Audio By Carbonatix
McDonald’s and others had offered to pay the charge after federal authorities compared the lot of Central American field workers to slavery.
The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, a trade group, was none too happy about the agreement: Spokesman Reggie Brown called claims of abuse of tomato workers “inaccurate.”
Prosecutors have nailed tomato-farm employers and contractors for beating workers, locking them in trucks, and paying subminimum wages. New Times has repeatedly documented this abuse. Below is a video describing the abuse. It was recently posted by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a group that for the past ten years has campaigned to improve conditions and increase wages for farm workers.
