The Nation takes a sweeping look at this spring’s first big COVID-19 outbreak among essential farmworkers — Great new article in The Nation: “The Immokalee Way: Protecting Farmworkers Amid a Pandemic”… Excellent reporting from The Nation takes sweeping look at this spring’s first big COVID-19 outbreak among essential farmworkers — involving workers sleeping two to a bed in overcrowded, unpermitted housing — at Green Empire greenhouse in upstate NY; Green Empire greenhouse “owned by Ontario-based Mastronardi Produce, the largest distributor of hydroponic, indoor-grown produce in North America, and owner of at least six such facilities across the United States”; While Wendy’s says Green Empire is not in its supply chain, Mastronardi is known supplier to Wendy’s; John Bowe, journalist and author of the seminal 2008 book “Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy” featuring the CIW’s early anti-slavery efforts, put his considerable talents to work last month investigating the widely-reported COVID-19 outbreak this past spring among migrant farmworkers harvesting tomatoes and other vegetables at the greenhouse giant Green Empire in Oneida, NY. Bowe talked to Green Empire workers, the farm labor contractor involved, local farmworker advocates, local health officials, local motel staff, Green Empire representatives, Wendy’s spokespeople, and FFP representatives, among others. What resulted is a thoroughgoing recounting and analysis of a shameful failure of social responsibility on multiple levels, an abdication of duty by key players to protect hundreds of essential workers who put themselves in grave personal danger to harvest vegetables for major buyers — and for the rest of us — during the national lockdown. It is a MUST read for anyone interested in understanding the food industry’s abject failure to treat its essential workers as essential people. You can find the story in its entirety here. It begins with the words of a worker whose poverty left her no choice but to accept a job in a known hotspot, even after arriving and learning the she would be sharing a double bed with another worker, a stranger: When I first heard about the virus, it was April. I was in Pittsburgh, staying with friends,” “Rosy,” a 45-year-old Haitian farmworker, said through a face mask. She’d come to the United States, eager for work, she explained. But when a job materialized offering decent wages for picking tomatoes in upstate New York, she hesitated. “We knew New York was the worst,” she said, regarding the spread of Covid-19. “But,” she shrugged, “I needed money. I needed to work.” Rosy (who, like most farmworkers I interviewed, asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation) arrived in Oneida, a leafy Erie Canal town about four hours northwest of New York City. She was immediately taken aback by the lax workplace precautions... There is much more left to be read in this extraordinary, comprehensive exploration of the shameful mistreatment of our country’s essential workers. Click here and set aside fifteen minutes to appreciate this all too rare bit of thoughtful reporting. Read more from The Nation's excellent reporting on the CIW website! Coalition of Immokalee Workers (239) 657 8311 | [email protected] | www.ciw-online.org Connect with us ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Coalition of Immokalee Workers | 110 S 2nd St, Immokalee, FL 34142 Unsubscribe [email protected] About our service provider Sent by [email protected] powered by Try email marketing for free today!