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-   -   Worker Abuse Case (http://www.politicalchat.org/showthread.php?t=5712)

ebacon 05-01-2013 04:02 PM

Worker Abuse Case
 
This is an interesting story about mentally handicapped men that were basically stuck working for peanuts on an Iowa turkey farm.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/...abled.Workers/

A friend told me that there is a similar bunkhouse in the Michigan thumb. It looks like a chicken coop for humans. He showed it to me after harvest season but I didn't see any occupants.

When it comes to deregulation be careful of what you ask for. You just might get it.

BlueStreak 05-01-2013 05:26 PM

In the book "Journey to Nowhere" Dale Maharidge and his cohort posed as homeless men and went into one of those work camps in Texas. To keep it short, it took them almost six weeks to escape. And they had to go far, because it quickly became obvious that the local cops were in on the "business". Which was, of course, to provide dirt cheap labor to local businessess and wealthy residents.

It seems some people see having more freedom, means they should have a free hand to be total and absolute assholes and abuse people with impunity. Such people deserve every bit of backlash the courts, the law and their victims can heap upon them.

May they rot in hell.

Dave

finnbow 05-01-2013 05:57 PM

Here's a relevant book recommendation:

Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit

In addition to covering what a lousy vegetable (actually a fruit) the commercial Florida-grown tomato has become, it delves into the wholesale criminal exploitation of the work force (along with subsequent criminal charges). Good, informative read.

merrylander 05-02-2013 06:55 AM

They used to sell those Florida tomatoes in the GWN one brand name was "Hockey" which we thought appropriate because they had all the flavour of a puck. Luckily the Mexican tomatoes which could not be sold here overflew the USofA and were available in Canada.

Wasillaguy 05-02-2013 12:55 PM

Most of the tomatoes here are grown in British Columbia, where the government subsidizes the commercial greenhouses with very cheap natural gas.
There are local tomatoes from an operation in Anchorage, but they're always more expensive.
The one thing they all have in common is no taste, crappy texture. This is the reason I built my own greenhouse.

ebacon 05-02-2013 01:03 PM

When I was in Homer in 1995 a halibut dinner was $2.99. Anything with vegetables was expensive. I think a dinner salad was about $9.

merrylander 05-02-2013 01:16 PM

We used to have a kitchen garden but the ^%$%$#* stinkbugs fixed that.

bobabode 05-02-2013 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wasillaguy (Post 156297)
Most of the tomatoes here are grown in British Columbia, where the government subsidizes the commercial greenhouses with very cheap natural gas.
There are local tomatoes from an operation in Anchorage, but they're always more expensive.
The one thing they all have in common is no taste, crappy texture. This is the reason I built my own greenhouse.

Was knows tomatoes.;)

Wasillaguy 05-02-2013 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebacon (Post 156301)
When I was in Homer in 1995 a halibut dinner was $2.99. Anything with vegetables was expensive. I think a dinner salad was about $9.

Halibut prices have gone through the roof in the last 5 or so years, as have the charters to catch your own. Sometimes king crab is cheaper per lb than halibut, it's stupid.
A buddy down the road comes home with coolers of Kodiak scallops once a year and there's a big drunken party. Oh my God. They are huge, and delicious.

We don't eat near as much halibut as we used to. I kind of prefer lingcod now. With less fish in the garage freezer, we have cut back on canning vegetables. Instead we blanch and vacu-seal them and stack 'em in the freezer. Tomatoes we freeze whole, then use them through the winter in stews and soups. The skins peel right off when they start to thaw. Little cherry tomatoes get cut in half and used to jazz up homemade tortilla pizzas.

BlueStreak 05-02-2013 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by finnbow (Post 156201)
Here's a relevant book recommendation:

Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit

In addition to covering what a lousy vegetable (actually a fruit) the commercial Florida-grown tomato has become, it delves into the wholesale criminal exploitation of the work force (along with subsequent criminal charges). Good, informative read.

Damn you and your book recommendations. You costing me a small fortune.;)

Dave


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