The high cost of cheap food
Submitted by James Protzman on Tue, 06/12/2007 - 7:42am
The honorables in Raleigh are hard at work this week, sweating like field workers to do the people's business. In what some might call a legislative breakthrough, they are pulling out the stops to give migrant laborers all the comforts of home as they work to pick the food you and I eat every day.
A bill making its way through the legislature would begin to change some of the state's farmworker housing standards. The bill, which has the support of farm groups and advocates for workers, would add new housing inspectors and force more checks at problem farms, while requiring fewer checks at farms that consistently exceed standards.
The only change in what farmers must provide: every worker would be the guarantee of a mattress.
The groups that advocate for migrant workers have been reduced in North Carolina to accepting diddly-squat in their lobbying and public outreach efforts. It's a sad commentary on the whole miserable state of our economy and our culture when the leading supporters of those oppressed have this to say:
"We're looking at this as a good first step," said Carol Brooke, a lawyer with the Justice Center, a Raleigh-based nonprofit that advocates for farmworkers. "The idea was to get this issue in the public eye."
A good first step? I suppose that's one way to look at it.
I'm not dissing the Justice Center, not one bit. Those guys do god's work against all the odds you can imagine and then some. But because they don't represent rich white guys, almost nobody in the legislature actually cares what they have to say.
So rest assured, the honorables will pat themselves on the back because they took the big bold step of giving migrant workers a bunch of crappy mattresses. And we'll keep getting cheap food.
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It is Time for Action - not Ideas
not ideas
The issue IS and has been in the public eye. The public wants to know, 'What are you going to do about it?'
Progressives
Should not settle for a mattress, they should take it to the mattresses.
I saw a really good documentary
on this on public TV recently. It doesn't take much at all to bring the living conditions up to par and some employers do it on their own. They are rewarded with workers who will come back year after year and are happier to do that work.
Local Farmers get our hard earned
dollars in the growing season. We go to the Triad Farmers Market most every Saturday morning for local and very fresh produce, goat cheese, fresh duck, beef and lamb as well as seafood. It's always a trip I look forward to as opposed to grocery store shopping.
There are some wonderful Farmer's Markets here in NC, including the large market in Raleigh.
Please support your local farmers. Your bank account and taste buds will thank you as well.
John Edwards to Republicans: I'm in ur base, takin' ur votez!
My wife and I started shopping elsewhere.
We usually used Lowe's Foods' "to go" service where you order online and pick-up after work because of some pretty insane work schedules. No other reason other than our thought was places like Whole Foods was a lot higher. But we tried it a week and the cost is actually LOWER for the same stuff at the organic holy land Whole Foods.
For example, 2 pounds of Driscoll's strawberries at Whole Foods is $5.99 at Lowes they are $4.99 for one pound - same brand name, different price. But here is the kicker, the food quality, especially produce is world's away better (freshness, taste, etc) than Lowes even within brands.
Yeah, the downside is I actually have to ENTER the grocery store now, but the price is cheaper for better quality food.
Ditto for the farmer's market.
--
Town Called Dobson - Daily Political Cartoon: Not all is red in rural America!
What I have been saying about migrant farm workers conditions.
The powers feel giving these guys a matress is a good thing? Does that mean that since the dawn of time, or migrant workers, these guys have not even had a mattress?
People feel that if we give these guys matresses all will be well, and we will continue to get our cheap food on the backs of others.
Again, what are these folks getting paid if we just now figured out they should be given a mattress. Whats next? a stall without the horse, goat, or pig living in it also at the same time? No wait, the stall with the pigs comes 3 years from now. This year, they can stack the matresses and sleep outside the barns.
Nice that they are thinking about putting inspectors out there, but geeeeeze, will these inspectors have to power to fix anything? Will the judisial system want to bring or hear about charges on a prominent farmer over the silly rights of some migrant workers?
Matresses, ewwwww we are such a great people, we are giving our workers matressess......now shadup and get in them fields and pick, dang you....gonna work you an extra two hours a day to pay for that matress.
Notice, we dont have to give them bedding or a pillow, those come in 5 years. Shussssshhhh, them migrant workers will never figure that out.
Plumbing and sanitation, nother 50 years from now. Heck it rains on em, they can take a shower then. Just dont let them have soap in the fields cause it will make the crop taste funny.
Think about it. Just what is their working conditions like? What is their home country like that they will put up with crap like this? Are we doing anything with all these FTA to fix that? Yea, we giving them matresses.
Good to see you out and ranting, Parmea
been missing you 'round here.
well, im not good with politics so anything
I say on that score just shows how little I know. And I dont wish to bias folks with some of my crazy notions on politikin....
Looks like this site is ramping for the races.
Im in fly on the wall mode...
For 22 years, all I could hope for from politicians was a 2.2 or higher pay hike. So did not really figure out all this stuff just yet. I am learning thou.