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Source: Unions.org
Source: CWA
">Labor author and photographer David Bacon wrotes at TruthOut.org:
David BaconNorth Carolina has one of the lowest percentages of union members in the country. Yet in this non-union bastion, thousands of farm workers, some of the country’s least unionized workers, belong to the Farm Labor Organizing Committee. That gives the state a greater percentage of unionized farm workers than almost any other.
The heart of FLOC’s membership here are the 6000 workers brought to North Carolina with H2-A work visas every year, to pick the cucumbers that wind up in the pickle jars sold in supermarkets by the Mt. Olive Pickle Company. Not all farm workers, or FLOC members, are guest workers with H2-A visas, however. In fact, a report last year by Oxfam America, “A state of fear: Human rights abuses in North Carolina’s tobacco industry,” estimates that of the 100,000 farm workers in the state, only 9% have H2-A visas. Almost all the rest have no legal immigration status.
Nevertheless, when workers fall under the union contract, FLOC represents them, regardless of whether they have visas or not. Some contract growers employ both H2-A and undocumented labor – the...
The Journal of Commerce reports:
Hurricane Sandy, October 29The Port of New York and New Jersey remained closed on Wednesday, while all other ports in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic reopened by Wednesday morning following the passage of Hurricane Sandy.
The terminals in New York Harbor could remain closed for at least another day as port officials waited to assess the damage and regain power cut off by the storm.
“Please be advised that the entire port has sustained devastating damage and flooding,” a bulletin on Maher Terminals’ Web site said. “We are waiting for permission from Port Authority to access the terminals so we can determine the extent of the damages.”
More at this link
Japan-based Marubeni, owner of Columbia Grain in Portland and across the U.S., is an example of the growing power of a small number of grain traders. Many say this consolidation is nearing a monopoly and is detrimental to farmers and consumers. Marubeni/Columbia Grain is part to the Northwest Grainhandlers' Agreement with ILWU Locals 4, 8, 19 and 23.
A global race for grain trading power is putting more of the world’s vital cereals in the hands of fewer companies, with a string of recent acquisitions raising fears that consumers will pay even more for their food, while farmers are squeezed.
Archer Daniels Midland last week bid for Australia’s last independent grain handler GrainCorp, the latest in a series of moves by grain trading heavyweights to grab a larger slice of a booming market as developing economies seek food security.
The four “ABCD” firms – ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus – dominate global grain trading along with top global commodities trader Glencore and Japan’s Marubeni, both of which have made major acquisitions in the last few months.
With food price volatility increasingly coming to the fore, most recently in the wake of drought...
Source: In These Times
Source: Mass. JwJ
Source: Pantagraph
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