Eye-Witness to the Cruel Conditions in Tobacco Farm Labor Camps
 |
Brenda Loya in AFL-CIO Media Affairs sends us this from North Carolina, where she is on a fact-finding trip to witness the brutal conditions endured by tobacco workers.
We joined a diverse delegation of 25 activists, students, labor and community leaders and traveled to farm labor camps in Dudley, N.C.., to witness firsthand the appalling and abusive conditions of tobacco farm workers.
Our journey began with a visit to the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), where we learned about a recent report, “State of Fear: Human Rights Abuses in North Carolina’s Tobacco Industry,” that brings light to the tobacco industry’s impact on the human rights of farmworkers in the fields of North Carolina. Issued jointly by FLOC and Oxfam America, the report presented human right violations that we would later witness.
We drove 40 minutes into the country to visit labor camps where farmworkers live while they harvest tobacco to supply companies like RJ Reynolds, one of the richest corporations in U.S. agriculture—in fact, one of the largest tobacco corporations in the world, with annual profits of over $2 billion.
We what saw was never to be imagined. Read the rest of this entry »
Tobacco Workers Face a Range of Human Rights Abuses, Says Oxfam
 |
In North Carolina, the tobacco industry is running roughshod over workers’ rights—and their most fundamental human rights, according to a recent report, “State of Fear: Human Rights Abuses in North Carolina’s Tobacco Industry,” issued jointly by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and Oxfam, the global relief organization. FLOC represents more than 6,000 farm workers in the state.
Tobacco farm workers, researchers found, routinely work in blazingly hot fields without access to clean water and contract nicotine-related illnesses because of employers’ refusal to outfit them with the most basic of protective gear such a gloves. Many say they are forced to live in overcrowded facilities infested with rodents and devoid of working showers or toilets. The report traces the deterioration of working conditions for tobacco workers to a 2004 deregulatory law passed by Congress. One in four of the 103 workers interviewed by FLOC, under the guidance of Oxfam researchers, say they receive less than the legally required minimum wage for their labor.
Yet even in this atmosphere of Dickensian working conditions, workers are afraid to form unions. Why? Because nine out of 10 North Carolina tobacco workers are undocumented Read the rest of this entry »
Report: Tobacco Workers Denied Basic Human Rights
|
Farm workers who toil in the tobacco fields of North Carolina often spend hours in the blistering sun and get paid less than the minimum wage. They are exposed to toxic chemicals just to do their jobs, according to a new report issued yesterday.
The report, “A State of Fear,” shows that one in four tobacco farm workers is paid less than the federal minimum wage. Many suffer from nicotine poisoning after absorbing nicotine through their bare skin. After a long day at work, they return to squalid living conditions such as overcrowded rooms with insect-infested mattresses and nonfunctioning toilets and showers.
The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) and Oxfam America released the report at a rally in Dudley, N.C., where farm workers and community supporters gathered for a series of meetings.
“This is nothing short of an indictment of the tobacco industry,” said FLOC President Baldemar Velasquez, who spent a week in 2008 in the fields as a tobacco farm worker so he could see firsthand what the workers face.
It’s stunning what these workers have to go through. The tobacco companies need to step up and change this abhorrent system.
After Three Years, Reynolds Agrees to Meet with Tobacco Workers
 |
||||
|
||||
In a major turnaround, officials of Reynolds American, who have refused for three years to meet with representatives of tobacco workers, agreed last week to look into the labor practices in their supply chain and work with other parties, including the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) to ensure they are not complicit with human rights violations.
More than 50 FLOC members entered the Reynolds American shareholders’ meeting last week in Winston-Salem, N.C., to deliver a report on the horrible conditions in the fields. Nearly 100,000 immigrant tobacco workers in North Carolina are paid sub-minimum wages and are exposed to dangerous conditions in the fields.
The FLOC representatives pressed company executives to ensure that this new stance is more than just words and is backed up with serious action, including meeting with farmworkers and their representatives. No date for a meeting has yet been set.
In a statement, FLOC said:
While this represents a vindication of the past three years of struggle, the campaign will continue until real progress is made in the supply chain of tobacco giant Reynolds American.
Late last month, the workers gained another major victory when executives of British American Tobacco (BAT), which owns 42 percent of Reynolds American, agreed to meet with FLOC later this month. This is the first time any corporation with close ties to Reynolds American has agreed to meet with workers.
Farm workers, union members and members of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) also protested at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., and at British consulates in nine cities in support of the tobacco workers.
Study: Tobacco Workers Face Brutal Conditions in Tobacco Fields
 |
| Protesters rally outside the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., last week. |
The nearly 100,000 workers who travel to North Carolina each summer to harvest the state’s tobacco crop are often repaid for their hard work with sub-minimum wages, dangerous conditions in the fields and inhumane living conditions, according to findings released today from a human rights assessment conducted by Oxfam America and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC).
The findings will be presented tomorrow to the annual shareholders’ meeting of Reynolds American in Winston-Salem, N.C., where supporters will call on the company to take action to end the abuses in its supply chain. Although Reynolds does not directly employ the farm workers on its contract farms, it sets the terms with its contract growers and profits from the farm workers’ labor. The full report “A State of Fear: Human Rights Abuses in North Carolina’s Tobacco Industry” will be released this summer. Click here to read the summary.
Protests in 10 Cities Support Tobacco Workers
 |
||||
|
||||
Union activists joined with members of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) to rally in front of the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., and British consulates in nine cities. The marchers called on British American Tobacco (BAT), the largest stockholder in U.S. tobacco giant Reynolds American, to use its influence to stop “widespread and egregious” human rights abuses against U.S. tobacco field workers.
Meanwhile in London, a delegation led by Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) President Baldemar Velasquez met with a small group of BAT corporate officials at the company’s headquarters. BAT promised to hold another larger meeting next month with workers to discuss conditions in the U.S. tobacco fields, according to FLOC. This is the first time any corporation with close ties to Reynolds American has agreed to meet with workers. For at least the past four years, Reynolds has refused to meet with representatives of workers.
Hundreds Demand Chase Respect Human Rights
 |
|
Hundreds of workers, religious leaders, community activists and farm worker advocates rallied and protested in 200 cities across the couintry today to demand that JP Morgan Chase respect the basic human rights of people to have decent places to live and work.
Large banks such as Chase are flush with cash and protestors demanded the bank declare a one-year moratorium on home foreclosures. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chase has $19.5 billion worth of home loans in foreclosure—nearly 7.5 percent of its mortgage portfolio and more than any other big bank.
Nearly 400 people rallied at Chase headquarters in New York City. Speakers stood on the back of a truck with banners declaring “Chase: Morally Bankrupt” and laid out the case that as a result of the bank’s reckless pursuit of profits at any cost, thousands of people have lost their homes.
Protestors Demand Chase Respect Workers, Homeowners
 |
||||
|
||||
Across the country late last week, hundreds of union members, religious leaders, community activists, farm workers and victims of bank home foreclosures protested at 200 JPMorgan Chase branches to demand the bank respect the basic human rights of people to have decent places to live and work.
Large banks such as Chase are flush with cash and protestors demanded the bank declare a one-year moratorium on home foreclosures. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chase has $19.5 billion worth of home loans in foreclosure—nearly 7.5 percent of its mortgage portfolio and more than any other big bank.
“Foreclosures are a plague on families and communities,” said the Rev. Charles Williams, a leader in Detroit’s anti-foreclosure coalition, People Before Banks.
It cannot be in any bank’s best interest to pursue a policy that leaves so many people and communities in ruins—and for a bank like Chase that professes to be a good citizen, tearing families and communities apart is morally indefensible.
Human Rights Day: Workers Ask, ‘What’s Gone Wrong at Chase?’
 |
||||
|
||||
Today is International Human Rights Day and hundreds of union members, religious leaders, activists, farm workers and victims of bank home foreclosures are protesting at 100 JPMorgan Chase Bank branches across the country to demand the bank respect the basic human rights of people to have decent places to live and work.
Large banks such as Chase are flush with cash and protestors handed out fliers asking, “What’s Gone Wrong at Chase?” and demanded the bank declare a one-year moratorium on home foreclosures. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chase has $19.5 billion worth of home loans in foreclosure, more than any other bank.
AFL-CIO-Mexico Action Plan Focuses on Economy, Labor Rights
 |
||||
|
||||
The AFL-CIO and the major independent Mexican labor federation, Unión Nacional de Trabajadores (UNT), have agreed on a joint action plan to bring economic and social development to both countries.
The plan, signed by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and the three co-presidents of UNT, calls for the two federations to work jointly to rebuild the industrial base in the United States and Mexico. They will work together across industries to ensure that jobs in these industries are good jobs and workers are represented by unions and to coordinate bargaining across borders.
