Migrant Experiences Seminar increases awareness
Chris Rupar
sophomore
Over Spring Break, 15 of my friends and I went to Florida. Our destination was, however, unusual. As participants in the Center for Social Concern's Migrant Experiences Seminar, we spent the week in the agricultural town of Immokalee, studying and living with migrant workers.
We lived and worked with the workers who bring most of the United States its winter tomatoes and oranges. Most of the workers that pick these crops are immigrants from Mexico, Haiti or Guatemala. These workers work hard to keep America fed and are paid sub-poverty wages. Agricultural workers are exempt from most major labor regulations: no benefits, union or minimum wage. Their pay is based on how much they pick. Every morning they wait to see if they might be able to get a job in the fields. As the seasons change the workers move to follow the crops.
During our week in Immokalee we saw many injustices and problems. We saw small, run-down hovels being rented for up to $200 per week. The workers who lived there can count themselves lucky for finding a place to live. I met a 20 year-old immigrant from Guatemala whose month-long journey to the United States had ended only 15 days earlier and she still had found no work. She was sad and lonely, wondering why she came to America; she could have been unemployed in Guatemala. But most of all, we saw hard working, honest men and women living in squalor, trying to provide for their families and feed America.
The Catholic Church calls us to live in solidarity with these workers. Pope John Paul II says that we are called "to restore to agricultural [workers] … their just value ... To proclaim and promote the dignity of all work but especially of agricultural work." (Laborem Exercens, On Human Work, #21, 1981). We, the participants in the migrant experiences seminar, hope that you will join us in a real way that can make a difference. For over 20 years, the price that a worker received for a bucket of tomatoes has remained at 40 cents. Several years ago, a farmworker advocacy group, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, negotiated a five-cent raise from most major pickers. All except one agreed to this change: Six L's packing company. Because of Six L's unwillingness to talk about the possibility of increasing their wage, the Coalition is calling for a nation-wide boycott of one of Six L's major buyers, Taco Bell. If Taco Bell was to raise the price of a Chalupa one quarter of one cent, they could more than double the wages of the workers. Please join us in standing in solidarity with these workers by attending an informational and organizational meeting at the CSC on Thursday at 7 p.m. Go to the Coalition's website at www.ciw-online.org. And next time you take a bite of tomato or pick up an orange, think of those unappreciated workers who supply us with the bounty of food we rely on everyday.
Chris Rupar
sophomore
Keenan Hall
March 26, 2001
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, March 27, 2001
