Forced and exploitative labour in US agriculture: Background

In 2001, the US Department of Labour described farm workers as "a labour force in significant economic distress", citing their "low wages, sub-poverty annual earnings, and significant periods of un- and underemployment".

In Immokalee, Florida, tomato pickers work 10 - 12 hours each day, often seven days a week. They are paid 45 cents for each full 32 lbs (14.5 kilos) bucket of tomatoes picked; a rate that has remained stagnant for nearly 30 years, and at which a worker would have to pick nearly two and a half tonnes of tomatoes just to earn the minimum wage. They earn on average US$10,000 a year. Farm workers are excluded from many of the fundamental labour rights guaranteed to most other US workers, including the right to organise and the right to overtime pay. Farm workers also lack health insurance, sick leave, pensions and job security.

Forced labour in US agriculture

The majority of people affected are migrant workers from Mexico and Central America. Traffickers prey on their vulnerability and desperation to find work, at times in their country of origin, but mostly once they have already crossed the border into the US.

An element of debt bondage is usually involved. Traffickers promise to take workers on credit to well-paid jobs where the debt incurred for transport can be paid off quickly. Workers are subsequently forced to pay off their debts in conditions to which they did not agree. Deductions are made from their wages for transport, accommodation, food, work equipment, and supposed tax and social security payments. Weekly wages are not always paid, and in many instances workers are left with no pay.

Workers are forced into camps where between 12 - 16 pickers are often housed in one cramped, run-down trailer, and kept under constant surveillance by employers. Workers endure verbal abuse, along with threats of violence to themselves and their families back home. In the most severe cases, employers use public beatings, pistol-whippings and shootings to make an example of those trying to escape. Women can be subject to sexual harassment, or even sexual assault.

US citizens are also vulnerable to this abuse, as poverty and the powerlessness of farm workers in relation to their employers' renders workers susceptible to forced labour regardless of citizenship status.

Achievements

The 2007 Anti-Slavery International Award was presented to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), in recognition of their exceptional contribution towards tackling modern day slavery in US agriculture. The CIW is a worker-led community organisation based in Florida, with a membership of over 4,000 farm workers, and tens of thousands of student, labour, faith-based and consumer allies.

The CIW uncover and investigate cases of slavery, raise awareness of forced labour practises among the farm worker community, and seek to prevent forced and exploitative labour within the industry. Their determined efforts have resulted in the successful prosecution of six slavery and servitude cases in the past decade and the liberation of over a thousand workers held in debt bondage. In one of the CIW's earliest investigations, violent employers were prosecuted on slavery charges under laws passed just after the Civil War and sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment. This was one of the seminal cases leading to the passage of a new law against modern-day slavery, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

Campaign for Fair Food

In 2001, the CIW launched the Campaign for Fair Food targeting the major fast-food corporations who have tremendous buying power to demand low prices. This puts pressure on suppliers to reduce costs, which can lead to lower wages and poor working conditions

Their four-year campaign against Taco Bell led to a US-wide boycott and resulted in an historic agreement in 2005 with Taco Bell's parent company Yum! Brands, which also owns restaurants such as KFC and Pizza Hut, for a zero-tolerance policy on slavery, a voice for workers in the development and enforcement of a strict new supplier code of conduct, and an agreement to pay a penny more per pound for their tomatoes to be passed directly back down the supply chain to the workers. Their campaign against McDonalds expanded upon that success, with McDonalds agreeing to work with the CIW on the development of an industry-wide supplier code of conduct and an independent monitoring system to enforce it.

Challenges - Burger King Campaign

The CIW is now calling for action from fast-food giant Burger King to take responsibility for the conditions in its supply chain, and help end the use of forced and exploitative labour in US agriculture. On 30 November 2007, the CIW launched this campaign with a nine-mile march to the Burger King headquarters in Miami, Florida.

Burger King, however, has so far refused to work with the CIW to improve the wages and working conditions of those who pick its tomatoes. Instead, Burger King has allied with elements of the Florida tomato industry in a campaign to undermine the CIW's agreements with Yum! Brands and McDonald's, putting counter pressure on the growers already participating in the agreements.

Antonio's story

Antonio was 21 years old when he came to the United States from Hildago, Mexico. He borrowed US$1700 as part of a deal promising transportation across the border and well-paid construction work in California. Once across the border in Arizona, he was told he would be going to Florida to work picking tomatoes instead. On arrival at a labour camp in Immokalee he was passed, with others, from one man to another. "I heard him say 'here are the people. You have to pay US$500 for each'. That's when I realised I had been sold like an animal without any compassion".

He subsequently worked for 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week. "It was hard work, very hot and we had to work constantly squatting down and carrying the heavy buckets of tomatoes. The first week I thought I'd earned good money. But from the wages I received he took out money for the driver, the rent, the water - everything".

Antonio was kept under 24 hour surveillance, was not allowed to make phone calls, and faced constant threats of violence to himself and his family back home. "What made me most scared was when I heard about the people who had tried to escape. One of them had been beaten very badly". Accommodation was a run-down trailer, locked from the outside, where 28 workers slept on mattresses on the floor. "We were told we could not leave until the debt was paid off".

After four months, Antonio escaped when his crew-leader fell asleep in the van on a weekly supervised trip to the local shop. After escaping, Antonio was threatened by his former captors, who followed him and demanded money.

With the help of the CIW, Antonio brought the perpetrators to justice by testifying against them. In 2000, they were convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment. Today he works with the CIW, sharing his experiences and educating others about this abuse.

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