WEBVTT - Immigration Pt. 2: Coalition of Immokalee Workers Spotlight 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:03.160 In Part one of our conversation about immigration issues, we 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:07.000 looked at worker conditions in poultry processing facilities and one 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:09.600 of the news headlines that shook the nation in two 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:13.040 thousand and nineteen. In Part two, we're going to talk 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:15.120 about the work that's being done to move towards a 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:18.000 more just path forward that works for everyone in our 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:21.680 food system, especially the most vulnerable workers. We're gonna look 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:23.800 at some policies in the works to stop the abuse 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:27.720 we seldom hear about happening in processing plants, fields, and 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:31.560 even fast food chains. I'm Tom Coluchio, and this is 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:39.720 citizen chef. People who grow and process our food should 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:46.239 have more power than most workers. But for generations now, 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:50.199 these workers have been marginalized and by our federal government. 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:53.680 Strong workers don't go on strike, they haven't said since 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:56.800 like Chavez. They don't have the kind of power that 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.360 they should have. The they're not able to negotiate or 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:03.200 enter into negotiations are to have a contract. There's no 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:05.240 collective bargaining and there's no way that there's no way 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.560 to negotiat I mean Morcaly workers did that. They negotiated 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:11.959 for a penny extra bushel. Well, we have been UH 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.640 seeing a lot of changes due to the what we 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:18.960 called the Campaign for for Food that's Horado cheveez reas 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:23.280 the Coalition of Morchly Workers, which started after almost a 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:29.200 decade of the Coalition of Moocaar Workers focusing on bringing 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.760 the growers to to negotiate and talk about how to 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:37.280 eliminate situations of verbal and physical abuse that we're very 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:43.280 common according to US Southern Property Law Center study that 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:47.240 came out a few years ago of women were facing 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:51.840 situations of sexual harassment and or assault in the fields 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:54.960 UH and modern day slavery where workers have been forced 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:57.640 to work at conpoint in some cases and the threats 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:01.960 of that against them and their families also in different 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:06.000 investigations that we have conducted by working with the FBI, 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:09.679 the Department of Justice. So we have been able to 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:11.680 create the solution for that, and I'm going to get 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:14.640 into that in a bit, but those were the goals 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:19.000 that the c was pursuing, along with an increasing wages. 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.920 As you were mentioning, we were demanding for a penny 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:27.280 more per pound of tomatoes that were harvested and ended 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:31.840 up in corporations that we were asking to join onto 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:34.720 the Fair Food program. You know that worked because the 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:37.720 public got behind it. It was a good messaging campaign. 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:40.600 I mean they went they went after the Burger Kings 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.040 and McDonald's of the world and the Wendy's the world 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:45.040 and said, you know, you're not willing to back one 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:47.720 penny per bushel. You'll have a zero effect on your 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:51.040 bottom line and I'll have a major effect on the workers. Yeah. 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:53.120 I mean. One of the things that we did was 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:57.160 to create a theory of change um and the theory was, 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:02.280 or states stated that corporations and the market as a 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:05.440 whole was being used to drive prices down because that's 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:10.800 how they operate. They buy in huge amounts the tomatoes 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:12.920 they need in this case, and other vegetables that we 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:17.320 also harvest, and we ask these corporations to participate with 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:21.760 us to buy under the conditioning of zero tolerance for 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:25.480 modern days labory happening in the fields, which means they 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:30.000 would have to commit to cut purchases if any case 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:32.480 of modern days labory was to take place in any 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:36.200 of the farms that were supplying them, along with the 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:38.440 payment of a plenty more per pounds and a list 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:42.400 of other rights that would result that eventually in the 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:45.720 elimination of modern days labor in the fields, but also 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:51.960 a dramatic decrease in situations of sexual harassment and the 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:56.080 elimination of sexual assault. I'll share a little bit about 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:59.360 one of the LASS cases that took place in Florida, 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:03.520 actually a few blocks away from the office UM where 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.560 we where we have been organized UM for for many, 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:09.920 many years. UH. This case involved workers who were forced 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:14.680 to sleep inside a cargo truck. They were locked with 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:20.400 a padlock actually inside this rockers punishment, and there was 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:22.760 a padlock used to keep them inside, but there was 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:26.760 also change that were literally used to tie them up 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:30.360 just to show the rest of the crew who was 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:34.800 in control. These workers were taken two different farms and 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:40.880 they were without access. They were living without access to 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:44.320 a bathroom for example. You know, you know some something 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:48.440 like that would mean that if you needed to actually 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.239 use a bathroom, you would have to just like hold 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:56.000 it until they let you out or UM going the 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:58.760 same corner that that's horrible. That's a way in which 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:02.800 people have stripped of their dignity and their humanity. Were 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:05.360 producing the food that ends up in everybody's plaits, and 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:08.320 many people don't know that. So so in these situation, 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:12.640 workers escape. One of them pushed his way through with 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:16.440 the help of the others, through the roof of this 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:20.880 old you hold type of truck and brought a ladder 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.120 to help worker escape. Two of those workers came to 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:26.560 our office and talk to me and another one of 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:31.320 my colleagues. They showed us the bruises that they huddle 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:34.440 over their body and their legs and in their bags, 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.960 the product of the biddings that they beat, things that 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:41.520 they were suffering at the vance of these crew leaders 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.200 that are now in prison. In total for these cases 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:49.640 that I mentioned, and there's been nine investigations, eight prosecutions, 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.320 more than one thousand, two hundred workers that have been 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.520 freed from these conditions, and fifteen bosses that have gone 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:58.720 to federal prison. That's what we're talking about here, and 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:02.560 it is not a problem as it has been described 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:06.320 sometimes prior to the agreements that we have reached with 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:10.520 the agricultural industry. The tomato growers represented on the Florida 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:15.240 Tomato Growers Exchange um about a problem of a few 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:18.040 but apples. It was a problem in which the industry 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:22.000 needed to pay attention in how they were treating their workers. 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.920 In a systemic way. So so a systemic solution was needed. 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:30.320 And that's why we are decided to bring the market 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.719 to to work with us to condition they're purchasing and 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:37.400 use the power to to put a step to that crime. 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.119 Right her alight? I heard you say a few times 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:45.360 that some of the bosses were put in jail. Um, 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:49.479 what happened to the companies? Did they take any any 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:52.960 responsibility or any of the CEOs? Uh, you know, for 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.200 these companies? Were they punished all? How far up to 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.080 the scale? That's an excellent question because it gives me 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:01.640 the opportunity to a little bit about why it is 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:04.479 important to use the market. In that case, we as 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:08.720 workers were trying to bring the growers to to the table, 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:16.400 and uh, what happens. What happens is that the growers 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:20.720 didn't burn any responsibility. They would simply just come out 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:24.440 publicly and say, look, this is nothing to do this 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:26.760 has this has nothing to do with us. This is 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.080 just a few apples. I was the response. And legally 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:33.720 it wasn't the responsibility. You know, the law would go 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:38.680 only to to make arrests of those who were directly 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:43.080 hiring people, bringing them and threatening them and bidding them 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:46.560 and all of those abusive conditions that are part of 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:50.400 these cases, and uh the industry would simply just wash 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.200 their hands because they would would not be asked to 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:56.400 go to court. Um. Yes, So what's what's the relationship 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.520 between the growers and and these these field bosses. It 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.080 used to be UH that the crew leaders which is 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:06.320 how we call them, those who go and contract people 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:11.440 in the community, uh, served as a firewall of sorts. 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:18.800 They would be considered independent entities, therefore making it possible 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.680 for the industry to say, look, it is not our responsibility. 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.600 We just hired this guy. This guy brings the people, 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.520 and we don't know And when we ask, well, how 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:30.080 is it that you don't know how the people that 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:36.559 are working in your company are treated? That's just unconscionable. 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:40.720 So that's why we brought that also as one of 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:45.560 the points that we are now implementing with the growers 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:49.680 under the Fair Food program, which is the direct hiring 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:53.720 that brings the responsibility to the door steps of whoever 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:58.960 is uh the uh the person in charge of those 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:02.360 UH companies, those agricultural companies. Right, So these are just 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:07.960 these are contracted workers. They weren't actually employed by the company. 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:11.920 Um No, But in order to eliminate that abuse and 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:15.120 every other abuse that takes place in the fields, we 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.880 needed to bring that kind of responsibility and and make 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:22.200 that connection, you know, as that the growers to take 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:27.080 responsibility by hiring directly every worker and in that in 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:30.439 that new way of doing, that more normal way, I 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:34.320 should say, because it is how it happens in most places. 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:38.320 Um that the growers are now paying a lot of 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.199 attention and working with us. So we're in this partnership 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:45.000 with them since two thousand eleven when we brought at 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:49.600 that point fourteen corporations up to now that are working 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.520 with a Stacco, Bell, McDonald's were working some of the 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:57.079 bigger names, but also from the supermarket industry, trader Joe 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:59.960 seven Walmer is working with us. So that gives us 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.720 is the power or gave us a power to change 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:08.040 those conditions by bringing the suppliers and bringing the buyers 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:12.520 of those tomatoes to to sit together with us and 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:16.160 reach disagreements to condition the purchasing to the implementation of 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.480 the rights that were desperately needed by our people. Where 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.520 where is oceans had to play here, the fair Food 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:28.920 program basically brings to life laws that were dormant. The 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:33.080 laws that you know aim to protect workers in regards 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:38.120 to the minimum wage payment that that every worker should receive. 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.199 Whenever you're working by peace but are not able to 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:48.040 harvest enough, the your employer has to provide for that. UM. 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:51.960 Those those provisions, including provisions that have to deal with 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:56.000 health and safety, are observed in farms that are participating 0:10:56.040 --> 0:11:00.800 with us. But outside of those farms, UM, the same 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:03.960 is not true. There are firms that are trying to 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:08.920 constantly cheat the system, not do enough for workers, and 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:13.160 not follow the things that are also readily enforced because 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:17.600 remember them. Uh, is that just about what the law says, 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:22.080 is about who's enforcing how And in this case, just 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:25.120 to give you a sense, not just about OCEA, but 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:30.480 in general, UM, workers that are vulnerable and afraid and 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:33.920 and are afraid to lose their job have to deal 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.840 with the question. You know, especially or or or in 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:42.160 in situations where they are not protected by the perfect program. UM, 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:44.640 you have to ask yourself a question before you bring 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:49.320 a complaint, whether it's about OCEA violations, whether it is 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.640 about labor violations, you have to ask yourself as a 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:56.360 worker do I do I complain knowing that that's the 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:58.920 right thing to do. Do I complain about sexual harassment 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:01.320 about which they have, about all of these things that 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.400 put my health and my life at risk, knowing that 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.160 I'm going to be fired? In other words, am I 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.600 willing to reach my ability to feed my kids to 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:14.040 do the right thing, which is protecting my dignity? And 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:18.120 the answer that most people would give in a scenario 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.800 like that is no, I cannot afford to lose the 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:24.280 food for my kids. So so that was the issue 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:28.880 that we are now tackling with the Fair Food Program. Now. 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:33.040 It is not perfect in regards to how we're responding 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:36.560 to the pandemic because it is something that we have 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:41.800 never uh, we never had to deal with with this, right, 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:46.280 But the growers inside the Fair Food Program are doing 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:52.000 everything they can, providing the personal protective equipment, working to 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:56.400 get all those things that are needed, providing extra transportation 0:12:56.480 --> 0:13:00.800 as I was saying before, but also um, trying to 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:05.360 figure out, you know, how to respond when workers come 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:09.040 back positive so that they can provide the housing to 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:13.000 isolate them. Um. It is, uh, there's a lot of 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:17.360 work that needs to be done, but but workers are better, UH, 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:21.680 inside the farms that are participating on the Fair Food 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:25.280 Program and this collaboration that started since two thousand eleven 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:30.400 that is applying to about thirty thousand workers. It's helping 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:33.880 us to be able to create something that didn't exist before. 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.600 You know, we have the ability for workers to form 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:41.480 part of committees of health and safety, to be able 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:45.680 to talk about how to improve those approaches, including now 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:49.240 with COVID nineteen, so that workers are able to protect 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:53.760 themselves better. But still that doesn't eliminate the vulnerability, which 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:57.760 is in part why it's important to bring more corporations 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:01.480 to do the same UH and to fortified all the 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.440 games that the Fair Food Program represents for workers. So 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:08.240 to two questions, what what large companies are not part 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:14.880 of fair Food program? Well, right now when this it's UH, 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:19.800 it's basically UM, the company that we are asking to 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:25.360 join onto the Fair Food Program, and they recently announced 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:29.040 in their shareholder meeting that happened a few weeks ago 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:33.200 UM that they are doing as much as they can, 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:37.480 but they continue to refuse for workers, they say, and 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:39.760 they continue to refuse to join the Fair Food Program. 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:43.040 There's nothing out there they can protect workers as much 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:45.880 as the Fair Food Program does, and even the Fair 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:50.320 Food Program needs to to to be readjusted for these 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:56.120 specific scenario to to to do more. But when this 0:14:56.200 --> 0:15:01.600 is just falling absolutely short UM in in buying from 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:07.640 greenhouses where outbreaks were registered, UM and and they don't 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:10.600 have any kind of answer. They just do the the talk. 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:14.360 But the talking is cheap. You know, this is not 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:19.240 an issue where everything is about just the numbers, use 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:23.640 the economics. We are not just statistics, where human means 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:27.760 and problems that impact the lives of human beings need 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:32.040 to be treated not as a public relations issue but 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:35.720 a humans rights issue. And that's what we have. So, yeah, 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:48.840 we're boycotting when this action. How does one know that 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:55.360 particular organization UH fast food are uh supermarket? How do 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:58.640 you know they're participating in the fair food program? UM? 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:02.520 You can you can be see it UM the website 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:06.440 of an organization that was created with the purpose of 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:11.320 UM basically making issue that all the provisions that I 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:15.080 am talking about are are happening in all the farms 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.080 that are part of part of the Fair Food Program. 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.960 And the name of this organization is the Fair Food 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:25.760 Standards Council. So it's a fair food standards that or 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:31.760 I think that's the address and uh what they do 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:38.000 their whole purpose it's to oversee the implementation of the program, 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.680 to receive complaints from workers with the twenty four seven 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:47.520 line that workers can call. And there are investigators that 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:50.960 go to the farms and talk directly to the workers. 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:57.040 They do additing uh going over fifty percent in in 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:02.200 in every farm and whenever there there are older operations 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:07.520 of the workforce is approached by them, which is remarkable. 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:10.480 You know, the most reputable firms that the claim that 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:16.440 they have uh don uditing or monitoring. The most reputable 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:21.040 would say ten at the maximum. And when we're talking 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:25.520 about companies where you don't have the power of the market, 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:29.760 like outside of the perfect program um, usually these firms 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.920 work even with the buyers. You know, they're hired by 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:38.800 companies to try to comap with this notion that everything 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:41.679 is fine on the ground, but they don't really have 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:45.879 the power to fix anything under the program. The Purface 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:49.400 Standards Console has the power of the market of fourteen 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:56.280 corporations that are ready to exercise the purchasing on their 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.560 conditioning all the implementation of those rights, which gives them 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:04.160 an incredibly unique power and ability to fix the problems. 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:08.200 What that translates into is that there has been there 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:10.760 have been bosses at the beginning of the implementation of 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:17.920 the program that we're committing abuses and we're committing uh, 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:23.000 you know, crimes of sexual harassment. All of those issues 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:26.840 were resolved in in in in a matter of weeks. 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:31.040 When when you do it through the regular channels, you know, 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:34.800 when there's a situation of sexual harassment or discrimination that 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.679 EUC will intervene in, sometimes those cases take years to 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.800 be solved. We have helped workers that had to go 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:46.560 through through the ordeal of dragging these cases and having 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:50.280 to work in the same place as the perpetrator for years, 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:54.760 three or four years, and and that's just justice delayed 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:58.080 and for us as justice denight. So that's why this 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:02.680 is really important. So, I mean, obviously we know how 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:05.840 difficult COVID has been, uh you know in the country 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:08.520 for so many people, for so many workers. Uh. Um, 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:11.160 do you do you see silver lining at all because 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:14.920 of COVID? Is it causing bringing attention to some causes 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:18.800 that that may be easier to um draw attention to 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:21.719 now because of COVID, are are is just pushing are 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:25.240 COVID putting you back a few steps? What I see 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:30.880 it's UH. COVID is not UM the only crisis that 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:34.439 we have to deal with UM. What we see is 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:39.760 that COVID is bringing you know, UM up up to 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:44.080 to to the the eyes of people UH, situations that 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.280 have always existed for works in terms of the vulnerability. 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:51.560 What I what I think is needed here is a 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:56.800 collaboration that is aiming to decrease the risks the COVID 0:19:56.920 --> 0:20:02.440 represents UH and and and that requires resources dedicated to 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:06.720 communities that are suffering. That requires the government taking an 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:11.760 active role in overseeing and and prioritizing the well being 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:15.520 of the workforce as supposed to UH the economy. Because 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:19.080 here in Florida, you know, we we fight for about 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:24.560 a month since since April, we started to call the 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:31.000 local UM government, the Department of Health here and in 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:34.280 in the state UH and created a petition for a 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:39.119 governor around the scientists that many people endors, many organizations 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:44.359 were asking for him to to dedicate UM testing and 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:47.080 and we were asking for a field hospital or a 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:50.560 place in which people can be isolated for the support 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:54.920 that people that are at the very bottom of the 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:58.919 economic letter to have the support that they need so 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:02.919 that they can actually isolate uh and and and have 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:07.239 all of those resources. Nothing really happened, and all of 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:10.320 these uh I think centers at the end of the 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:14.000 day in something very simple. Our humanity. It seems it's 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:16.520 not as important as a humanity of others, but what 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:20.199 we produce is essential. So that's the huge contradiction that 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:22.320 we have to live with. Yeah, and you're bringing up 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:26.119 something that's really important. There's a difference between someone who's 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:28.120 young who decides they want to go to a restaurant 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:30.440 or they want to go to a bar and they 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:34.760 contract COVID and they're sick um versus someone who is 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:37.680 working for very little money that has to put food 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:40.120 on the table and they don't have a choice whether 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:41.679 or not they come to work or not. They're not 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:44.080 making a decision to go to a bar. They're making 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:47.560 a decision to come to work because that food in 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:51.919 the table, exactly, and that that means that they actually 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:56.680 can can do exactly what so many people who give 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:59.400 immigrants a hard time, they said they don't take care 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:02.199 of their family, they're on welfare or whatever. No, No, 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:05.679 they're actually doing what what they're supposed to be doing. 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:08.680 They are going to work, they are working hard, and 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:11.240 they're trying to support their families for what for the 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:16.720 American game to actually become here, contribute to the country, 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:19.600 and to make sure like everybody else who's come to 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:22.879 this country since the beginning of time here, they just 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:26.399 come here, well not everyone, but to come here because 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:28.040 they want to do They want to do better for 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:31.080 their family exactly, and and and and and that's it, 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:32.880 And you're right when it when it has to come 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:35.000 down to humanity has to come down to look at 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:38.800 at at everyone and seeing their inherent value. Uh not 0:22:38.880 --> 0:22:43.720 not not the value of how you can abuse their 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:48.199 work for some sort of you know gain, but but 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:50.560 the inherent value that they have to contribute back to 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:54.800 society and and what their next generation is going to bring. 0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:57.719 And so yeah, I think you're absolutely right. I think 0:22:57.720 --> 0:22:59.600 you hit on the head. Is it. This is about humanity. 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:02.919 It's not abou economics, it's it's not about um the 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:07.880 bottom line, this is about uh, you know, hum human potential, 0:23:07.960 --> 0:23:11.960 human value, human worth, and and and dig and dignity exactly, 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:14.320 and and I think that that's what we're missing And 0:23:14.520 --> 0:23:17.640 what I'm gonna say is gonna sound really cliche, but 0:23:18.119 --> 0:23:20.800 I think that you know, in in in that paying 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:24.080 attention to what's going on to to farm workers and 0:23:24.160 --> 0:23:30.760 essentially workers everywhere. Um, we're not just risking um, you know, 0:23:30.840 --> 0:23:34.960 to to to create something that is already unfolding. Uh, 0:23:35.280 --> 0:23:39.040 food crisis. Many plans have closed. Uh it workers get 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:42.480 seek in the fields. Who's gonna who's gonna harvest the 0:23:42.480 --> 0:23:46.280 food that everybody needs? That's going to create a crisis 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:49.359 that the cliche parties. Uh, if we are not able 0:23:49.960 --> 0:23:56.160 as a country to do better, we are losing our 0:23:56.200 --> 0:24:00.119 own soul exactly because we're shooting shooting ourselves in the 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:05.159 foot by ignoring that. Because you cannot leave in a 0:24:05.280 --> 0:24:09.440 contradiction in which in one hand you come out and 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:12.639 clap for health workers, which is is awesome, you know, 0:24:12.760 --> 0:24:16.359 it's it's an awesome way in which people can do 0:24:16.520 --> 0:24:21.520 something that's symbolic. But if it can't simply be symbolic, 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:26.320 because even even workers, you know, frontline workers inside the 0:24:26.359 --> 0:24:31.119 hospital need equipment, needs support, need more from this government 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:34.119 and it should have it. But at the same time, 0:24:34.760 --> 0:24:39.920 farm workers are also people that should be recognized, not 0:24:39.920 --> 0:24:42.959 not with clapping, that's not what we're asking for. But 0:24:42.960 --> 0:24:49.280 but with real change, with real protections, with real demands, 0:24:49.320 --> 0:24:53.960 that makes sense so that we don't lose what is 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:58.760 desperately so desperately needed. There's more than twenty I don't 0:24:58.840 --> 0:25:01.320 I don't know exactly the number right now, but but 0:25:01.359 --> 0:25:04.800 there are more than twenty states that are seeing spikes 0:25:04.880 --> 0:25:08.760 in in cases of COVID and this is the cost 0:25:08.840 --> 0:25:13.080 for alarm and it should be. The reason that is 0:25:13.119 --> 0:25:16.920 going on is because that same same type of mentality, 0:25:17.320 --> 0:25:21.520 you know, we we disappear when the tomatoes and other 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:25.480 vegetables make it out of the fields and into the supermarket. 0:25:25.560 --> 0:25:28.879 We disappear of the minds of people. People need to 0:25:28.920 --> 0:25:32.959 remember that if you are or a loved one is 0:25:33.280 --> 0:25:38.119 on the hospital bed, that person is depending on the 0:25:38.240 --> 0:25:41.960 hard work of essential workers that are producing the food 0:25:42.080 --> 0:25:45.080 so that they can recover. We cannot afford to lose that. 0:25:45.560 --> 0:25:50.240 We can't. It's just simply are really on a strategic move. 0:25:50.560 --> 0:25:54.600 And it is not just an error in the strategy. 0:25:54.880 --> 0:25:59.159 It's an error that gets paid in kind in a 0:25:59.240 --> 0:26:01.960 really horrible with the lives of people that shouldn't be 0:26:02.080 --> 0:26:04.439 dying in the hospital. We can reduce that, but we 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:08.240 need to act. Yeah. I think. I think what it 0:26:08.280 --> 0:26:10.800 comes down to is these workers need to be seen, 0:26:12.280 --> 0:26:14.800 they need to be acknowledged. And you're right, it's not 0:26:14.880 --> 0:26:19.840