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skippy the bush kangaroo



Wednesday, February 25, 2009

iowa's government...the city of atalissa

lacking a moral backbone.
iowa's social-services agency acknowledged tuesday that it looked into a company's treatment of its mentally disabled meatpacking workers as early as the 1970s, but decided it lacked the jurisdiction or enough evidence to act.

...the men lived at a 106-year-old house that locals called the bunkhouse. the city of atalissa owned the home, and city officials recently acknowledged that some of its doors were padlocked, windows were boarded up and the heating system was broken, leaving only space heaters.

the men worked for henry's turkey service, a texas company that provided labor for a meatpacker near atalissa in west liberty. recent inquiries showed the company diverted much of the mentally disabled men's paychecks and government payments to living expenses, leaving them about $65 a month in wages. - ap

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posted by Cookie Jill at 7:37 AM | 0 comments

Friday, February 13, 2009

this is what republicans like

slave labor.

since the late 1970s, henry's turkey service has been shipping mentally retarded men from texas to iowa to work in the west liberty plant. henry's has acted as the workers' employer, landlord and caregiver — paying the men a reduced wage for their work at the plant and then deducting from their pay the cost of room, board and care. payroll records indicate the men are left with as little as $65 per month in salary. - des moines register

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posted by Cookie Jill at 9:40 PM | 4 comments

Monday, April 07, 2008

you wonder why other countries hate us?

our big businesses like using slave labor and child labor.
agricultural corporations cargill and archer daniels midland have started an aggressive lobbying effort to drop a provision from the farm bill which would establish a voluntary certification program related to imports made using forced labor and child labor.

section 3104 of the farm bill, called voluntary certification of child labor status of agricultural imports, would provide a method which producers of agricultural products could use to certify that their products are free of child labor and forced labor. the department of labor, under the trafficking victims protection reauthorization act of 2005, is compiling a list of imported goods believed to be produced using forced labor or child labor – conditions which violate international standards.

seventy percent of the world’s child labor is concentrated in the agricultural sector, where vulnerable children toil in blazing heat, exposed to dangerous farm machinery and deadly pesticides. working children are also deprived of an adequate education. provision 3104 would provide a step forward in working to eliminate the worst forms of child labor and forced labor around the world, in conformance with existing u.s. and international law. - common dreams
so...when you see these two companies advertise on the sunday bobblehead teevee shows, keep in mind they are paying big moolah to dc insiders to keep from "voluntarily" certify their products don't involve child or slave labor.

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posted by Cookie Jill at 7:44 PM | 3 comments

Sunday, December 02, 2007

un*freakin*believable

i'm pretty much speechless at this. where has our country gone? what the h**l do we even stand for anymore?
third world warriors fight u.s. wars - for dollars a day

honduran soldier was among thousands who stood guard over baghdad embassy, but couldn't legally enter united states.

for one year, mario urquia guarded the u.s. embassy in baghdad, protecting american service members and diplomats in one of the most dangerous places in the world.

now urquia is living on the edge of homelessness in ogden - illegal in the nation he once stood to protect.

...but the u.s. government says that, at a time when its military is stretched so thin, third-world security contractors will be standing guard over u.s. facilities for a long time to come. - salt lake tribune
i'm sure the "news" won't be covering this. might take "shoppers" away from their holiday shopping for "freedom."

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posted by Cookie Jill at 10:49 AM | 2 comments

Friday, November 30, 2007

corporate greed on a sesame seed bun

one penny more. just a single penny more. can't the burger king ceo (mr. john w. chidsey , 43 - $2.35mil a year) even chip in that?
the migrant farm workers who harvest tomatoes in south florida have one of the nation’s most backbreaking jobs. for 10 to 12 hours a day, they pick tomatoes by hand, earning a piece-rate of about 45 cents for every 32-pound bucket. during a typical day each migrant picks, carries and unloads two tons of tomatoes. for their efforts, this holiday season many of them are about to get a 40 percent pay cut.

...this month the florida tomato growers exchange, representing 90 percent of the state’s growers, announced that it will not allow any of its members to collect the extra penny for farm workers. reggie brown, the executive vice president of the group, described the surcharge for poor migrants as “pretty much near un-american.” migrant farm laborers have long been among america’s most impoverished workers. perhaps 80 percent of the migrants in florida are illegal immigrants and thus especially vulnerable to abuse. during the past decade, the united states justice department has prosecuted half a dozen cases of slavery among farm workers in florida. migrants have been driven into debt, forced to work for nothing and kept in chained trailers at night.

...now the florida tomato growers exchange has threatened a fine of $100,000 for any grower who accepts an extra penny per pound for migrant wages. the organization claims that such a surcharge would violate “federal and state laws related to antitrust, labor and racketeering.”- nytimes
yeah...i can see why there are so many "americans" lining up for jobs like this. let's send tencredo down and put him to some real work.

i would stand outside a burger king to protest, but i would probably be labeled as a "terrorist" under the "animal enterprise terrorism act" if only we could get the "subservient chicken" to get these greedy folks to do the right thing.

(oh...typed in the command on subservient chicken...and i think he laughed.)

the ethicurean has more...here.

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posted by Cookie Jill at 6:01 AM | 1 comments