and across much of the world.
IMMOKALEE, FL (Coalition of Immokalee Workers) - The members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers are proud to announce a recent victory in the fight against modern-day slavery in the agricultural industry. On June 26, 2002, after two long years of a CIW investigation, three Central Florida employers who ran a violent and coercive slavery operation in citrus were found guilty by a jury in federal court of charges including: conspiracy to hold workers in indentured servitude, interference with interstate commerce through extortion, and use of a firearm during a crime of violence. The employers, Ramiro, Juan, and Jose Luis Ramos face up to 25 years in jail and forfeiture of up to $3 million in assets.
In the past five years, the CIW has uncovered and investigated three large slavery operations in tomato fields and citrus groves, and acted as a key consultant to the DOJ/ Civil Rights Division in two other slavery prosecutions. In this most recent case, CIW members gathered crucial intelligence while working undercover , investigated the employers' multiple business interests in the area, and helped liberate several workers.
According to workers, their employers held them in debt on labor camps in Lake Placid, telling them they owed $1,000 each for their ride from Arizona to Florida. The Ramos' deducted from workers' weekly pay for the ride fee, rent, food, work equipment, and so on, with workers ending up with as little as $70 a week in hand. The workers were then taken to Ramos' family stores to spend what was left. The employers used threats of beatings and death to create a climate of fear and keep workers against their will. Visitors to the camp were threatened and blocked from leaving.
When the CIW managed to visit one of the camps, workers told us that they were being held against their will and threatened. We informed workers of their right to work where they choose in the US. Shortly afterwards, four workers called for help, and in a harrowing and tense ordeal CIW members assisted in getting them off the camp.
http://www.iabolish.com/news/global/2002/ciw07-11-02.htm