Here’s the news from Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida …

We have some fantastic news today: Alderman Farms and Lady Moon Farms, two of Florida's largest organic growers, have agreed to pass the penny-per-pound wage increase onto farmworkers!!

Whole Foods Market confirmed today that Alderman Farms and Lady Moon Farms have reached agreements with Whole Foods to support the CIW's penny-per-pound program and meet strict labor standards. This step forward by Alderman Farms and Lady Moon Farms effectively breaks the stalemate established nearly two seasons ago when the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange (FTGE) threatened to fine any of its members that sold tomatoes under the terms of the CIW agreements.

On May 6th, NFWM, FLOC, farm workers and other allies gathered in Winston Salem, NC for a day of actions during the annual shareholders meeting of Reynolds Tobacco (RAI). We were there to tell Reynolds’ management and shareholders that farm workers are stakeholders too!

The day began with a brief prayer service outside of Reynolds led by Kevin Todd, Duke Divinity Field Education Intern at NFWM NC. Together, they read the Litany, “Give us hope in a new day in which all women and men will know justice, peace, equality, and love; A new day when we will no longer need to gather to STRUGGLE for justice but will gather to CELEBRATE justice.”

Most of the workers who hand harvest the crops in our multi-billion dollar agricultural industry are immigrants and the majority lack legal documentation—despite our dependence on them. On May 14th, the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act - AgJOBS was reintroduced in the Senate by Sen. Diane Feinstein (SB 1038) and in the House by Reps. Berman and Putnam (HR 2414). AgJOBS is a bi-partisan bill agreed to by both farm worker advocates and major agricultural employers to address the agricultural immigration crisis. It allows immigrant farm workers to earn the legal right to permanently stay in this country by continuing to work in agriculture and reforms the current H2A guestworker program, providing growers with a safe and stable workforce.

Contact your Congress Member to Support AgJOBS
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NFWM’s Christy Lafferty & Lucy Boutte join Maria's uncle, Doroteo Jimenez (center) and others in the vigil on May 14, 2009 to honor Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, who died of heatstroke last year while laboring in a San Joaquin Valley vineyard under nearly triple digit temperatures. Photo by Jocelyn Sherman/UFW.
 
 
NFWM and the United Farm Workers will be holding prayer vigils throughout this summer in Los Angeles to honor the lives of 15 farm workers who have died heat-related deaths since 2004. Each year, many farm workers are denied water, rest, and shade by their employers as they work for hours under the hot summer sun, despite laws in California to protect farm workers from these very violations. Last summer alone, 6 farm workers lost their lives and with the summer upon us, it is time to join together in a call for justice.

Low-income Latino immigrants in the South are routinely the targets of wage theft, racial profiling and other abuses driven by an anti-immigrant climate that harms all Latinos regardless of their immigration status, according to a report released today by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The report — Under Siege: Life for Low-Income Latinos in the South — documents the experiences of Latino immigrants who face increasing hostility as they fill low-wage jobs in Southern states that had few Latino residents until recent years.

For more & to access the report, click here.
 
 

This year, Farmworker Awareness Week took place from March 29 through April 4. Farmworker Awareness Week (FAW) is a nation-wide week of action for students and community members to raise awareness about farm worker issues on their campuses and in their communities during the week of Cesar Chavez' birthday. The week honors his legacy as a leader of the farm worker movement. NFWM and NFWM-YAYA co-sponsor the week, along with Student Action with Farm Workers, farm worker unions and community organizations.

 Arturo Rodriguez, UFW President, talks to students at University of So. California at Long Beach during the Cesar Chavez event, March 26, 2009.

For news of more events around the country: California - Oregon - North Carolina - YAYA
 
 
 

Thirteen students from the University of Florida - Gainesville spent their spring break in North Carolina learning about and supporting farm workers and interacted with young people in North Carolina who are active in the farm worker movement. The week of action and education was organized by NFWM’s YAYA Coordinator, Lariza Garzon, and NFWM’s North Carolina staffer, Alexandria Jones, and in collaboration with UF's Florida Alternative Breaks.

NFWM-North Carolina’s organizer, Alexandria (Alex) Jones, visited Oaxaca, Mexico this spring. After her return, Alex gave the reflection at Caledonia United Methodist Church in Laurinberg, NC. You can read the text of her reflection, Building Bridges, Not Walls.
 
 

NFWM's Curriculum on Farm Workers is available as a Free Download, you will first need to fill out a short registration form. A hardcopy version is available for $5.00 by emailing nfwm@nfwm.org.