Tag Archives: Florida

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Trader Joe’s …Amanda Kloer, Change.org


                Trader Joe’s: Sell slave-free tomatoes             

A remarkable number of major supermarkets, restaurants and food  service companies have joined farm workers to fight wage theft,  widespread sexual harassment — even slavery — in Florida’s tomato  fields. But not Trader Joe’s.

Burger King, Subway and others are on board, paying $0.01 more per  pound of tomatoes to the farm workers who pick them and guaranteeing  their tomatoes are slave-free. But Trader Joe’s, despite their  progressive image, refuses to follow suit.

The Student Farmworker Alliance has started a petition on Change.org calling on Trader Joe’s to sell only slave-free tomatoes. The Florida tomato season starts in October, so getting an agreement  from Trader Joe’s in the next few weeks would be a huge victory. Will you sign the petition to get Trader Joe’s to join the Campaign for Fair Food and sell slave-free tomatoes now? http://www.change.org/petitions/ask-trader-joes-to-sell-slave-free-food

More than, 1,000 cases of real-life slavery in Florida’s tomato  fields have been investigated by the Department of Labor in the past 10  years. In these cases, workers were housed in overcrowded shacks on the  fields, paid poverty-level wages, had their identification documents  taken away and were robbed of their wages by employers who fabricated  debts to keep them working.

Trader Joe’s works hard on its image and prides itself on responding  to customers’ preferences. If enough customers (and potential customers)  tell Trader Joe’s they’ll only buy slave-free tomatoes guaranteed  through the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Campaign for Fair Food, it  will have to join.

Sign the Student Farmworker Alliance’s petition to get Trader  Joe’s to make sure its tomatoes are slave- and abuse-free by joining  CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food now:

http://www.change.org/petitions/ask-trader-joes-to-sell-slave-free-food

Thanks for being a change-maker,

Amanda and the Change.org team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

12-year-ol​d jailed for life? …Michael Whitney, Change.org


Change.org
                24 hours to tell Florida State’s Attorney Angela Corey not to try a 12-year-old as an adult.            

 

Cristian Fernandez is only 12 years old. And if Florida prosecutor Angela Corey has her way, he’ll never leave jail again.

Cristian hasn’t had an easy life. He’s the same age now as his mother was when he was born. He’s a survivor of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. In 2010, Cristian watched his stepfather commit suicide to avoid being charged with abusing Cristian.

Last January, Cristian was wrestling with his 2-year-old brother, David, and accidentally broke David’s leg. Despite this, their mother left Cristian with his brother again in March. While the two boys were alone, Cristian allegedly pushed his brother against a bookcase, and David sustained a head injury. After their mother returned home, she waited six hours before taking David to the hospital. David eventually died.

Now Cristian is being charged with first degree murder — as an adult. He’s the youngest person in the history of his Florida county to receive this charge, and his next hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.

Melissa Higgins works with kids who get caught up in the criminal justice system in her home state of New Hampshire. When she read about Cristian’s case, she was appalled — so she started a petition on Change.org asking Florida State’s Attorney Angela Corey to try Cristian as a child. Please sign Melissa’s petition immediately before Cristian’s hearing tomorrow.

As part of his prosecution, Cristian has been examined by two different forensic psychiatrists — each of whom concluded that he was “emotionally underdeveloped but essentially reformable despite a tough life.”

Cristian has already been through more than most of us can imagine — and now the rest of his life is in the hands of a Florida prosecutor who wants to make sure Cristian never leaves jail.

The purpose of the juvenile justice system is to reform kids who haven’t gotten a fair shake. If Cristian is sent to adult prison, it will be more than a tragedy for him — it will also be a signal to other prosecutors that kids’ lives are acceptable collateral in the quest to be seen as “tough on crime.”

Cristian’s next hearing is in just 24 hours. State’s Attorney Angela Corey needs to know that her actions are being watched — please sign the petition asking her not to try Cristian as an adult:

http://www.change.org/petitions/reverse-decision-to-try-12-yo-cristian-fernandez-as-an-adult

Thanks for being a change-maker,

– Michael and the Change.org team
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

“Democrats intentionally steal elections.” says, Maine’s State GOP Chairman Charlie Webster


You need to know this: Republican governors and state legislatures are working to pass laws to suppress voter turnout in 2012. Texas, Wisconsin and Florida have already passed legislation including restricting early voting. Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maine might be next.

These are all crucial swing states in 2012. If Republicans can prevent Democratic voters from exercising their right, we could lose the White House. And we could lose the Senate. It’s that simple.

Republicans can’t win on the merits – look how unpopular their plan to kill Medicare is. But they might very well capture the Senate if they keep Democrats from voting. I need your help to fight back now. We need 100,000 people to stand with us and draw attention to the undemocratic actions of these Republican state legislators and governors. Will you add your name?

 www.dsccc.org

After you’ve signed, be sure to forward this email to friends. All Democrats need to join together and draw attention to these disgusting Republican tactics. We won’t stand quietly by while they try every trick in the book to steal an election. It’s undemocratic, and it must end.

Sincerely,

                                Guy Cecil

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Florida Governor Signs Welfare Drug Screening into Law


 

By Amanda Geronikos
Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:11:56 GMT

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has signed new legislation requiring welfare applicants to take drug-screening tests.

The new law, which goes into effect July 1, will require the Florida Department of Children and Family Services to perform drug tests on adults applying to the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Welfare recipients will be responsible for the cost of the screening, but will regain the money in their assistance if they qualify. Those who fail the drug test may deligate another person to receive the benefits on behalf of their children.

Some Democrats are furious over the new legislation. CNN reports that one Democrat even deemed the bill “downright unconstitutional.” “‘Indeed, investigating people when there is probable cause to suspect they are abusing drugs is one thing,’ Rep. Corinne Brown said in a joint statement,” as mentioned by CNN. “‘But these tests amount to strip searching our state’s most vulnerable residents merely because they rely on the government for financial support during these difficult economic times.'”

Can a simple drug test truly be considered “strip searching” though? Employers perform drug tests on their most loyal employees all the time.

Gov. Rick Scott says it’s “’unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction,’” as noted by CNN. “’It’s the right thing for citizens of this state that need public assistance. We don’t want to waste tax dollars. And also, we want to give people an incentive to not use drugs.’”

Do you think welfare applicants should be required to take drug tests? Sound off here.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of XFINITY.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Falsely accused …change.org


In the next few weeks, the Walmart Corporation will help decide if three activists live or die.

See, Walmart relies on cheap subcontractors across the developing world, many of which force workers to toil in unimaginable conditions.

Three Bangladeshis, Kalpona Akter (pictured at right), Babul Akhter, and Aminul Islam, had been fighting to help the workers at some suppliers in their country.

Rather than treat workers fairly, these suppliers have filed false criminal charges against the trio.

The accusations are demonstrably false. For example, the supplier claims that Kalpona and Babul destroyed property on a day when multiple witnesses saw them at a meeting 35 kilometers away.

But so far, that hasn’t mattered. Kalpona, Babul, and Aminul were imprisoned and tortured for their activism. They now await a sham of a trial that could begin as soon as June 1st. If it doesn’t go well, they could be sentenced to death — and once the trial begins, the process is almost impossible to reverse.

If Walmart demands that the suppliers drop the charges, the activists will likely go free. But there are only two weeks until the window for intervention closes.

Let’s create a huge uproar that shows Walmart executives that customers around the globe are watching their decision. Please sign the petition calling on them to demand that false charges be dropped immediately:

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-walmart-intervene-before-labor-activists-are-sentenced-to-death

Thanks for taking action,

– Patrick and the Change.org team