Center. The campaign was launched to coincide with a three-day meeting of more than 700 progressive advocates and allies this week and an upcoming White House meeting on immigration June 15.
McDonald’s to Limit Pesticides After Shareholder Action
In a big win for workers and consumers, McDonald’s Corp., the largest purchaser of potatoes in the United States, has agreed to take steps to reduce pesticides used to produce french fries and other potato products.
The action came in response to a shareholder proposal by three investors, including the AFL-CIO, that would have required McDonald’s to publish a report on options for reducing pesticide use in its supply chain. Under the agreement, the groups—Bard College Endowment, Newground Social Investment and the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund—will withdraw the shareholder resolution they filed jointly.
Obama Honors César Chávez’s Birthday
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What a difference a year makes. While the Bush White House tried to thwart workers’ rights and all that the late César Chávez fought for, Barack Obama adopted Chávez’s rallying cry as his campaign theme.
Today, on what would have been Chávez’s 82nd birthday, President Obama issued a statement hailing the former Farm Workers president as “an educator, environmentalist, and as a civil rights leader who struggled for fair treatment and fair wages for America’s workers.”
Chávez’s rallying cry, “Sí Se Puede”—”Yes, We Can,” was more than a slogan, it was an expression of hope and a rejection of those who said farm workers could not organize, and could not take on the growers. Through his courage, César Chávez taught us that a single voice could change our country, and that together, we could make America a stronger, more just, and more prosperous nation.
Make a Call for Tobacco Worker Justice
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For nearly two years, Susan Ivey, the CEO of Reynolds American, the parent of the nation’s second-largest tobacco company, has refused to meet with workers to discuss the conditions of thousands of tobacco farm employees in North Carolina and other states who harvest the tobacco Reynolds uses to make its products.
As a dominant player in the big tobacco game, Reynolds American wields significant industry clout and can improve working conditions in the fields, but it has not developed the political will to bring about change, says the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC).
Instead, tobacco’s big player continues to rake in billions of dollars every year, while farm workers live in dire poverty on subminimum wages and toil in extremely dangerous working conditions. In fact, conditions for farm workers who harvest tobacco are far more dangerous than many realize.
