Eyewitness describes brutality in N.C. tobacco fields

[Omaha Steve]

http://peoplesworld.org/eyewitness-describes-brutality-in-tobacco-fields/

by: Blake Deppe
October 28 2011



When Brenda Loya, of AFL-CIO Media Affairs, traveled along with 25 students, activists, and labor leaders to Dudley, N.C., she became a witness to the atrocious environment and conditions of the tobacco farm workers.

Loya said of the experience, "We drove 40 minutes into the country to visit labor camps where farm workers 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.

"What we saw was never to be imagined. When the work day ends, farm workers - men, women, and children - returned to grim camps, often overcrowded shacks once considered chicken coops and horse stables. They are housed in conditions that clearly violate internationally recognized living standards.

"We saw mattresses that were dirty, wet from the leaky roof, or missing entirely. Workers shared stories about infestations of bedbugs, roaches, and other vermin. We saw nonfunctional showers and toilets. Workers endure these inhumane conditions in fear of losing the jobs that they desperately need to provide for their families - jobs," she noted, "with sub-poverty wages that threaten their lives on a daily basis."

Two things common among these workers, according to a recent report by In These Times, are a sense of responsibility that urges them to endure these conditions because they have to support their families, and a great sense of fear of arrest and deportation. The latter of these themes is what causes them to be apprehensive about forming a union. Each of these workers' traits is in turn exploited by the tobacco industry.

FULL story at link.

[spin]

1. Slavery is alive and well inside the United States ...

and we have only ourselves to blame. The rich love to have a class of people who are in our country illegally to abuse for profit. It's worked out well for them and I fear they hope to expand their power.

We have allowed the people we elect to be bought and owned by the rich and the big corporations. Because of this we are headed for a nation where the 1% are the lords and masters living in their luxurious castles and the 99% are the slaves living in poverty. Our elected officials are merely the modern equivalent of feudal nobles and barons who enjoy life long positions of power and prestige as long as they bow and scape when their masters speak.

Time is running out but we can still change the system before we end up in a bloody slave revolt. In order to accomplish this all we have to do is win a battle against overwhelming odds.

[nc4bo]

3. I am so in agreement with you. nt

[nc4bo]

2. I believe it 100%.

Most people only see the few that reside in rundown, filthy, overcrowded trailer parks, there had to be more hidden away somewhere so hearing this doesn't surprise me one bit.

These people are treated like slaves and when speaking to my neighbors and friends about the immigrant labor on some of the farms I ALWAYS refer to them as the NEW SLAVES. I catch hell for it too and more than a few sneering looks.

Too many people are quick to blame the workers, not the sleazy, cheating, law dodging employers, big or small.

The answer isn't deportation, more will come to fill their places. Somewhere there is an employee of the company that brings these people in. The answer is holding the employer accountable and provide a way for these people to work and live here in safe, clean and working conditions and most importantly PAY THEM FAIRLY so they can become fully functional members of society.

Got get to those employers first, something it seems no one is in any hurry to do.

Disgusting.