Two-fer Tuesday…

Posted on by CIW

photo by Naples Daily News

Here’s your media round-up with two editorials, two multi-media reports, two blog posts, two stories on the Modern-Day Slavery Museum (seen here on the right), and two — yes two — Spanish-language stories on the recent breakthrough agreement with the FTGE!

There has been a lot happening in Immokalee recently, and as we’ve tried to keep up with the breaking news, some stories have managed to slip through the cracks. So, it’s time for a big media round-up — so big, in fact, that it might as well be double, with two stories in several categories. So, without further ado, here’s your “Two-fer Tuesday” media round-up:

Editorials: Two Florida newspapers penned very supportive editorials following the announcement of the CIW’s agreement with the FTGE earlier this month. Here’s an excerpt from the St. Petersburg Times. entitled “A victory for farmworkers” (11/20/10):

“… This is a story of perseverance and pluck by the coalition, which spent more than 10 years using every grass roots organizing tool available to slowly wear down the growers’ resistance. Now, some of the state’s most vulnerable and underpaid workers will have a boost in pay and a voice in the fields.” read more

If you haven’t read it yet, you should also definitely check out the Ft. Myers News-Press editorial, “Farmworkers signal change,” 11/18/10.

Multi-media: There have been some great tv and radio reports over the past couple of weeks, and here are a couple of the best:

 

Blogs: Longtime CIW observer Barry Estabrook (who was with Gourmet before he moved to the Atlantic), penned a nice piece on the agreement, entitled “Victory in the tomato fields” 11/17/10. Here’s an excerpt:

“… ‘Make no mistake,’ Benitez added. ‘There is still much to be done. This is the beginning, not the end, of a very long journey.’

The next stop on that journey is coming to a grocery store near you. With the notable exception of Whole Foods, the supermarket industry still stubbornly resists the CIW’s overtures.” read more

Also, Labor Notes, the esteemed journal of labor movement news and analysis, brought its own excellent reporting on the agreement. You can check it out — “CIW Wrests Historic Agreement from Tomato Growers Group,” 11/18/10 — here.

Modern-Day Slavery Museum: While all the hubbub has been going on in Immokalee around the recent agreements, the CIW’s Modern-Day Slavery Museum has been quietly going about its business in cities throughout the Southeast, raising awareness about the history and evolution of forced labor in Florida’s fields. Here are a couple of good recent stories:

Spanish language reports: You know that it’s a big story when it gets high-profile coverage in other countries! News of the agreements with Florida tomato growers traveled far and wide , but nowhere did it get more attention than in Mexico and Guatemala, the home countries of most of Immokalee’s workers. Here are two examples

And for our readers who can read Spanish, and for those who don’t but are willing to try in order to see some fine writing from overseas, we close this update with an excerpt from the La Jornada report, the first and last paragraphs of the article:

“Jornaleros inmigrantes en Florida – la mayoría mexicanos y guatemaltecos – lograron hoy un acuerdo histórico con la principal asociación de granjeros de jitomate, después de una lucha de 15 años y más de medio siglo después de que se revelaron, a nivel nacional, las condiciones laborales que en algunos casos llegaban a ser de esclavitud en los campos agrícolas de ese estado…

… Así, desde una esquina poco conocida de este país, se escuchan ecos – esta vez en español – de las grandes luchas laborales y sociales de la historia poco conocida de este superpoder.” lea mas