All language subtitles for (2014)FoodChains[ING]

[Atmospheric music]

*

[Acoustic guitar music]

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You arrive here
around 7:00, 7:30.

Then you have to wait for
several hours until the dew is

Gone from the plant.

One of the most difficult
things is just to come to a

Realization how little you
mean to the people that, that

You are working for.

I still believe agriculture is
the backbone of America, and

When you have an industry as
big as agriculture, you've got

To pay attention
to the labor force.

The history of farm labor in
the United States is a history

Of exploitation.

Plantation and the ghetto were
created by those who had power

Both to confine those who have
no power and to perpetuate

That powerlessness.

All my life I have been driven
to overthrow a farm labor

System in this nation that
treats farm workers as if they

Were not important
human beings.

These people have suffered
tremendously, and uh, grown

Much more slowly
economically than any other
segment of our society.

The appalling conditions of
farm workers moved my brother

To crack down on the abuses,
but too little has changed

Over the years.

Their working conditions are
deplorable, but most of them

Are afraid to demand fair
treatment, because they know

They'll be fired, blacklisted
or turned over to

Immigration officials.

It is terribly important that
we understand how in the year

2008 slavery, slavery can
exist, and how workers can be

Treated as badly as they are.

Most people have no idea that
they're connected to this

System every time they buy
fresh fruits and vegetables.

All the fresh fruits and
vegetables in supermarkets

Arrive there via the supply
chain: An intricate system of

Distributors, farmers,
and farm workers.

Supermarkets set all the
rules in the supply chain.

The prices consumers pay, how
farmers grow their crops, what

These crops can look and taste
like, and ultimately how much

Money is left over to pay
workers at the bottom of the

Supply chain.

While all the workers who pick
their produce live below the

Poverty line, these massive
corporations generate a half a

Trillion dollars a
year in the U.S. alone.

I think the entire supermarket
business goes out of its way

So that you're not reminded
of where your food came from.

If a handful of companies
decided that they wanted to

Eliminate poverty and
exploitation among farm

Workers, it could happen
very very quickly.

Pennies more on purchases of
fresh fruits and vegetables

Could eliminate this problem.

Food means...

To me, it means life.

It means memories.

From what I remember
when I was a kid, from my

Grandfather, he used to tell
me that I should never feel

Bad about buying an expensive
plate of food once in a while.

That we work in this life to
be able to not worry about food.

Sometimes we as farm workers
don't eat because you live in

A situation where
you go day by day.

To live hungry while you
are working, that's not a

Dignified way of living.

That's not what we want.

What we want is to be
able to establish change.

The coalition of immokalee
workers, or cow, is a small

Group of tomato pickers past
and present dedicated to

Ending the poverty and
exploitation of fellow
farm workers.

The cow's fair food program
demands that the large

Purchasers of tomatoes
acknowledge their reliance on

Farm workers and do two
things: Pay workers an extra

Penny for every pound of
tomatoes they pick, which

Would double their wages,
and help eradicate abuse

In the fields.

The cow's latest campaign
is against publix.

Publix is the largest
purchaser of tomatoes in

Florida and one of the
highest-grossing supermarket

Chains in the world.

[Chanting in Spanish]

Publix has refused to meet
with the cow or discuss the

Fair food program, and so
the cow is launching a hunger

Strike in front of the
publix headquarters.

A meeting with publix
executives:

That's all the cow wants.

If publix simply agrees to
talk, the strike will end.

Publix has been aware of
our campaign for a while and

Decided to not respond to the
terrible conditions and unfair

Abuses taking place within
their tomato supply chain.

We believe that perhaps today
an executive in there is

Beginning to think that
sitting down with farm workers

Might just be a
good thing to do.

[Indistinct speech]

This is immokalee, 1960.

This is a shape up
for migrant workers.

This is where the humans who
harvest the food for the best

Fed people in the
world get hired.

This is an American story
that begins in Florida.

It has to do with the men,
women and children who harvest

The crops in this country of
ours, the best fed nation on

Earth.

These are the
forgotten people.

The under-protected,
the undereducated, the

Under-clothed, the underfed.

This is CBS reports'
harvest of shame.

"Harvest of shame" was
broadcast at this time of

Incredible American
prosperity, where there was

This notion that the
depression had been left

Behind and America was
becoming the richest country

In the world, and
Edward r. Murrow

Reminded viewers that
there was just this terrible

Poverty and exploitation
hidden, hidden from view.

One farmer looked at this
and said "we used to own our"

Slaves, now we
just rent them."

Well, I guess they got a
little gypsy in their blood.

They just like it.

Lot of them wouldn't
do anything else.

Lot of them don't
know any different.

That's all they want to do.

They love it.

I think it would be easy to
demonize farmers, and uh, hold

Them responsible for the
poor wages of migrants.

That might've been true in
some cases 30 years ago, 40

Years ago, but that's not
really the problem today.

If you want to make change, I
think you need to look at the

People who have the real power
to make the lives of farm

Workers better, and those are
the people at the very top.

Farm workers are the
foundation of a massive supply

Chain that includes farmers
and distributors, but that is

Dominated by fast food, food
service and supermarkets

Like publix.

The power of supermarkets is
rooted in their gross revenue.

They earn more than monsanto,
Goldman sachs, Microsoft,

And apple.

When you talk about grocery
chains, it is very very easy

To bully the small farmers.

They are being villainized,
and they know they're being

Villainized, but
their hands are tied.

It's a very difficult
world for most farmers.

Certainly there is this
nostalgic vision of, you know,

The small family farm where
there was much more control

Over who you paid and
how much they got paid.

I think there's a sense now
that everybody is deeply

Interdependent in this
entire supply chain.

Agriculture's doing great as
long as you're not a farmer.

There's been, become such a
disconnect over the last 30

Years between the ultimate
point of sale

And the actual production.

If someone asks me, you know,
what do you do for a living, I

Tell them I'm a farmer,
it's almost like a joke.

'Cause, you know, there's not
many people my age doing it

Anymore.

But it's really cool,
something to do, you know?

You watch something
grow every day.

Commercial tomato growing
in Florida is essentially a

High-stakes gamble.

If everything goes right,
if the market conditions are

Right, if there's not too many
competing tomatoes coming in

From Mexico, they
can make a bundle.

But if there's a freeze, as
there is, seems every other

Year, they can be wiped out.

All the older guys keep saying
that they've never seen it

This bad.

They've never
seen it this bad.

My dad's been doing it for
28 years, he says this is the

Worst he's ever seen it.

This season's been so rough
that if it keeps going on at

This rate, we're just
going to have to shut down.

You've got the system where
supermarkets have enormous

Buying power, you know?

By their existence, they
shape the whole system.

But despite having that power,
the supermarkets don't want to

Be growing the food
themselves, they certainly

Don't want to be hiring
the farm workers.

They don't want to take on the
risk of actually producing the

Foods that get
delivered to consumers.

At the beginning of the
season, Jacob will sell his

Tomatoes through a
contract he'd sign with the

Supermarket.

But the supermarket was soon
able to buy tomatoes from

Mexico at a price that
Jacob couldn't match.

It would now cost Jacob a lot
more money to harvest and pack

His crop than to let it rot.

Sucks to have to tell 60
people from here and 100

People from the farm that we
don't have anything for them

To do.

You know they, they worked all
year long to, you know, plant

The plants and stake them and
tie them and prune them and do

Everything that's involved,
and then when it comes time

For them to start making
money, you know, which is

Essentially when we're
harvesting, now we can't even

Harvest them.

It cost us three times what it
cost us a little over a decade

Ago to grow tomatoes.

You don't see that translated
into a difference, uh, at the

Retail level.

Over the last three decades,
as production costs like

Seeds, pesticides,
fertilizers, machinery and

Fuel have increased,
supermarkets have demanded

That farmers maintain their
prices, thereby dramatically

Cutting into farmers' profits.

But supermarkets haven't
always wielded such power over

The market.

The supermarket industry
remained relatively stable

Into the sixties, uh,
and into the seventies.

Then in the 1980's, Wal-Mart
decides to get into the

Grocery business.

Wal-Mart took the model that
was being pioneered by kroger

And publix and some others
in the seventies and really

Rewrites the
rules of the game.

Wal-Mart came onto the scene
and upended the system by

Buying in larger quantities
and offering produce to

Customers at drastically
lower prices.

In order to compete with
Wal-Mart's prices, the

Industry was forced to
consolidate, leaving only a

Few large competitors in an
industry that used to have

Hundreds.

Every single one of these
supermarket chains, from

Publix to kroger to, to stop
& shop and giant,

Not just Wal-Mart.

All of them, you know,
thirty-forty years ago

Weren't, were either not
there or just starting.

But in the space of those few
decades, they've become these

Massive, you know,
$25 billion behemoths.

Because now, hundreds of
thousands of farmers have only

A handful of supermarkets
to sell their produce to.

These supermarkets have a
historically unprecedented

Amount of power.

When a company is able to
dictate the pricing structure

Down its entire supply chain,

A free market no longer exists.

Economists call this
un-free market a monopsony.

It's not the supermarkets
telling workers out in the

Fields "you must do this,"
it's supermarkets having

Contracts with farm owners or
other intermediaries who then

Have to figure out how
to get those demands met.

The buyers create this
pressure that makes it

Impossible for the industry
to work in a normal way.

In order to be able to produce
more, you have to push the

Workers to work faster for
less pay

Or for stagnant wages.

So if you think about it, they
are creating the poverty

Of immokalee.

So they have an obligation
to help us to eliminate this.

It's a supply chain that
everyone's linked together,

But you know, the chink at one
end of the chain never really

Connects to the one all
the way at the other end.

Hello, can I ask how
you're doing today?

I'm doing pretty good.

Yeah.

I was a little tired yesterday
when we finished the day, but

Um, this morning I'm
really, really energized.

I'm hoping for publix
to do the right thing.

[Cars honking]

Publix was founded in 1930
by George Jenkins,

A Florida entrepreneur.

Like Sam walton, the founder
of Wal-Mart, Jenkins began

With a single store and built
a multi-billion dollar empire.

Today, publix has annual sales
of almost $30 billion, and the

Company has become so
successful in Florida that

Three out of four people in
the state live within two

Miles of a publix supermarket.

When you live here in Florida,
you know, publix pretty much

The grocery store.

Where shopping is a pleasure.

It's not just something we
say; It's in everything we do.

And part of what makes
shopping a pleasure

Is saving money.

Publix has a good reputation
for caring for its own

Customers and its employees.

As nice as it is to have an
extra hand, it's great to have

Some extra change too.

So you'd think that caring for
the people in the supply chain

Wouldn't be that
much of a leap.

Publix: Where shopping
is a pleasure.

Well, there was this pond
between where the coalition

Was having its fast a-and
the headquarters, and the

Employees would come out on
their lunch hours and sit and

Kind of look over
at these people.

I guess they would have their
lunch while they watched

People fast.

It's ironic in the worst way.

Publix spends hundreds of
millions of dollars billing

Itself as your friendly
neighborhood grocery store.

"We're your neighbors."

And yet it won't talk with
part of the community that's

Very much their neighbors.

The people who pick
their tomatoes.

Basically, they're
paid per bucket picked.

They take them over to a
truck, throw them up to this

Guy on the truck who
dumps the tomatoes in...

And then he hands
them a little chit.

At the end of the day,
the chits are totaled.

Over the course of an average
work day, workers pick, carry

And throw about 4000 pounds
of tomatoes, earning them

Approximately $40 a day, or a
little over a penny for each

Of those pounds.

That's why the cow is asking
publix to pay just a penny

More per pound to
double farm worker wages.

Doing this would cost publix
about $1 million out of their

$2 billion in annual profits.

If publix chose to pass on
these costs, a family of four

Would only need to pay an
extra 44 cents per year for

Their tomatoes.

See you tomorrow!

[Car honks]

California produces more fresh
fruit and vegetables than any

Other state.

It has more migrant farm
workers than any other state.

A certain kind of exploitation
of migrant labor was perfected

In California, so I think
if you're really going to

Understand farm labor in the
United States, you have to

Understand what's
happened in California.

California's farm economy has
always relied on ultra-low

Wage workers.

First, the mission fathers
enslaved native Americans.

It evolved into a
predominately Latino labor

Force, recruited
legally from Mexico.

In the 1960's, this labor
force, after centuries, found

A powerful voice for change.

In 1965, the workers in the
fields said "we're fed up with"

Being the worst paid
workers in America.

"We're fed up with being
exploited"

And they went on strike.

Cesar Chavez was a farm worker
who got fed up with the abuse

Of farm workers in the lettuce
fields of California, and

Helped create the first farm
worker union in the united

States, the united
farm workers' union.

And the united farm workers'
union had a profound impact on

Improving the lives of farm
workers throughout California.

Farm workers realized that
they could gain power by

Organizing a union.

The u.F.W. Soon achieved
historic wage increases
and created

Support nationwide for
farm workers' rights.

While running for president
in 1968,

Robert f. Kennedy visited
California and ended an historic

Hunger strike with Cesar Chavez.

What was your discussion
with Cesar this morning?

I just, uh, just spoke about
today and that, uh, that he's

Hopeful that uh, that the
efforts that so many of them

Are making are going
to be successful.

I was cofounder of the union
with Cesar.

I was the strike captain,
picket captain, organizer,

Political director,
negotiator...

At one point in time, we were
able to get up to 100,000 farm

Workers organized.

[Chanting]

Then, of course there was a
lot of hostility

Against the union.

Many of those contracts were
lost and they were not able to

Regain them.

[Screaming]

Chavez!

During the 1980's, the governor
of California made it more

Difficult for farm workers to
organize, crippling the u.F.W..

Wages fell and working
conditions got worse.

Even in the state's wealthiest
agricultural region,

Napa valley.

Without an organization to
defend basic rights, farm

Workers are vulnerable to
exploitation whether they're

Part of a supply chain
that delivers goods to a

Supermarket or one that
produces luxury items

Like wine.

There's no other place on
the planet where all of the

Variables that you need to
produce consistently, like,

The most excellent wine,
they don't exist consistently

Anywhere else in the world.

It's the ideal location to
grow every type of

Grape variety.

We are America's premiere
wine-growing region.

We're second to
none in the world.

Well, I used to say to my
staff that we're basically

Fancy farmers.

I love tomatoes, and I love
strawberries, but I think

Wine's a little fancier.

The wine industry can be a
good financial proposition for

A wine grower.

It is the number one valued
finished agricultural product

In the state of California.

When you go buy a bottle of
wine for $40, $150, $200 a

Bottle, the cost of labor that
brings you that bottle of wine

Is about 25 cents.

The landscape may be beautiful
in napa, and along coastal

Florida, but often the beauty
of the landscape disguises

This incredible poverty
that's right there.

I've seen the evolution
of napa valley first-hand.

What brought me to the
napa valley was my father.

He became President of the
united farm workers' union in

Napa valley.

It was a very different
scene then than it is now.

Today we have two cultures
that coexist parallel to each

Other, but rarely
is there a bridge.

There is still sort of
that sense of, um...

You know, them and us.

The beauty of napa valley, the
weather, the uh, all of this

Amazing wines, and
the great food.

It has been the demise of
affordable housing, because

Everyone wants to
live in napa valley.

We have, out of 65, fewer than
5 employees who live in

The valley.

They have to commute
in from long distances.

There are more millionaires
in napa than people who are

Unemployed.

In an inflated real estate
market, it's always hard to

Find affordable housing, but
during harvest season when the

Number of farm workers in
napa doubles,

It's almost impossible.

Housing has been the number
one social issue in the

County.

More people came to our front
door looking for housing than

They did for spiritual solace.

These are not homeless bums.

These are people who are
working eight, ten, twelve

Hours a day and still have to
sleep outside because of the

Low wages and because of the
absence of affordable housing

In napa.

You can have legal apartheid
which says if you're a person

Of color, you can't live
here in this community.

Or you can have
economic apartheid.

When their shift is over,
they're supposed to go live

Somewhere else.

This rural poverty is
hiding in plain sight.

These are poor workers working
half a mile from some of the

Most expensive houses and
luxurious resorts in the

United States.

Taste napa valley is the true
party for the napa valley

Vintners.

It's hard to describe what
takes place in this room,

Because it's so energetic.

Woo!

We have an auction every
year which raises

Millions of dollars.

Bid high, bid often!

It's all for charity!

$100,000!

The bid's here at $100,000,
who's going to come in at 120?

Outside our front door is the
most important thing to us,

And we want to bring all of
our fortune back to the people

Who really live here and
really need the benefit of

These auctions.

I mean, it's a great
combination of people who want

To make the equality of
life better for everybody.

According to the napa valley
vintners' association, over

The past few decades, the
auction has raised about

$4 million a year.

I think it's great if someone
wants to donate money to a

Charity that helps
farm workers.

But ultimately, we're not
talking about charity here.

We're talking about thousands
of workers who are responsible

For a multi-billion
dollar industry in napa.

They're entitled
to be paid well.

I grew up in a very small town

Where we're all
indigenous people.

I heard that in the united
states I could make enough

Money and go to school,
but that didn't happen.

I came here in 2000, and I
have to pay a little bit more

Than 2000 American money
to pay for the coyote that

Introduced people illegally
to the United States.

There are something around
3,000,000 farm workers in the

United States today.

Probably a substantial
majority of those farm workers

At this point
are undocumented.

Being undocumented means
that you do not have the full

Protections of the law, so
you're highly likely to avoid

Challenging unfair, even
unlawful working conditions

Because you run the risk that
your employer might see to put

You in deportation.

In 1994, four and a half
million people, um, lived in

The United States who
were born in Mexico.

In 2008, the Mexican-born
population in the united

States tripled.

Overwhelmingly because of the
displacement of workers and

Farmers in Mexico by
large-scale economic changes.

In 1994, the north American
free trade agreement went into

Effect, eliminating many trade
restrictions between Mexico

And the United States.

Nafta caused the price of
crops like corn and coffee to

Plummet in Mexico, driving
millions of farmers there

Into bankruptcy.

A burning tractor in
Mexico city's Plaza of the

Revolution.

Part of a last-ditch effort by
Mexican farm workers who say

Their livelihoods are
going up in smoke.

Poverty on the farms is
pushing more would-be migrants

To look for work in
the United States.

Migration is not a,
uh, a voluntary choice.

We force people
into migration.

Force people into motion.

People come here because this
is where the work is, and then

Our immigration policy, I
think, deliberately makes

Their labor cheap by
denying them legal status.

Angel was born and raised in
oaxaca, one of the poorest

Regions in Mexico.

He later grew coffee in his
family's farm, but nafta

Helped to put the family farm
out of business, and so angel

Came to the United States.

He hoped to find work
picking vegetables.

The coffee price went so low
that it didn't make sense to

Work for a whole year and at
the end of the season, not get

Anything back.

Angel was a farm worker for
nearly a decade when he met

Caitlin, whom he began working
with to start an organic

Chicken farm.

I was playing soccer and
out friend brought him to my

Soccer game, and he didn't
speak much English at the time

And I didn't speak much
Spanish, and we kind of said

"Hello, nice to meet you"
and, and that was it.

Yeah, when we started dating,
I would bring her like a whole

Flood of strawberries that I
picked myself, you know, lots

Of vegetables and...

Yeah, or he would show up at
my doorstep, and instead of

With a bouquet of flowers, he
would have, like, a broccoli.

[Laughing]

It was cute.

That's our guard dog, migra.

We name her as, as a joke,
because migra means a border

Patrol and the job of a border
patrol is to chase coyotes.

So that's her job,
to chase coyotes.

That's why we
called her migra.

Migra, come on!

[Dog barks]

Angel's been living in the
United States for 15 years,

And married to Caitlin for
three, but he still hasn't

Been able to gain
legal status.

Most people are aware that
most farm workers in the

United States come here from
other countries, and we have a

Very schizophrenic public
attitude right now where on

The one hand, we are dependent
on the labor of farm workers

To put food on the table, and
yet, um, people are demonized

Because of the fact that they
were born somewhere else.

You can't find U.S. citizens
who are willing

To do this kind of work.

I mean, you can't pay them
enough to, to work this hard

And in this physical of a way.

I think there's definitely a
space for some, some gratitude

Towards the people who are
doing the hard work of growing

The food, whoever
they might be.

There are 200,000,000 in the
world who are living outside

The countries where
they were born.

So there is a tremendous flow
of workers from poor countries

To rich countries.

And this has become very
important to the economies of

Industrialized countries,
partly because it's a very

Low-wage labor.

People often look at
farm worker issues as an

Immigration issue.

It's more than an
immigration issue.

It's a human rights issue.

If you look at the history of
agriculture in our country,

It started with slave labor.

It started with, uh, let's
exploit the weakest group.

An immigration reform policy
that doesn't look at what the

Economic roots of immigration
are, I think, is a joke.

When slavery was abolished,
farmers became obligated to

Pay their workers, but there
were plenty of desperate

People willing to work for
next to nothing

In the United States.

Growers have used wave after
wave after wave of migration

As the source of labor, um,
to make the system work.

Again and again and again,
it's people from ethnic

Minorities.

It is the search
for a new peasantry.

Constantly searching for
a new group to exploit.

We can end that cycle by
creating wages and working

Conditions that are decent.

Immokalee farm workers
are not giving up.

The coalition of immokalee
workers is focusing on publix,

Saying they want them to
put people before profit.

Workers are asking for
one cent more per pound of

Tomatoes to end what they say
is Florida's harvest of shame.

It's just workers
uniting for respect.

The coalition simply wants
publix to come and talk.

Farm workers believe making
progress with publix is

Crucial for striking
agreements with other major

Supermarket chains
across the country.

Immokalee farm workers were
turned away at the door of the

Publix headquarters when they
tried to talk to the ceo about

Pay wages.

Publix said in their official
statement "since first"

Approached by the cow
three years ago, we have

"Consistently viewed this
issue as a labor dispute."

Publix pays fair-market
value for the tomatoes.

We view this as a labor
dispute, and we don't get

Involved in those.

They say it's the
responsibility of their

Suppliers to monitor the
working conditions and manage

Their work force.

What publix is saying is not
correct, because they are the

Ones who have the power
to control the market.

It's a supply chain.

Everyone is connected.

Publix is at the top, and the
decisions they make can create

Terrible conditions at
the bottom of the chain.

The struggle for fundamental
human rights isn't limited

Simply to the fields here
in the United States.

Workers at the base of any of
these massive supply chains

That exist around the world
face the same struggles we do.

At least 118 people have been
killed in a massive fire at a

Garment factory in Bangladesh.

The fire broke out at night
as hundreds of garment workers

Were on overtime shifts,
producing clothes bound for

Some major American
retailers, including Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is now blaming the
use of this factory on a

Rogue supplier.

And Wal-Mart's
culpability is enormous.

They're the largest buyer from
Bangladesh,

So they make the market.

Why would you even consider
putting human beings in a

Building that could collapse?

Because in the end, they
aren't people to you.

They are just a means to make
money, and a means for profit.

That's all they are.

In the 21st century, the
responsibility for protecting

Workers' rights has to be
shared by the corporations who

Control the supply chains
where those workers toil,

And slowly we're seeing huge
multibillion dollar companies

Forced to recognize their own
responsibility and, and change

The way they do business.

After serious allegations of
forced overtime, under-aged

Labor, after explosions and
chemicals killed and harmed

Workers over there...

Tech giant apple and its
manufacturer foxconn have

Agreed to address workplace
violations affecting workers

Who make apple
products in China.

It doesn't matter if it's
computers or fields here in

The U.S.

Human rights violations at the
base of your supply chain are

Your responsibility.

Workers are suffering
at the bottom.

Publix is creating
that misery.

There are many that we support
in the town of immokalee, and

Many of the farm workers
benefit from the generosity of

Publix supermarkets'
charities.

The farm workers' group vows to

Keep up the pressure on publix.

Though it seems they're at
an impasse, protestors remain

Confident their
message will be heard.

Workers at the base of almost
every supply chain in America

Are guaranteed at least the
minimum wage to the federal

Labor standards act of 1938.

Farm workers, who at the
time were predominately

African-American, were
excluded from this bill in

Order to secure its passage.

It took more than 40 years for
them to be included

In this law.

You gotta sign.

In an industry where paydays
happen in a parking lot and

Are administered by middlemen
like labor contractors,

Wage theft is not uncommon.

Even when farm workers do get
minimum wage, they remain far

Below the poverty line.

We know our economy's stronger
when we reward an honest day's

Work with honest wages.

But today, a full time worker
making the minimum wage earns

$14,500 a year.

Even with the tax
relief we put in place.

A family with two kids that
earns the minimum wage still

Lives below the poverty line.

Tonight, let's declare that
in the wealthiest nation on

Earth, no one who works full
time should have to live in

Poverty and raise the federal
minimum wage to $9 an hour.

[Applause]

When people have been in
poverty, they don't feel as

Able to voice their resistance
to things, 'cause they've

Already been beaten down in
a class system, which has

Disabled their voice.

Farm workers who complain face
the very real threat of being

Fired and slipping further
below the poverty line.

Because this industry doesn't
effectively police itself,

Government oversight is
essential,

But is sorely lacking.

Florida has only 14 labor
inspectors, for example, to

Monitor over 40,000 farms.

It is an impossible task to
take care of every instance of

Abuse that goes
on in the fields.

It's like you have all the
crime that you always have in

New York City, and you have
two or three cops on the

Entire beat.

They're not going to
be able to do anything.

Now that's what it is
in the fields today.

It's a like New York City
crime spree without any cops.

Only a fourth of the work
force in agriculture is women.

Usually the, the farm owners,
the supervisors, the managers,

They're all male.

Sexual harassment is a
problem for women everywhere.

25% of American women report
experiencing sexual harassment

In the workplace.

In the isolated environments
of the fields however, this

Figure is believed
to be closer to 80%.

Look, it's, it's insane that
anyone's experiencing sexual

Harassment, but to look at
those numbers is an indication

Of what happens when we
have women who are poor...

They have children
and families to feed.

And so they can be
easily, um, harassed.

Because they need the income.

For a woman in the field to be
able to voice what's happened

To her is crucial, but then to
see repercussions and to see

Somebody being held
accountable for that and to

See justice.

We need systems that are more
efficient and that get to

Justice in a quicker,
more immediate way.

In the last five years, there
has been interest from select

U.S. senators in investigating
the physical and economic

Exploitation of farm workers.

But there's been no
legislative action as of yet.

An informal hearing was held
in 2008 to give farm workers a

Voice in exposing the worst
human rights violations, like

Modern-day slavery.

Today we are a very long way
away from immokalee, Florida.

Thankfully, due to the
dedication and hard work of a

Number of people, including
the coalition of immokalee

Workers, the conditions that
exist in the Florida tomato

Fields have begun
to come to light.

I'm very pleased that Lucas
benitez, a co-founder of the

Coalition, could be with us
today to shed even more light

On the subject.

Between 1997 and 2010, more
than 1,200 farm workers were

Freed from slavery
in Southern Florida.

Some of the workers were
U.S. citizens, and in 2007, a

Slavery ring was
discovered in immokalee.

Two brothers, Cesar and
geovanni navarrete, lead a

Slavery operation.

Luring poor farm workers with
the promise of food, housing

And jobs.

Unbeknownst to the workers,
the navarretes were charging

An exorbitant amount
for room and board.

Over several months, the
workers accumulated large,

False debts and
threatened to leave.

In retaliation, the navarrete
brothers beat them and kept

Them confined at night to
the back of a u-haul truck.

After a year of slavery, one
worker noticed a small hole

Had formed in the
roof of the u-haul.

He managed to push
through and escape.

Senator Sanders and I happened
to be in immokalee Florida

This January when the U.S.
department of justice released

Its indictment in the
latest slavery case there.

Here are some details
from that case.

The defendants have been
accused of threatening,

Slapping and kicking
farm workers.

Chaining them to a pole.

Beating them.

Locking them inside
u-haul trailers.

Keeping them in debt and
forcing them to work for free.

The indictments read like
something you might see in the

Year 1868, not the year 2008.

These abuses are un-American.

They are unacceptable,
and they must stop.

Thank you.

The law establishes
that slavery is a crime.

The law establishes that
sexual harassment is a crime.

But we still see all
of these things happen.

Why?

It's not a question of how
beautiful it sounds in the

Books.

It is a question of how
effective that enforcement

Mechanisms are.

The coalition began with just
a handful of guys meeting in a

Back room of the local
catholic church in the early

'90's, just to discuss things
that weren't quite right.

And from then, it,
it grew slowly.

Immokalee farm workers take
their protest to the streets

And their anger and frustration
is caught on tape.

Now farm workers are uniting
stronger than ever

Against violence in southwest
Florida's vegetable fields.

And they want to send a message
to the farm bosses

That abuse won't be tolerated.

The cow held dozens of
protests between 1995 and

2000, including a month-long
hunger strike and a 230-mile

March that called upon local
farmers to pay higher wages.

The farmers said "we can't
pay you anymore because we're"

Squeezed just like you."

So somebody at the coalition,
just at one of their weekly

Little gab sessions says
"well, why don't we take it to

The end buyer?"

The cow created the fair food
program, which placed the

Responsibility of fair wages
and conditions for workers on

The big buyers of tomatoes
rather than the farmers.

They focused this new campaign
on taco bell and its Mexican

Chihuahua mascot.

[Shouting in Spanish]

Taco bell is profiting from
sweat shops right here in

Florida!

Not only did the cow demand
an extra penny per pound for

Wages.

They also created a code of
conduct to force buyers to

Take responsibility for human
rights violations within their

Supply chain.

Buyers like taco bell would
no longer be able to purchase

Tomatoes from farmers
who broke the code.

We spent four or five years
picketing, demonstrating, and

Eventually taco
bell came aboard.

After taco bell joined the
fair food program, ten other

Huge multi-national
corporations soon joined as

Well, including burger king,
McDonalds, chipotle, and

Trader Joe's.

Farm workers had finally won
some influence within the

System.

Once we started to focus on
the big buyers, there was

Something that started to
change in the industry, and we

Became a little problem
for the big corporations.

These corporations spend
hundreds of millions of

Dollars creating an image.

Whether it's a friendly clown
or a little girl with red pig

Tails or a chihuahua that
talks to you, and that's what

They have at stake.

You can go to almost
any fast food outlet.

Any chain restaurant, and
you're eating a fair-food

Tomato.

But there's still a huge hole.

And that is
supermarket chains.

They're getting the job done.

It's gone from an imaginary
thing to something that's in

The fields and working
very successfully today.

Since its inception, the fair
food program has channeled

Over $11 million in
extra pennies to workers.

It has provided a way for
women to report harassment

Without fear of retribution
and it has eliminated slavery

On the farms that
work with the cow.

I see this as a completely
unique way to approach labor

Relations in agriculture that
no one has, no one has done it

This way.

And it can be a template, I
think, for other industries.

For the first time, a publix
executive has shown up at the

Hunger strike.

Shannon patton, publix's
spokesperson, is just 100

Yards away from
the protestors.

Lucas has been warned that if
he tries to speak to her, he

Will be arrested.

What would happen if you just
walked over there and talked

To Shannon?

Yeah, then, let's just stand
at the edge, I'll wave them

Over, and let's just say

"Can you tell Shannon to come
here."

It's like, there's two people.

Just talk.

If you go there and I happen
to talk to, I talk to Shannon

Right here?

Yeah.

Yeah?

Yeah.

Yeah, if you go there and
ask, yeah, absolutely.

I guess I'll be right back.

Yeah.

[Speaking in Spanish
through a megaphone]

There is a long and
proud history of creative

Nonviolence in this country.

What creative nonviolence does
is it draws out the essential

Character of the person
on the other side.

By ignoring farm workers and
religious people and students

Who all gathered and did
this simple sacrifice, publix

Demonstrated the kind of
disdain that they've shown

Farm workers behind
the scenes for decades.

I'm tired, but with these two
kids and my wife, my bar is

Here, so I'm physical tired
but not, not in my heart.

Not in my spirit.

Yeah.

Exactly 44 years earlier
to the day,

Robert f. Kennedy had ended a
hunger strike with Cesar Chavez

In California.

Part of the Kennedy family's
long legacy of activism on

Behalf of the farm workers.

What message are you sending
out by coming out this

Afternoon?

That, uh, people want
fairness, and social justice.

Ladies and gentlemen,
with you, kerry Kennedy.

I want to address my remarks
today not to all of the

Wonderful people here, but
to the owners of publix.

The farm workers have fasted
for justice and for truth and

They have spoken
truth to power.

Surely, if the farm workers
can go without food for six

Days, you can provide
zero tolerance for sexual

Harassment.

You can stop the slavery, and
you can provide a

Penny per pound.

[Cheering and applause]

Ladies and gentlemen,
Bobby Kennedy junior.

The battle you're fighting,
is a battle not just to get

Higher wages for these
workers, but it's a battle

Against a corporate culture
that says that our margins

Transcend any
kind of morality.

We have to resist the
seduction of the notion that

We can advance ourselves as
a people by leaving our poor

Brothers and sisters behind.

If we cannot win this fight,
we have lost the soul of

America.

[Chanting "we'll be back"]

[Peaceful music]

*

Thank you, thank you,
thank you so much.

This is not something that
farm workers are

Asking as a favor.

It is thanks to the hard work
of thousands and thousands of

Workers in this nation that
food end up in their tables.

I ask every consumer to take
into consideration the fact

That you can do something
about this to make people's

Lives better.

If you eat, you are affected.

Everybody should be concerned
with where our food comes from

And who picks it.

When I think of the great
problems that this country is

Facing and how difficult some of
them are going to be to solve,

This isn't one of them.

[Folk music]

* California, Arizona

* I harvest your crops

* then it's north
up to Oregon *

* to gather your hops

* dig the beets
from the ground *

* cut the grapes
from the vine *

* to set on your table

* that light
sparkling wine *

* it's always we ramble

* this river and I

* all along your
green valley *

* I work 'til I die

* my land I'll defend

* with my life if it be

* 'cause our
pastures of plenty *

* must always be free

*

*