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
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