On April 9th 2007 FLOC organizer Santiago Rafael was brutally tortured and murdered in the union’s office in Mexico. Within a month of the crime FLOC compelled the Mexican government to work with authorities in Nuevo Leon to investigate the murder. Local police were able to apprehend one of the murderers through telephone records. Nuevo Leon authorities then tried to use the apprehension to close the case right away, claiming it was an isolated case of violence with no political motive behind it. However, as Velazquez said, what this case truly reflects is the dangerous situation FLOC organizers put themselves in by attempting to rectify the corruption that is endemic in the recruitment of Mexican laborers. A New York Times article was written in 2007 about the terrible murder. ILRF is gravely concerned about the continued use of violence against those supporting labor unions.
Currently the H-2A guest worker program is the only legal way Mexican workers can come to the United States to work in agriculture. Poor laborers in Mexico face a choice of paying a recruiter to acquire a visa for them, or paying a smuggler to help them illegally cross the border. After hearing grievances from Mexican workers about how often they are ripped off by recruiters, FLOC created a system where workers could directly deposit visa fees to the consulate instead of relying on a recruiter to trigger their employment. While creating safe options for workers, the FLOC system takes a lucrative business away from recruiters. This was the work that Rafael was doing before his murder and the work that FLOC continues to do. See this link to find out how you can fight for justice for Santiago Rafael: http://www.floc.com/documents/Justice%20for%20Santiago.pdf.
In their effort to create a tobacco supply chain free of worker abuses, FLOC has targeted Reynolds Tobacco Company located in North Carolina. This is a company that benefits from exploitative labor recruitment as well as terrible working conditions for their laborers including exposure to lethal nicotine and pesticides, racism, and miserable housing in labor camps. Velasquez commented that on his visit to the company’s fields he was shocked to see that most of the workers weren’t even wearing shoes. To get involved in the FLOC campaign to organize field workers who produce tobacco leaf for the Reynolds Tobacco supply chain click here: http://www.floc.com/RJR%20Campaign.htm.
Although tobacco is grown in over 100 countries throughout the world, companies sourcing in Malawi are one of the biggest offenders of child labor practices. In fact, and alarming 78 % of children between the ages of 10 and 14 and 55 % of children ages 7 to 9 work with their parents on tobacco farms in Malawi. These pictures depict children toiling on tobacco farms.
ILRF is committed to ending these unacceptable abuses in the fields through our tobacco campaign. We also stand in solidarity with FLOC as they struggle to support farmworkers in the U.S.
