30 April 2008

Florida tomatoe pickers













Tomato Pickers in Immokalee, Florida

Immokalee is Florida's largest farmworker community. Migrant workers (mostly mexican and guantemalan immigrants) pick tomatoes for below poverty level wages under extreme working and living conditions. Cases of slavery have occurred, and workers are often mistreated.

They workers are paid 45 cents for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes collected. A worker has to pick nearly two-and-a-half tons of tomatoes - a near impossibility - in order to reach minimum wage.

The Coalition of Immokalle Worker (CIW) is a community-based worker organization that fights for better wages and worker's rights.

Photographer Chris Maluszynski /MOMENT
January 2008

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice series, good documentary.

cafe selavy said...

Powerful images, viewpoint, and processing. Glad to see the work. The story of south Florida workers deserves to be told again and again.

Rhonda Boocock said...

I read an article about these workers and was stunned by the living conditions of these people. Thank you for telling their story!

Anonymous said...

oh, really powerful images. Thanks for letting us see!
- f.s.

br said...

great fotos and subject!!