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The U.S. Department of Justice reports a new case of forced labor in Florida agriculture. This is the seventh confirmed case of forced labor in the last decade in the state.

The report describes poor working conditions as well as workers being chained to poles, beaten, robbed, and locked inside trucks. A 17-count federal indictment outlines how a dozen workers living on a farm were forced to sleep in trucks and shacks, went unpaid for their work, and had to pay for food and showers. The cases were reported at the Six L’s and Pacific Tomato Growers farms. Both the farms are certified by the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange Socially Accountable Farm Employers program, which is supposed to prevent labor abuses.

In 13 confirmed cases, workers were beaten, including for trying to leave the farm. The workers also had their identification documents held to keep them from escaping.

Immigrant farmworkers in Florida—Latinos, Haitians, and Mayan Indians—have a long and painful history of abuse. For 15 years the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has been fighting to better conditions and end slavery in the fields.

But state officials have ignored the slavery-like conditions. Governor Charlie Crist declined to comment on the latest case; his spokesman said it was “quite a rarity when a case pops up.”

Join the CIW in calling on Governor Crist to take a stand and end forced labor for farmworkers. Send emails to

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, or write him at PL-05, The Capitol, Tallahassee, FL 32399.

Expiration Date:
Thu, 04/30/2009 - 8:59pm