Modern Day Shame
June 7th, 2005 | by Jet Netwal |In case you were wondering this is how it works in the new millennium.
You are homeless and hungry; the offer of food, a place to stay and the chance to work are gratefully accepted. A long ride in a beat-up van brings you to the camp. Beer is placed on ice in front of you. Food is placed beside it. After you eat and drink, you find out the beers are $1.50 each, the food and bed cost as well. Your charge "account" has begun.
The next day you load up in the van and leave the isolated camp. There is no town, just one road out. You go to the grower’s facility. You pick tomatoes, dig potatoes, cut cabbage, pick citrus. The day is long, the work unrelenting. You are returned to the camp. You wages are docked for every thing you ate or drank, your ride to and from the camp, your bed. Your account obligation mounts. They own your earnings to repay your subsistence.
Crack is sold for $20.00 a rock. It ensures compliance as it requires more work to pay for it, and the addiction mandates more crack be purchased.
A man leaves the camp, down the one road. He is hunted down and severely beaten. Threats to feed the next one to flee to the alligators are believed.
New workers arrive at the camp. They are unloaded from a van with Arizona plates. The camp bosses ask the new workers to pay for their passage. No one has any money. The bosses pay the drivers for the workers. These workers must "repay" the $1000 payment, in addition to their daily costs, before they can leave.
More tomatoes, more potatoes, more cabbage and grapefruit await. The laborers are not employees of the growers, they are contracted labor. They are unprotected, exploited, and completely controlled.
They are modern day slaves.
President Bush addressed the trafficking of women on July 16, 2004. While commendable, it’s only part of the slavery story. The situation I described above is happening, right now, in Florida. The ownership of humans, through punitive wage garnering, is creating a substrata of workers who are systematically abused by labor contractors. The protections in place which safeguard workers who work directly for the grower, cannot help them. Are the growers aware of the situation? I can’t see how they can’t be; to succeed, you must understand your industry. Growers need cheap labor, and using labor contractors ensures they have it. Legally, their hands are clean.
Jumping up and down and screaming about illegal aliens is not productive here. No American would ever work fourteen hours to net $7.00. President Bush’s temporary worker program merits consideration. To simply ignore the work that is being accomplished and focus on the influx of illegals is akin to not reading the book because you don’t like the jacket. These workers are putting food on the American table. This nation values work. We must begin there.
The temporary worker program will protect people arriving in this country from slavery abuse, and fill jobs that Americans do not want to do. (Have you tried to pick a grapefruit off a thorn-laden 20′ tree, while on a ladder? How about 2000 of them?) It will also help us know who is in this country, and help us to secure our borders.
America has not healed it’s slavery scars. We cannot go down this path any farther. Slavery has NO acceptable format. Every mind, every person, has value and merit. This country provides the framework to develop yourself. It’s one of our most cherished philosophies. If not available to all, it’s reduced to farce.
I’m not willing to see hard work and determination join honor and respect on the sidelines. Are you?
21 Responses to “Modern Day Shame”
By Jay on Jun 7, 2005 | Reply
Awesome post! I won’t jump up and down screaming “illegal aliens”. I will point it out though. Part of this could be stopped by stronger border control…which Bush is laxing in.
However, it wouldn’t solve the problem. The problem you are talking about roots with the greed of the “slave owner”. It is quite sickening. So…bravo on this post!
By Jet on Jun 7, 2005 | Reply
Thank you, Jay. Tightening the borders will lessen the number of people who come here illegally, but it will not expose the slave network. If anything, these workers will more vulnerable to exploitation because they are illegal.
To me, this is pretty clear cut. We need workers for these jobs. We need to know who is in this country. The temporary worker program addresses both issues.
We also cannot condone slavery within our borders while bemoaning civil rights violations elsewhere. If we intend to talk the talk, we MUST walk the walk.
By pia on Jun 7, 2005 | Reply
Wow Jet you did it again! wonderful post. The labor contractor part makes it a doubly hard problem.
I have a really hard time with our country speaking out while pretty much subsidizing slaverly in our own borders.
On Long Island, it was pretty much accepted for undcoumented workers to stand on certain streets waiting for contractors or people who needed day laborers. Some would never be seen again; the problems really began (to Anglos) when they would accuse workers of rape or killing–shades of Emmett Till.
Long Island is one of the most expensive places to live in the country; living conditions for undocumented workers is horrible–many to a room even more to a bathroom
By sally on Jun 7, 2005 | Reply
Modern day slavery still exists is hard to believe. Every region has different issues and different problems…
By Joseph (OK Democrat) on Jun 7, 2005 | Reply
Good post my friend!
Slavery is alive and well. This is one reason to end illegal immigration. Even with id cards, it is far too easy to abuse these people. While it can be argued they take the money they earn back to Mexico and live well on it during the time they are there, it is still wrong to abuse them when they work here off the books.
By Jet on Jun 7, 2005 | Reply
Workers here legally do send money back to their home countries, including Guatemala, Haiti and Mexico. They are also consumers while they are here, spending some of their earnings, and have the usual deductions taken on their checks. If they are working directly for a large grower, their papers are most likely in order.
The slave laborer is netting minimal actual cash, is not contributing to the economy as a consumer, and is not contributing taxes through payroll deductions. If our borders were strengthened and temporary workers were registered and allowed entry, I believe most would come legally. When the goal is to find work and access is granted, they will come and work. The need to sneak in is greatly diminished.
Then pressure can be brought to bear on this system of slavery.
By sally on Jun 7, 2005 | Reply
The modern slavery problem is sadly a problem worldwide as is the problem of illegal aliens…I think both go hand in hand. The problem with illegal aliens helps to create a market for slavery. Would these brokers of humans have the power or even the threat if the market was not there?
By Gun-Toting Liberal on Jun 7, 2005 | Reply
Jet, as you can guess, due to the fact you often stop by at my blog, I am 100% in agreement with every point you’ve made in this post. There are some solutions, as you and others have pointed out.
A) We implement a “guest worker” program.
B) We REGULATE the program and monitor the working conditions.
C) We PLUG our borders TIGHT (something THIS Government doesn’t seem to agree much with).
D) We launch an investigation and trace the “money trail” to the very TOP to see who’s been willfully profiting from the “human slavery” and we put those people in prison. I’m going to go out on a “limb” here and suggest those people will most likely have “R’s” behind their names, but HEY - I might be wrong on that one
Some on the “right” would point to the consumer and say “THEY are the beneficiaries of this!” Well, just look at the polls. We, the People, have been SCREAMING for THIS Government to secure our borders for years! What I’m trying to figure out is just WHAT can we DO to stop this?
We write our lawmakers, we respond to (and CONDUCT!) polls, we protest against it, we take the President’s advice to be “vigilant” and we are called “vigilantes” when we take him up on it. I really do not know what the heck else I can do, as an American to stop this crap from happening, Jet. It’s an EXTREMELY frustrating topic for me, but one that needs to be SERIOUSLY discussed until such time a solution is found.
Sorry about the rant.
By Napolean on Jun 8, 2005 | Reply
I too would like to see some sort of guest worker program for individuals who would comply with its regulations, but I am also concerned that it in alone will not solve the problems being adressed. Slavers will still seek indentured servants their not looking to comply with the law, and guest workes have to go back to their port of origin - wich is something many illegal immagrants never intend. As long as that relationship exists the problem will exist.
All free trade benefits aside when c.a.f.t.a. goes through with trucks running all over the hemisphere there won’t be enough annual guest worker liscences to handle the volume, which means the wages can get droped through the floor for all legal immagrant workers, illegal workers, and indigenous citizcens - slavery wins again. CEO’s win even more.
The real solution is to enforce the existing laws , seal the borders to non citiczens or those with out legitimate visas and find a way to fix these countries so that they can be desireable and hopefull places to live with out handing our country over to economic despair. You know we could insert agencies during the cold war to prevent Marxism in south and central America but we can’t seem to kill political corruption and Narco terrorists to foster real growth and success in these countries.
By Tom Harper on Jun 8, 2005 | Reply
God, this is really shocking. Thanks for posting about this, Jet. I had no idea.
I remember a Sting Ray episode (go ahead and laugh, but that was one of my favorite shows in the ’80s) about a slave labor camp — the crop was marijuana. The episode seemed very realistic but I had no idea it was based on anything real.
By Jet on Jun 8, 2005 | Reply
Napoleon, if we seal the borders and not allow these workers in, who will do the work? America needs people willing to do this hard manual labor for minimum wage. If we put in place a program designed to bring these workers in and protect them while they work, this is a good thing. Trying to do it after the trucks are running is closing the barn door after the horse is out.
As for returning home, some would like to stay, and if they are good workers, they should be able to legally renew their permits. Many others, however, have families depending on them. Their lives are not here, but their desire to support thier families drives them here. Sealing the borders in fine, but it is only a small part of the puzzle. Bush’s temporary worker program addresses more of the pieces in a logical way.
Tom, if the Florida bust had not happened this week, this would not have been on my radar either. Once I started researching, I was appalled at how big the problem is. I’m so glad stuff like this is under-reported so we can hang onto every word of the Jackson trial…
By Napolean on Jun 8, 2005 | Reply
Jet,
The temporary workers program merits protection for workers who become a part of the program and provides low wage labor to those institutions that need it . It may even raise wages for previously illegal workers. In this sense I have absolutly no problem with it, and certainly I believe that good hard working people should have opportunity.
At the risk of sounding like some paranoid xenophobe I would like to point out some thing though. Illegal immagrants are not just workers in the fields anymore and they don’t just come from South of the border, and their not just being exploited by anglo saxon farmers.
Their coming from all over the world, their being found in many different vocations from auto-repair to construction to out sourced corporate cleaning crews. And while much of this labor is is exploited labor taken advantage of by people of all ethnic backrounds, some of these workers will work for family members, freinds, or fellow countrymen who are willing to help them in their pursuit of the American dream, and the ONLY problem I have with that last one is that illegal entry was involved.
Consider the vast untapped sea of a low wage labor force washing on our shores that could be allowed to stay legally, consider the corporations who previously could not legally tap into to this worker pool so they sent your job to another country, except now they won’t have to, consider that if large american companies could throw out unions for people willing to work for low wages and no benefits, they would.
Since Bush took office wages and benefits paid to workers have fallen through the floor and their going to continue to spiral. I am of the opinion that at this point in time a temporary workers program could be utterly volitile to an already wounded job market and it will hurt everyone even the people that it was meant to protect.
By Brother Kenya on Jun 8, 2005 | Reply
Jet, superb job. Out here in California we’re distinctly aware of problems with large growers. United Farm Workers is always appealing for help in improving pay and conditions.
Now, call me naive (and I’ve been called worse), but I have no idea how we’re supposed to “seal our borders” or “enforce the current law” with the manpower we have. The border with Mexico is vast, and Bush keeps pushing tax cuts down our throats, meaning that to fund the Border Patrol adequately is getting harder. Plus, America’s dirty little secret is that some businesses, like agriculture, tourism, and restaurants, depend on undocumented workers (actually they use fake documents for the most part). Maybe a guest worker program is the answer, though if it is restricted or has quotas, I don’t think it’ll curtail illegal immigration.
By Jet on Jun 8, 2005 | Reply
Napolean, I’m not quite following your logic. I’m assuming you feel the number of people who will seek work will increase. If corporations decide to stay in the US and tap this pool of people for the low skill work, how is that worse than if the whole corporation left the country? If they stayed, many skilled jobs would stay too. As for unions, if corporations could throw out the unions, I imagine they would have already done so.
I think a job placement industry would spring up to place legals in various jobs. It’s the American way. My point is that this provides an alternative to the hiding and stealing of humans into these slave labor camps. I don’t think the temporary worker program is the full solution, but I do believe it can be provide a real answer to several problems.
BK, thanks for the compliment. It all comes back to the money, doesn’t it? Too bad we spent it all already. What I wouldn’t give for a nice surplus right about now…
By Lina on Jun 8, 2005 | Reply
What an excellent post and discussion. Immigration is one of those topics I try to avoid as much as possible, because it is very personal and emotional for me to talk about. I am an immigrant, although I came here the legal way. However, I have met and befriended people who came here the “illegal” way. Working in the United States illegaly is no picnic. This is why I am appalled when people think that illegals come here because they want to have it “easy” and take advantage of the “great opportunities” this country offers. Being an illegal makes you a nobody, an invisible person walking the streets. Contrary to what the propaganda says, illegals have no access to ANY benefits. No healthcare, no social security, no welfare, no unemployment… Nothing. They work for wages below the minimum wage, long hours and no vacation time. They are even denied the opportunity of attending school; even if they want to pay for it, if they can not prove legal residency, they can not attend school. This also applies for bank accounts and paying taxes. No green card, no social security card, no identity.
If it is so horrible why do they stay? It is difficult to explain this to people who may have never starved in their lives, but many of them prefer to be slaves than to let their families die of hunger…
By Jet on Jun 8, 2005 | Reply
Thank you, Lina. Putting the face on the faceless makes it harder to turn away. It is very difficult to accept the degree of poverty that drives many of these people. I have know lean times, but never starvation. When down to your primary instict for survival, there is little thought of anything else. Using these people. and I found that many of these labor contractors have become wealthy from their exploitation efforts, is sickening. We have to look at new ways to make this work for all parties.
By Napolean on Jun 8, 2005 | Reply
The assumption that I believe the number of people seeking jobs may increase is correct, I am uncertain that companies will only want unskilled labor they may also want inexpensive intellectuals and the world has plenty of well rounded people to offer.
I really, really want to clarify that I see the point in,” provides an alternative to the hiding and stealing of humans into these slave labor camps.” I can support that reasoning, but at the same time I am also concerned that this could have a negative impact on citiczens by potentially flooding an already over saturated job market.
I’m not saying that it totally shouldn’t happen. I am saying procede with extreme caution and find a more comprehensive solution to the problems of slavery, for dropping wages and rising credit debt will slave us all if we are not vigilent.
P.S ever read the economic model Orwell put forth in 1984
By Jet on Jun 9, 2005 | Reply
Napolean, you raise valid concerns and I suspect they are held by others. Focusing on education will stem some the issues. Our nation is falling way behind other nations in math and science. We have to turn of our TV’s and gameboys and study if we want to stay competitive. If wages drop, so does comsumption, and that’s bad for business. It’s not an easy balance, but we can’t just accept slavery within our borders. We have to raise our voices — modern day abolitionists, if you will.
By fred on Jun 9, 2005 | Reply
Slavery must be stopped wherever and whenever it is discovered. I consider the modern phemonenon of ‘working poor’ to be simply a modern form of slavery. We don’t live on the plantation anymore, but we work way too hard just to live.
By Jet on Jun 9, 2005 | Reply
Many people hold two or three jobs just to survive. I agree, Fred, that is not easy. Compared to some nations, it’s an easier life, which is sad to contemplate.
Part of the challenge of striving to see democratic governments across the globe is that as lifestyles improve we have more competition. Sitting around thinking we are the greatest is not going to get it, at least not for much longer. The citizens of the baby democracies are nipping at out heels. The way I see it, we can bitch about them, or use them as an impetus for self improvement. The only way to stay a leader is to lead, to continue to win is to strive, and to be looked up to is to be wise. All of that takes work and dilligence.
By BILLYBOBJOE of the KKK on Nov 16, 2005 | Reply
hey guys i dont know what this is about but i just wanted to say……..Eat your green veggies!!……BYE!!!