This appeal is from the UFW.
Tell Colorado's Governor That Slavery is Illegal.
Say "NO" to Prison Labor in the Fields.
Slavery is illegal in the United States...or that’s what we believe. However, it looks like modern day slavery has just been OK’d in the great state of Colorado.
Yesterday's Los Angeles Times features an article called "Colorado to use inmates to fill migrant shortage". It seems that Colorado's farmers have been having a labor shortage ever since passing what its Legislature promoted as the nation's toughest laws against illegal immigration last summer.
Their solution: Use convicts as farm workers.
According to the Los Angeles Times article, "Prisoners who are a low security risk may choose to work in the fields, earning 60 cents a day. They also are eligible for small bonuses."
This is just wrong. 60 cents a day for toiling all day in the fields...this is not the American way.
As today's Los Angeles Times editorial said, "Turning prisoners into farmers is no solution. People aren't sentenced to hard labor anymore, so only volunteers are available for prison work programs."
The Colorado situation shows the negative economic effect of a strictly punitive approach to our immigration crisis. It demonstrates the need for thoughtful, humane, bipartisan solutions like AgJOBS--a bipartisan bill negotiated by the UFW and the nation’s agricultural industry--which would let undocumented farm workers earn the right to permanently stay in this country by continuing to work in agriculture.
E-mail Colorado's Governor today and tell him that allowing growers to hire prisoners to work in the agriculture is nothing more than legalized slavery. Tell him the solution to the nation's immigration crisis is not prison labor.
Go to http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/inmates/forward to send an email.
Tell Colorado's Governor That Slavery is Illegal.
Say "NO" to Prison Labor in the Fields.
Slavery is illegal in the United States...or that’s what we believe. However, it looks like modern day slavery has just been OK’d in the great state of Colorado.
Yesterday's Los Angeles Times features an article called "Colorado to use inmates to fill migrant shortage". It seems that Colorado's farmers have been having a labor shortage ever since passing what its Legislature promoted as the nation's toughest laws against illegal immigration last summer.
Their solution: Use convicts as farm workers.
According to the Los Angeles Times article, "Prisoners who are a low security risk may choose to work in the fields, earning 60 cents a day. They also are eligible for small bonuses."
This is just wrong. 60 cents a day for toiling all day in the fields...this is not the American way.
As today's Los Angeles Times editorial said, "Turning prisoners into farmers is no solution. People aren't sentenced to hard labor anymore, so only volunteers are available for prison work programs."
The Colorado situation shows the negative economic effect of a strictly punitive approach to our immigration crisis. It demonstrates the need for thoughtful, humane, bipartisan solutions like AgJOBS--a bipartisan bill negotiated by the UFW and the nation’s agricultural industry--which would let undocumented farm workers earn the right to permanently stay in this country by continuing to work in agriculture.
E-mail Colorado's Governor today and tell him that allowing growers to hire prisoners to work in the agriculture is nothing more than legalized slavery. Tell him the solution to the nation's immigration crisis is not prison labor.
Go to http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/inmates/forward to send an email.
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