There was a migrant worker named Hilario Gonzalez who will not be going home from work to see his wife and kids. Why? Because he was killed by his boss, Manley Farms. He was digging a ditch and then it started raining. He and his fellow workers came in out of the rain but were forced by their employer to go back out into the rain and were given sheets of plastic to cover themselves. This poor S.O.B. got hit by lightening and died. This guy was only 35 and an immigrant from Chiapas Mexico. The death was ruled an accident.

Now Manley Farms is where Taco Bell gets their tomatos. It was busted for smuggling 27 Mexicans in to the US and forced them to work picking tomatos to pay for their $800 smuggling debts.

If you want more info on this boycott, write Immokalee Workers at COAIMMWRKR@AOL.COM

Next time you eat a gordita, think about dead mexicans!:mad:

Considering my current diet of no fatty foods, no spicy foods, no caffiene, no chocolate, and no acidic fruits (tomatoes included) this boycott will be an easy one. Consider it done. :)

Just to play devil's advocate here...

That farm is likely only one place of several that Taco Bell gets it's tomatoes from.

Either way, why is Taco Bell responsible for somebody else's actions?

Seems to me we should be encouraging Taco Bell to find other, more responsible suppliers & calling for the authorities to hang the farm's owners out to dry.

so that farm smuggled mexicans in,and made them pay off the debt? isnt like ..... are the now indenttured workers?

(i read an article in scientific american about slavery in the world, It was damned neat, I mean, oh yeah.... they were saying this is how a person BECOMES a slave, they have to pay a debt, they become indentured and they just never make enough money to pay the debt, and actually get more in debt as times goes buy.)

Yep. All the more reason to hang the farm owners out to dry.:mad:

BTW, nice nipple, Turtle.:D

All the more reason to not illegally work here.

Justin

Originally posted by Shadowhawk
Yep. All the more reason to hang the farm owners out to dry.:mad:

BTW, nice nipple, Turtle.:D

uhm thank you.


-the thing that gets me, is how many OTHER farmers are doing what these farmers did? I mean, we cant just boycott all veggies from a certain region, because their farmers might be shady, Well we CAN, but how are we to find out which farmers are legit or not.... especially if they are on the side of the country?

Originally posted by Criminal
There was a migrant worker named Hilario Gonzalez who will not be going home from work to see his wife and kids. Why? Because he was killed by his boss, Manley Farms. He was digging a ditch and then it started raining. He and his fellow workers came in out of the rain but were forced by their employer to go back out into the rain and were given sheets of plastic to cover themselves. This poor S.O.B. got hit by lightening and died. This guy was only 35 and an immigrant from Chiapas Mexico. The death was ruled an accident.

Now Manley Farms is where Taco Bell gets their tomatos. It was busted for smuggling 27 Mexicans in to the US and forced them to work picking tomatos to pay for their $800 smuggling debts.

If you want more info on this boycott, write Immokalee Workers at COAIMMWRKR@AOL.COM

Next time you eat a gordita, think about dead mexicans!:mad: Maybe I'll boycott TacoBell because it contracts to a company that hires illegal Mexicans.

Ok, this is an extreme. Most farmers treat their pickers well because they know they need them to get the harvest in quick and at a cost that won't bankrupt them. I know a lot of people that hire illegals to work for them. NC has about 20% mexican workers that are not legal and they are paid at least minimum and live where they want. My mother and her sister had orchards back in Washington. There, the migrant mexicans are paid by the bushel to pick fruit. They average 7-9 an hour under the table. If farmers had to pay regulars to pick, you would not be able to afford the buy the produce or the fast food you like so much. Lets get real--most whites will not do that kind of work because it doesn't pay them enough. Farmers can't afford to pay more because they are already getting screwed bigtime before it reaches market. As an example: It costs my mom roughly $35,000 a year to maintain her orchards..that is prune, fertilize, have insecticide sprayed, keep the fences up, etc. That is all done prior to the actual picking which cost her another $10,000 or so. She will only get about .45 a lb for the fruit from the wholesalers that buy from all the farms there. So, she will barely break even if she's lucky. If you ask people to boycott Taco Bell you aren't helping those workers or hurting Taco Bell. They buy their produce through a wholeseller who contracts out to all farms to get the huge amounts they need to fill the order. If you want to go after someone--go after the farmer who did this.

MY point exactly, TryckPony.:)

Originally posted by Shadowhawk
MY point exactly, TryckPony.:)

I agree with you both, and isnt even the illegal worker part either, there have been workers from mexico on u.s. farms for decades in the u.s. New immigrants, and illegal workers help keep things at a price that we like....---Just the idea that that farmer would make his workers become indentured workers, just REALLY gets to me, though.

(to think a person comes to America to work, in a job that we americans dont want.. and then they become essentially slaves.)

I know how you feel turtle, many years ago I worked for a horse-boarding stable that had been bought by new owners. They had two mexicans working there cleaning stalls. One had his family with him, the other left his behind in mexico. These were not even illegals, yet they were treated like ****. The owners of the stable threatened them with expulsion from the country should they try to get their SS cards, or even go to the doctor during a work day (one got kicked by a horse in the chest). They worked from 5 in the morning to 7 at night, rain or shine. They were provided with a very small two room cottage, with a kitchen and bath and one main living area. This was supposed to suffice for three adults and 3 kids, and the guys were having their checks docked 500 a month each to pay for it. After breaking the language barrier, I helped them fill out forms for SS cards and talked to their priest, who had gotten them the jobs, and who was unaware of how they were being threatened and treated. First thing I did was take the one to the doctor, then we reported the incident to Workmans Compensation, then we contacted the labor board in our state. The priest found them new jobs, with prevailing wage and insurance. I quit a month later after falling from a hayloft with rotting floors. It seems the owners didn't want to pay Workmans Comp but had been taking it out of my pay.
I do not like hearing stories like the one you posted. I like mexicans, and because of my mother, aunt, and many others I know that farm, I see both sides of the problem. Most mexicans I know are hard working. The ones my mother used were regulars to her orchards until she had to sell out because of being unable to make any money. They still stop to visit her and her sister every season.
What makes me the angriest is how people view them. They do not come here and "steal" jobs. No white person wants the jobs they do. Americans bitch because they say that if the mexicans wouldn't come here and do the work for less, the farmers would be forced to pay an american worker better to get the work done. That would be fine except, if the cost of labor goes up for the farmers, the cost of the produce goes up for the consumer. It's a no win situation for the mexicans, who only want to work and make more than the $40.00 a week a good journeyman job might get them in Mexico. Us Americans can't have it both ways. We can't bitch about the mexicans, and complain about the high cost of everything we buy these days. It's an "either or" situation. The farmer that allowed that man to die should be on trial for what he did. Endentured servitude when out with slavery. But it does happen in isolated cases, when mexicans see no other way to get here. If you go after him though, you need to attack the sweetshops in big cities that hire illegals from all over the world, that have been brought in the country under similar circumstances. Its a big undertaking.

and then they say that mexicans are lazy and dont work, and they take american's jobs.... ALL the mexican's I'VE seen, have been HARd workers. They are working to give things for their children, being paid badly, and they are just trying to provide for their kids and stuff. I mean, cleaning people in hotels, and the farmers that pick our food, cleaning lady's in the houses i bavbysit at.... kitchen staff, dishwasher, etc at the restuarants we eat at. Hispanic Immigrants are everywhere, ... and then they get so jipped because they dont know the language, and it isnt like they have money to be taking classes, or the wherewithal to be missing work to take classes anyways.... (i do beleive though that to truly succeed you have to learn english, it's just harder for some to have the money and time to do that though.)


*shrug* it's just sad that even people who are legitimately in the country still get treated like they dont belong... is that just human nature? to be so elitest?

I don't know if it's elitist but it sure seems to be the prevailing attitude in this country. I have a friend who dated his mexican housekeeper. His family and friends about had a heart attack over it, yet they didn't mind if he dated an unemployed woman with 2 kids, collecting welfare. Go figure.

Originally posted by jillianjiggs
Considering my current diet of no fatty foods, no spicy foods, no caffiene, no chocolate, and no acidic fruits (tomatoes included) this boycott will be an easy one. Consider it done. :)
No way!!!! I really pitty you! I think the hardest part for me would be giving up on caffiene. I need to have coffee. ....must have coffee....coffee must have....

But those wages will never rise while there is a source of cheap labor. IF we removed the source, people would pay workers more or not grow. As fewer growers harvested, fewer products would result in higher prices. hIgher prices mean more profit, more profit means more pay as growers compete for good workers. So our lower paid workers would benefit. If the pickers job paid 15 dollaras an hour with bennies, there would be plenty of unskilled workers applying for that job.

Cosmo,
You have some good points however, most of the jobs picking are seasonal at best and dependant upon the weather and growing conditions. One bad spring and there is nothing to pick. Take for example the two years that the bee's had some kind of parasite and it wiped out most of the hives in about 70% of this country. No bee's no polination, no fruit. On top of that, since it is seasonal work, it only last a few months a year. No white person is going to want a job they know is not going to last but a few moths tops. That's why the mexicans who work farms have to move around--to follow the prevailing crops.
Even if they did take the jobs, their wages added to the cost the farmers put out to grow would raise the cost of food to a point where the average family could not afford to eat. Right now, buying fresh fruit and veggies for my family is an expensive undertaking. I can't imagine how I would do it if it costs more.
If the farmers had to pay prevailing wage and bennies, we wouldn't be able to afford to eat because on top of the bennies, they would have to pay unemployment for when they laid off the pickers, workmans comp, SS, and state and local taxes depending on what state they farm in.

Last night I had a Burrito Supreme, one of those new 4 cheese quesadillas, and a large mountain dew! :D

Oh yummy, I love Mexican food..I miss Taco time and their salads. We had a mexican friend staying here for a few months that cooked a lot and it was great.

Originally posted by Unrepresented
All the more reason to not illegally work here.

Justin

Ditto. Taco Bell had nothing to do with this. Why not boycott those farms instead?

Also, really Taco Bell is owned by whatever company, which also owns KFC and Pizza Hut, so you gotta boycott them, too.

can we just ordered everything with no tomatos?


The owner didn't make the lightning strike that guy ;)

Originally posted by erichmess_


Ditto. Taco Bell had nothing to do with this. Why not boycott those farms instead?

Also, really Taco Bell is owned by whatever company, which also owns KFC and Pizza Hut, so you gotta boycott them, too.

Pepsi owns them and others. Now I have no clue why boycotting Taco Bell was even mentioned other than liberal babble.

Originally posted by Criminal
There was a migrant worker named Hilario Gonzalez who will not be going home from work to see his wife and kids. Why? Because he was killed by his boss, Manley Farms. He was digging a ditch and then it started raining. He and his fellow workers came in out of the rain but were forced by their employer to go back out into the rain and were given sheets of plastic to cover themselves. This poor S.O.B. got hit by lightening and died. This guy was only 35 and an immigrant from Chiapas Mexico. The death was ruled an accident.

Now Manley Farms is where Taco Bell gets their tomatos. It was busted for smuggling 27 Mexicans in to the US and forced them to work picking tomatos to pay for their $800 smuggling debts.

If you want more info on this boycott, write Immokalee Workers at COAIMMWRKR@AOL.COM

Next time you eat a gordita, think about dead mexicans!:mad:

So?

I can see everyone is going to just love this newbie..