Gabriel Thompson's Blog, page 2
March 17, 2010
Stand with Farmworkers–Protest Trader Joe’s!
One of the organizations that is doing great farmworker organizing and advocacy is the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, based out of Florida. They’ve uncovered countless cases of modern day slavery, and fought (and won!) against massive corporations to improve conditions for folks laboring in the fields in Florida. But right now, one of the stores that refuses to sign an agreement with CIW is….Trader Joe’s!
That’s why folks are holding a protest tomorrow (Thursday) at Trader Joe’s in Union Square. Here are the details:
Thursday, March 18
6-7 PM
Trader Joe’s on 14th Street
And here are some more details about the campaign and Trader’s Joes intransigence to this point:
Grinding poverty leaves farmworkers vulnerable to further exploitation from employers. In the most extreme cases, forced labor. Since 1997, over 1,000 fruit and vegetable harvesters have escaped slavery rings, including both documented and undocumented workers as well as U.S. citizens in the agricultural fields of Florida (and the southeastern United States).
The Campaign for Fair Food aims to take a preventative approach by asking large corporations, like Trader Joe’s, to leverage their high volume purchasing power to pay a premium price for tomatoes as well as sign a human rights agreement (like large corporations – Whole Foods and Subway have done) to agree to more humane standards in the fields, including a zero tolerance policy on forced labor, that is created and implemented by the workers themselves.
Just Harvest USA has informed Trader Joe’s of these issues as well as identified stores carrying tomatoes from farms whose crew leaders were found guilty of slave labor in 2008. A year later, Trader Joe’s has responded with silence and continue to boast about the sustainability of its food.
Stand with Farmworkers–Protest Trader Joe's!
One of the organizations that is doing great farmworker organizing and advocacy is the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, based out of Florida. They've uncovered countless cases of modern day slavery, and fought (and won!) against massive corporations to improve conditions for folks laboring in the fields in Florida. But right now, one of the stores that refuses to sign an agreement with CIW is….Trader Joe's!
That's why folks are holding a protest tomorrow (Thursday) at Trader Joe's in Union...
March 15, 2010
On Lettuce Cutters and Serial Killers
Yesterday the Arizona Republic ran a column I wrote for their "Perspectives" section. The piece, which they entitled "The Job You Won't Do," riffs off some of my observations and experiences while cutting lettuce in Yuma. If you're interested, you can read it at http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/2010/03/14/20100314thompson14.html.
Since the Arizona Republic is published out of Phoenix, and Phoenix has some of the most noxious anti-immigrant activists in the...
March 12, 2010
Guest Post–Daniella Takes Over
Editor's note: I've always wanted to write an editor's note, but don't particularly enjoy editing, and certainly am not particularly skilled in the department. However, now that I have cross-posted a blog written by my wife Daniella Ponet, I jumped at the chance to insert an editor's note. Daniella wrote the post below after we got back from the book tour, which I actually haven't edited in the slightest. Daniella, for followers of the blog but not personal friends, is my first editor, and...
March 9, 2010
Roll Call Reviews the Book
Roll Call reviewed my book a while back. According to Wikipedia, which I've been relying upon more as I get increasingly lazy, the Washington, D.C.-based newspaper delivers 11,500 free copies of every issue to Congress and another 400 copies to the White House.
Thankfully, since I now had the attention of our country's most powerful politicians (I imagine Barack Obama reading over each issue with a furrowed brow), the review was favorable. The reviewer calls the book a "fine work of...
March 8, 2010
A Return to Yuma and Other Tour Highlights
I wrote earlier that I would be blogging from the road during my book tour, but that was before I realized how exhausting—and exhilarating—two weeks on the road would be. In all, Daniella and I hit eleven cities in fourteen days, starting in Phoenix and ending in Seattle.
The highlight of the tour was definitely Yuma. The Yuma Sun, a local paper, had run a front-page article about the book a few weeks ago, and when I entered the Barnes and Noble I was greeted with a large display—of the sort ...
February 27, 2010
My interview with Tavis Smiley on PBS
I'll be posting an update about the tour tomorrow–it's been great!–but for now here's an interview I did with Tavis Smiley in Los Angeles a few days ago.
more about "Tavis Smiley . Shows . Gabriel Thomps…", posted with vodpod
February 25, 2010
February 19, 2010
Off to Warm Weather
Right now in New York it's 35 degrees but feels more like 25 according to weather.com. Normally time to bundle up for the bike commute, but not today: I'm about to get on a plane to Arizona! I spoke yesterday with the woman at Dole who hired me, letting her know that I'll be speaking in the city on Sunday and asking her to try and get in touch with some of the folks I worked with in the fields. Towards the end of the conversation she told me that the temperatures were in the 80s. Ah, Yuma…
Ton...
