Comment

Comment by Susan Ferrara on April 3, 2012 at 2:00pm

Dear Labor & Trade group members,

In an effort to encourage communication and idea-sharing among the many individuals and organizations who are committed to fair labor and trade issues in the food system, we invite you to participate in a conference call in late April.

We hope to hear from members of this group, as well as others who may be interested in participating. If you know of interested individuals or organizations, please encourage them to join NESAWG and this group, or to email Susan Ferrara, Fair Trade and Labor Intern, at susantferr@gmail.com for more information.

Please stay tuned for possible dates and times for the conference call so we can assess everyone’s availability. Please also email Susan with ideas you would like to add to the agenda for the call.

All the best,

Susan Ferrara, Just Food Fair Trade and Labor Intern

Comment by Susan Ferrara on March 26, 2012 at 11:26pm

Close our Borders? An essay by Joseph Sorrentino

We aren’t going to stop illegal immigration from Latin America by building more walls and fences at our southern border.  More soldiers, border agents, drones or even militias like the Minutemen won´t stem the flow of people.  These things will certainly lead to more migrants dying, but millions will still take the risk.  Anyone who doubts this need only visit a shelter for migrants in Mexico and talk with people headed to the US.  Two things will strike you during these conversations: how horrific the trip is and how desperate the people are.

About 1,000 people a month pass through Hermanos en el Camino, a shelter for migrants in Ixtepec, Oaxaca, which was founded by Padre Alejandro Solalinde.  And that´s only a fraction of those who get off the train there.  Most of the others are traveling with, or meeting, smugglers (called coyotes or polleros).  The majority of migrants at this shelter come from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador—with a few from Nicaragua—and they travel on a train they call La Bestia: The Beast.  It´s aptly named.

Migrants face any number of horrors on the trip.  Just sitting on top of a train or between cars is dangerous enough.  Manuél, a migrant from Guatemala, fell asleep on the train.  He fell off as it crossed a small bridge over a narrow stream a short distance so from the shelter.  He lay on the bank—with a broken arm, broken hip and a gash in his leg—screaming for eight hours before someone found him.  Leopoldo, from Salvador, was robbed by men dressed in police uniforms. Marta was raped.  Michael told of a woman who lost her grip on her baby and watched it plunge onto the tracks below.  Screaming, she threw herself after her baby.

Here are some cold numbers:  80% of the migrants will be assaulted or robbed; 60% of the women will be raped.  A lucrative side business for the drug gangs (mostly the Zetas, apparently) is kidnapping. Migrants, which nets them $1,500 to $2,500.  Between April and September 2010, there were 11,333 reported kidnappings.

People are migrating because the poverty in their countries is worsening.  To say they want something better for their family doesn´t really capture the situation; what they really want is for their families to survive.

When asked about the dangers of the trip, most migrants say they know it´s dangerous and simply shrug their shoulders -  they have no choice.  Most acknowledge some fear but José Luís, from Salvador, didn´t.  “We all know we´re going to die,” he said.  “Here or there, it doesn´t matter.”

So the US is faced with millions of desperate, impoverished people at its southern border.  Our answer to stopping them from entering the country has created more obstacles, more border patrol agents, more soldiers.  None of this will work.  We need—now and at the very least—an expanded, fair guest worker program.  H2A, as the current program is called, has its faults but it´s a start; and something has to be done immediately.  For long-term solutions, we need changes in our immigration policy and trade policies; and investments must be made in Latin America that stimulate their economies. 

This brief article has only talked about migration from Central America.  A bit further north, the agricultural crisis in Mexico worsens and it hasn´t rained in their northern states for—I´m told—eighteen months.  Where do you think those millions of campesinos are going to go?

Comment by Elizabeth Henderson on January 15, 2012 at 10:41am

Resources on Farm Labor and Immigration Policy :

Organizations:

Agricultural Justice Project

The Agricultural Justice Project (AJP) is a non-profit initiative to create fairness and equity in our food system through the development of social justice standards for organic and sustainable agriculture.

http://www.agriculturaljusticeproject.org/

Cornell Farmworker Program

The Cornell Farmworker Program (CFP) is dedicated to improving the living and working conditions of farmworkers and their families. We also seek recognition for farmworkers' contributions to society and their acceptance and full participation in local communities. http://devsoc.cals.cornell.edu/outreach/cfp/

• Cornell Study: Immigrants and the Community

http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/220/1/Immigrant%...

Domestic Fair Trade Association

The Domestic Fair Trade Association is a collaboration of organizations representing farmers, farmworkers, food system workers, retailers, manufacturers, processors, and non-governmental organizations. Our primary goal is to support family-scale farming, to reinforce farmer-led initiatives such as farmer co-operatives, and to bring these groups together with mission-based traders, retailers and concerned consumers to contribute to the movement for sustainable agriculture in North America.

http://www.thedfta.org/

Farmworker Justice

Farmworker Justice is a nonprofit organization that seeks to empower migrant and seasonal farmworkers to improve their living and working conditions, immigration status, health, occupational safety, and access to justice. http://www.farmworkerjustice.org/

• Labor and Immigration Resources:

http://www.farmworkerjustice.org/resources-publications/labor-immig...

• Farmworker Justice/Oxfam America Report on Farmworker Abuse: http://www.farmworkerjustice.org/files/immigration-labor/weeding-ou...

• Farmworker Justice Report on H2A program: http://www.farmworkerjustice.org/images/stories/imm_labor_files/Lit...

Farmworker Legal Services of New York

Farmworker Legal Services of New York, Inc. has been serving migrant and seasonal farm workers for the past 30 years through direct representation in civil matters regarding employment and wage issues. 

http://www.farmworkerlegalservices.com/

Green for All

Green For All is a national organization working to build an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. Green for All has produced a report called “Green Jobs in a Sustainable Food System” that explores how to transform jobs in the green economy and enhance environmental and economic equity and create more sustainable and equitable food system.

http://www.greenforall.org/resources/reports-research/green-jobs-in...

NY Farm Bureau

Farm Bureau is a non-governmental, volunteer organization financed and controlled by member families for the purpose of solving economic and public policy issues challenging the agricultural industry.

www.nyfb.org

• Farm Bureau Facts Sheets on Farm Labor Issues: http://www.nyfb.org/resources/topic_main.cfm?StartRow=1&ID=1&am...

The Color of Food

The Color of Food aims to address the lack of voices from Asian, Black, Latino and Native American communities in the dialogue on healthy food and food justice. These topics have rapidly come into the limelight lacking input from diverse communities. If we cannot see and hear from these communities, we will not have a food system free of racial inequities. http://thecolorofood.org/home.html

The New Farmer Development Project

The New Farmer Development Project (NFDP) identifies, educates, and supports immigrants with agricultural experience by helping them become local farmers and establish small farms in the NYC region.

http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket/nfdp

United Farm Workers

Founded in 1962 by Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers (UFW) of America is the nation's first successful and largest farm workers union currently active in 10 states. The vision of UFW is to provide farm workers and other working people with the inspiration and tools to share in society's bounty. http://ufw.org/

• Inventory of Farmworker Issues and Protections in the United States – March 2011: http://www.ufw.org/pdf/farmworkerinventory_0401_2011.pdf

Books, Films, Articles:

Farm Hands (Book)

By Tom Rivers

Batavia, N.Y. newspaper reporter Tom Rivers wrote a first-person series about farm work in 2008 that won state and national awards. Now the series, with more background and other information, is compiled in this newly released book, Farm Hands: Hard work and hard lessons from Western New York fields.

http://www.farmhandsbook.com/

New York Times Articles:

Immigrants Go From Farms to Jails, and a Climate of Fear Settles In (December 2006)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/nyregion/24migrant.html

Illegal Workers Swept From Jobs in Silent Raids (July 2010)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/us/10enforce.html

The Hudson Valley Farmworker Report: Understanding the Needs And Aspirations Of A Voiceless Population

Author: Gray, Margaret
Date Published: 2007

http://www.ncfh.org/?plugin=ecomm&content=item&sku=7527

The Other Side of Immigration (Film)

Based on over 700 interviews, The Other Side of Immigration asks why so many Mexicans leave home to work in the United States and what happens to the families and communities they leave behind.

http://www.theothersideofimmigration.com/

Comment by Elizabeth Henderson on January 15, 2012 at 10:40am

It Takes A Region
19th NESAWG Conference and Annual Meeting
November 10-12, 2011
Albany, New York

Labor and Trade Work Group

Session No. 1

Facilitators

Elizabeth Henderson, organic farmer, NOFA-NY board member, Domestic Fair Trade Association

-labor an important part of farming

Nelson Carrasquillo, CATA (Farmworker Support Committee)

-membership of migrant farmworkers, many undocumented
-wants a series of recommendations of action steps for next year

Introductions

Daisy Chung, Restaurant Opportunities Center of NY
-wants to see how we can incorporate workers into dialogue about sustainability

Katie Parker, student at Brown
-efforts at school have approached sustainability as separate from labor justice
-how to get a cohesive approach to both

Brendan O’Neill, VT Migrant Farmworkers Solidarity Project
-in Vermont, invisible labor force

Alison Clarke, NY Small Scale Food Processors Assn.
-Finger Lakes region
-long time community organizer in food system
-energy into small-scale food processors and businesses
-how to incorporate social justice into sustainability

Juan C. Romero, Restaurant Opportunities Center
- food insecurity reality for many restaurant workers
-organizing with occupy Wall Street
-farmworkers are a big part of a sustainable plan regarding food system

Danilo Lopez, VT Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project
-immigrant workers excluded from system in Vermont
-looking for strategies and ways to work with corporations that oppress

Sue Futrell, Red Tomato
-farmers have a different lack of power than workers do
-conversations with growers to bring the whole truth about operating a family farm in the NE and about being a worker on a farm like that
-involved with Domestic Fair Trade Association working on a set of criteria regarding the principles of fair trade, and criteria to evaluate programs looking at farmworkers and food system workers

Mer Riccio, Yale University, Local 35 Unite HERE
-former dining hall worker
-sustainable food program has made situation better for workers and students
-increased work force because of time and scale to produce good food

Stu Comen, chef at Yale University, Local 35 Unite HERE
-instrumental in sustainable food program
-wanting to reach out, would like to get the student farm more involved again

Kyle Schafer, Unite HERE
-works with Meg and Stu
-workers are involved in making possible the sustainable food program at Yale
-helped change work environment
-trying to share this example

Richard Mandelbaum, CATA
-works to end discrimination for workers
-partner in the Agricultural Justice Project, a program that guarantees fair labor conditions, fair pricing, fair contracts
-comprehensively cover links by including small farm businesses

Abby Youngblood, Just Food
-people asking more questions about who is producing food, farmers and farmworkers
-some farmers dependent on H2A program
-try to educate people more about the issue, forums with people from different backgrounds to discuss the issues
-would like an update on immigration policy

Diego Angarita, Nuestras Raices
-urban gardens and farm incubator site
-value in different kinds of work at organization: focus on manual labor rather than the food or intellectual part because those are more visible
-how are people putting labor piece as a value in the food movement

Jessica Cortes, Just Food

Liana Hoodes, National Organic Coalition
-advance organics on the policy level
-USDA has never included social justice or labor issues in organic

Arthur Lerner, F.R.E.S.H. New London
-small organization, transformation of the food system
-rural farms, urban gardens
-food system we’re trying to build is something we’ve never had before
-it’s fundamentally different, what’s it going to look like?

John Pollard, dairy farmer in Vermont, Rural Vermont
-working on a food hub
-sit at the feet of the master and see what you get

Conversation

Elizabeth:
-as a group, it’s hard to talk about what to do without considering who can support it/do it
-review of what people said: heightening the value of manual work
-other things people want out of this?
-reaching out to other organizational structures
-how would that happen concretely?
-farmer and farmworker participation in community forums
-outreach to engage a larger segment of the community (Alison)
-Abby also interested in education, putting it in the realm of sustainability

Nelson:
-share personal thoughts, problem is that each of us comes to this from our own point of view, we get accustomed to think and act in a particular way
-we might be talking in one way and the audience may be understanding a different message
-it happens in every aspect of the work we do
-this is an example of living in the context of being fragmented, lack of harmony
-when we think of justice in terms of the food system, it’s a limitation to not recognize this lack of unity
-it’s the reality we are all working in
-this is the challenge, we need to build common ground that’s based on the common understanding of who we are, what we want to achieve
-we have to create a culture that allows us to build something different as far as a sustainable and just food system, we have to create something different than what we have

Arthur:
-many people think of going back to reach ideal food system – racism was and is a central factor

Nelson:
-the food system that we have today in terms of production, labor system has a crew leader, long hard hours
-farmworkers tend to be young, immigrants, don’t know rights, not a lot of schooling, undocumented, they are vulnerable to abuse because of this fragmentation
-what drives the food system is based on the plantation system with a master driving the system
-this is still driving the process, there has been no change in terms of food production
-immigration debate, all of that discourse is grounded in sustaining an unjust food system, grounded in exploiting humans to gather food in the cheapest way possible
-regardless of where we are in the food system (farmer, advocate, etc.) that’s the system we are working within to try to build a whole new system that puts the human being first rather than profit as the driving principle
-any recommendation that comes needs to come from here, that’s what CATA is trying to do
-we need to establish alliances and common ground that will allow us to communicate and understand each other

Elizabeth:
-another current in American history, yeoman farmer
-as soon as farmer produces more than for own family and sells for market, the trouble begins
-small farmers do not think as employers, most of the work is done by the family and the farmers themselves and they are in competition with the plantations
-historically they’re never had enough money, same themes over and over since the farmer revolts before the American revolution, farmers struggling to make a living on fragmented pieces

Alison:
-wants a goal to be coming out with a clear common message
-breaks down fragmentation
-can’t build alliances until you have a message

Sue:
-for some people the need is to fix the broken system; for others creating a new system is urgent
-goal to find the point of alliance between folks with these different strategies

Elizabeth:
-so little energy and thought has gone into thinking about the people working in the system in NESAWG

Richard:
-strike the right balance between the internal process and alliances among organizations
-one of the strongest arguments for organic food is the one I hear least often: avoid harming our bodies with poisons
-calling people out and denouncing what’s going on has to be part of this
-just talking about what you’re trying to build is not enough
-one of the challenges we’ve seen as an organization is how to incorporate a human rights framework into all of this
-need clear messaging to the public

Liana:
-we need to ask for the vision we see rather than the little pieces we think we can get
-federal policy will wrap you up in the little minutiae

Elizabeth:
-organic farmers often avoid talking about the use of toxics with conventional farmers, but rather seek where all farmers have common ground

Richard:
-for organic to not be niche, people need to understand what they’re eating
-it’s the same with labor
-need to be willing to engage with what is so negative about the status quo

Kyle:
-how to make space for labor in food movement, important to not just expose the bad, important to think about how we message the work conditions and labor issues

Sue:
-recommendations from Elizabeth in “Workers in the NE Food System” are great, good example of mixing together fixing the broken system vs. creating a new system
-in DFTA work, one of the most challenging pieces of the principles is how to define the family scale farm, don’t feel successful in articulating the distinction
-farmers express a feeling of being misunderstood
-worth continuing to work hard to figure out how to explain and teach people about differences between farms with a farmer struggling to maintain land and livelihood and a farm that’s totally for profit, doesn’t care about the workers

Nelson:
-need to change pricing structure
-hard part about definition is the farm size depending on crop and region

John Pollard:
-example of prisoners, fixing a system that’s broken
-has also noticed that it’s difficult to communicate a meaningful message when frame of reference is so far from the workers, too wide of a gap
-frustrating to know that I want to help change the system, but feel outside of the system

Elizabeth:
-moving experience visiting Swanton Berry Farm: farmer Jim Cochran
invited UFW to unionize his workers, set up an ESOP
- workers at the farm become owners over time
-it’s possible to create enterprises of a different kind, where the relationships are different

NESAWG Vision Proposal
-it hasn’t included people who work in the food system
-how to improve statement, homework for tomorrow and we’ll revise it and propose to NESAWG
-no one opposed to adding onto the vision statement

Other Recommendations

Elizabeth:
-make recommendation that sustainable ag groups include immigration and labor issues?

Liana:
-National Organic Coalition made decision that immigration and labor is beyond what we can do

Abby:
-we can’t all do everything, but we all can voice these values
-fair pricing, immigration reform beyond Ag Jobs legislation

Daisy:
-recommendation for National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), give strength to law to say regardless of status, you are entitled to certain rights

Richard:
-ought to be a place in these recommendations about seeking resources
-this can’t be about fitting this into our agendas, need to pool resources, people, policies to make this labor piece more central

Session No. 2

New Introductions

Myrna Greenfield, Good Egg Marketing

Kevin Ryan, State Representative from CT
-former chair of labor committee

Jesse Alter, Brooklyn Food Coalition

Valentine Doyle, Hartford City Food Policy Council

Vision Statement Draft
-review conversation from Session No. 1
-need to include fair pricing and word about immigration reform
-put in language that says something about how we envision the system
-draft does communicate respect for farmers, but what about farmworkers and food processors?
-the intention is to show respect
-flip sentences, “promote farming ...” first then “foster training” and details after

-in order for this work to be carried out, there needs to be funding, staffing
-also groups working on living wage campaigns that could be involved
-AFL-CIO? person in D.C. working on farmworker issues?
-too complicated of an issue for NESAWG?
-actually it’s a good place to sort through because we could start to piece out what is really the most effective way to get involved and what are the alliances
-what about having the labor working group talking over the phone or meeting in person to keep the conversation going and keep movement
-on a conference call, maybe we could invite someone in who’s working on ag jobs or immigration
-Farmworker Justice in D.C., work with them?
-Nelson may have an evaluation and information about what’s going on there
-first conference call: who are our allies? who have we worked with in the past?
-challenge of locking down the language: how are other people phrasing it?
-weigh pros and cons of getting something in the vision statement immediately vs. waiting
-eager to get language on Just Food Web site, impatient to start work on this issue
-Elizabeth feels the same way on behalf of NOFA
-general agreement to get general language into NESAWG statement soon
-this issue is so critical and people don’t understand what’s going on
-we need to draw attention to the issues
-Obama administration putting pressure on people not to hire undocumented workers
-just learned yesterday from one of the participants from VT, before new governor, cops deporting people
-the police in many municipalities in NY state wide are not participating in Secure communities program of ICE
-underneath that level of harassment, regulatory problems with H2A
-cost of advertising, inability to control who they are hiring
-one place where conventional and sustainable ag line up
-chance for alliances with conventional ag organizations and growers
-that would be great to find some common ground
-NY state under pressure from border control
-Amy Goodman story, 400,000 deported, thousands of children into foster homes
-AbUSed: wonderful documentary about raid in Iowa at a packing plant
-still children in that community whose parents were deported
-think of us as adding onto support, what other people are doing
-we have two roles from our unique position:
-in those faith communities that have been tuned into the farmworker, social justice perspectives, we need to make sure that we’re building bridges with farm communities, connection to fair pricing issues
-agree that we should build alliances with conventional ag, role is to pull conventional farming organizations into social justice framework, also talking about paths to citizenship, things that put protections in for workers
-can you call a farm fair if it uses toxic chemicals?
-farmworkers groups two years ago met in Owatanna and came out with a statement on farmworkers and Fair trade
-why organic is important from the worker safety perspective
-as a network, we are better equipped to deal with the issue of preventing toxic materials from getting into organic system
-interfaith network place for community forums
-thinking about vision statement, possibility of including the definition of sustainability toward the beginning
-Elizabeth proposed to review the notes, share them, take any suggestions received from people, revise that paragraph, circulate it, do what Abby suggested with a conference call
-ideas about how we can stay in touch over the year
-Elizabeth would like some more resources
-at Just Food there could be some administrative support with this topic, getting resources on the Web site
-maybe some opportunity to get Brooklyn Food Coalition support
-comment back to pesticide and organic piece
-be careful about keeping that aspect of farming up high in people’s minds
-want to be careful that we don’t make organic the only sort of “fair”
-farming can be opportunity to make career paths, a farm that’s big enough
-most farms not organic, want to make sure we make the safe, fair, just work space a big enough space
-it’s very hard to communicate with conventional growers, how to approach issues regarding toxic chemicals delicately
-be careful not to make it a black and white issue
-what about cost? may cost more to use synthetics?
-but decreases labor costs
-emphasis on soil health, everybody is trying to use less
-Elizabeth will attach the current vision statement with the working group notes
-join working group list serve through NESAWG website
-Just Food hopes to have an intern in place by the beginning of February to support the next steps
-conference call for mid January
-week of 9th or 16th
-Abby will organize doodle poll
-thanks to Elizabeth for carrying this

From the draft version of “Regional Food System Working” paper by Kathryn Ruhf and Kate Clancy for It Takes a Region (p. 10):
3. A strategic vision. Our premise is that a regionally focused food system could be the best frame to accomplish what we want in a food and farming system:
Viable, thriving family farms with stable, rewarding markets
Wide range of good and appropriate foods
Available and affordable to all
Secure supply
Healthy environment and land uses
Land is kept and prioritized for farming
Farming opportunity (affordable entry/land availability)
Consumer choice, information
Safe food
Strong regional economies that integrate and support agri-food endeavors
Fair and equitable business relationships among all supply chain players
Minimal use of (non-renewable) energy

Upon checking my NESAWG collection, I discovered that this Vision statement I hope to add to was only in the draft version of the Ruhf/Clancy paper.

Here is the revised version of an addition to the NESAWG regional food system vision statement:

Promote farming as a desirable career goal with recognized social status. Make farm jobs attractive to US citizens with options for working careers on farms with decent wages and benefits. Foster training and careers with opportunities for continuing education, adequate benefits, safe working conditions, living wages, respect, more worker-controlled cooperative ventures.

Should we also recommend adding:

Respect and decent, safe working conditions for all workers in the food chain from seed to table.

And perhaps we also need to recommend that this vision be made public by placing it prominently on the NEFOOD website.

Comment by Elizabeth Henderson on May 28, 2011 at 5:14pm

Dear Friends,

 

Over the past two years, I have given a series of workshops on domestic fair trade and the Agricultural Justice Project and led discussions of trade and concentration issues at the NESAWG “It Takes a Region” conferences in 2009 and 2010.  I opened most of these workshops by posing to participants the question – what does fair trade mean?  The list below combines the responses from all of these sessions.  It seems clear to me that the people who attended had a very deep and clear understanding of what domestic fair trade should mean. 

 

NESAWG is providing us the opportunity to develop a more active network of NE activists who are interested in labor and fair trade issues.  I invite you to become a member of NESAWG and the Labor and Trade Working Group.  Through this site, we can discuss all of the issues listed below!  At the next It Takes a Region conference, we can meet face to face and decide what steps we would like to take next together.

 

 

 “What does domestic fair trade mean to you?”

Direct benefits to stakeholders

Feeling of dignity – Red Tomato talks about “Dignity Deal”- everyone in food system treated with dignity and fairness – institutional framework

Exchanging fair value

Fair price is the right price – full disclosure of prices and materials used in production

Mutual interest of eaters and farmers

Food access - Availability of products to all income groups

Food sovereignty

A living wage for farmers and farm workers - value work and workers

Immigration policy reform – H2A syste

Fair contracts – ecologically based

Reexamine capitalist system

Appropriate farm size – respect for the earth

Learn from communities in developing world

Triple bottom line

Food as cultural investment

How to get there? Legislation, education, ethics, economic system change

Citizen understanding of farm realities

Fair pay for farm workers, fair wages for all food system workers, migrant workers included

Apprenticeship rights and responsibilities – for farmers and apprentices

Safe working conditions – farm safety – as close to organic as possible and environmentally sustainable - decent housing and education

Firm set of guidelines for consumers to understand

Quality products and traditional methods

Build structure with existing organized labor organizations (e.g. UFW)

Health benefits for farmers and farmworkers

Education of consumers – so that they make better decisions

Include environmental protections (for workers and others)

Community reinvestment

Clear and transparent expectations about how people are to be paid and treated

Restructuring of international economic system – trade

Human dignity

Pulling back the veil of invisibility from the food system

Pro-active growth in diversity in agriculture

No monopolies in distribution

Farm workers must be included in National Labor Relations Act – labor protection for workers

 

For Peace with Justice,

Elizabeth

 

 

 

Comment by NEFOOD.org Administrator on December 1, 2010 at 8:57pm

Comment by NEFOOD.org Administrator on December 1, 2010 at 8:56pm

Comment by NEFOOD.org Administrator on November 27, 2010 at 1:56pm

Here is a Word .doc of your work group notes from your session at NESAWG's annual conference:
NESAWG-WG-Labor and Trade.doc