Posts Tagged ‘agriculture’
Lack of immigrants leads to modern-day slavery
6:12 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Colorado| Immigration| Labor · 8 Comments
7 Mar 2007
Who needs immigrants? Farms do, but that didn’t stop Colorado from imposing some of the strictest immigration laws on the book, and now that state is seeing the effects that has on its agriculture. There simply is no one to do the work, so now they’ve decided to resort to using prisoners in a dynamic that resembles slavery:
Ever since passing what its Legislature promoted as the nation’s toughest laws against illegal immigration last summer, Colorado has struggled with a labor shortage as migrants fled the state. This week, officials announced a novel solution: Use convicts as farmworkers.The Department of Corrections hopes to launch a pilot program this month — thought to be the first of its kind — that would contract with more than a dozen farms to provide inmates who will pick melons, onions and peppers.
Gael Garcia Bernal Uses His Fama Against GMO Corn and NAFTA
6:38 pm By Maegan La Mala · Activism| Celebrities · Comments Off
14 Dec 2005
Gael Garcia Bernal is much more than a pretty face and a talented actor, he is using his fame to speak out about causes that he cares about and feels strongly about. Today in Hong Kong, Garcia Bernal joined on a fair trade campaign run by the humanitarian aid organization Oxfam. Specifically the 27 year old actor spoke about the negative impact genetically modified corn exported from the U.S. under NAFTA was having on the agricultural economies of countries like his own native Mexico.
Via / Hoy Internet
Agriculture needs more immigrants
1:37 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · California| Immigration| Politics · 1 Comment
1 Dec 2005
With all the talk about illegal immigration these days, here’s a perspective you don’t hear a lot:
In total, California farmers worked the harvest season with 100,000 fewer workers than they needed, according to the ag trade group Western Growers.
Tom Nassif, president of that trade group, is spearheading a public lobbying campaign that proclaims what for years was too taboo to say out loud: the agriculture industry relies on undocumented laborers. And Nassif—whose organization represents the growers who supply half of the nation’s fresh produce—says the problem his members face isn’t too many illegal immigrant workers, but too few.
Farmworkers face Exploitation in Salinas Valley
4:02 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration| society · Comments Off
23 Nov 2005
It’s ironic that some farm workers live in the “salad bowl of the world,” powered by a 3 billion dollar agricultural industry yet they suffer from all types of socioeconomic ills from high poverty, to high unemployment, to poor housing. Farm workers face exploitative conditions everywhere they look.
Farm workers struggle earning poor wages with little or no benefits while working long hours. In the Salinas Valley area where housing is much more expensive, farm workers face the reality of having to pay in some cases upwards of $600 a month to rent a garage space to live in. In some cases some pay as much as 40 percent of their monthly earnings for housing. Aside from exploitative rent prices many have to worry about paying off debt accured by coming to the United States.
Here I am today, paying little by little, the debt with the coyote and trying to send something to my family that was left behind. But it is not easy, because the pay barely makes ends meet…In a good week, we earn about $200.
Via / La Opinión
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by 2 Mujeres Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse and influential Latino and Latina community in the U.S.
About | Advertise with us | Contact | Twitter
- adriana: I have been following this too, as my alma mater is one of the colleges that banned the Russell gear [...]
- Nelson G.: Did Ruben show up? [...]
- Transgender Day of Remembrance and Latin@s | VivirLatino: [...] America still painted as more transphobic than the good old U.S. of A, all we need to do is lo [...]
- Maegan La Mala: intellectual jism....ja ja. I love you [...]
- Maegan La Mala: Chip, Thanks for the info I will add this above. I don't have any other info about the Sunday vi [...]
- Pedro Julio Serrano on the Murder of Lopez Mercado
- Bay Area Community Members to Hold Vigil and Release Statement about Murders in Maryland and Puerto Rico
- Transgender Day of Remembrance and Latin@s
- Dear Troll(s):
- Puerto Rican, Latino Clergy, Theology Professors, Community Members To Condemn Brutal Hate Killing of Gay Puerto Rican Man
- Vigils for Justice y en Memoria de Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado
- Russell Athletic rehires fired union organizers
- When Things Go Wrong…Terribly Wrong.
- Official VivirLatino Statement on Lou Dobbs Leaving CNN
- Sexual Violence Against Women in Immigrant Detention
VivirLatino RSS Feed
- Pedro Julio Serrano on the Murder of Lopez Mercado
- Bay Area Community Members to Hold Vigil and Release Statement about Murders in Maryland and Puerto Rico
- Transgender Day of Remembrance and Latin@s
- Dear Troll(s):
- Puerto Rican, Latino Clergy, Theology Professors, Community Members To Condemn Brutal Hate Killing of Gay Puerto Rican Man
- Vigils for Justice y en Memoria de Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado
- Russell Athletic rehires fired union organizers
- When Things Go Wrong…Terribly Wrong.
- Official VivirLatino Statement on Lou Dobbs Leaving CNN
- Sexual Violence Against Women in Immigrant Detention
