are illegal in the United States and Europe."
http://inthesetimes.com/article/4399/flower_powerFlower Power
Colombian plantation workers are fighting an uphill battle to unionize and secure better working conditions.
-snip-
According to a new report from the US Labor Education in the Americas Project (US/LEAP), the group sponsoring Camacho’s current tour of the United States, about one-fifth of the pesticides used to produce exported flowers are so toxic they are illegal in the United States and Europe.
About two-thirds of the more than 200,000 workers directly or indirectly employed in Colombia’s flower industry are women. Eighty-five percent of them are subjected to illegal pregnancy screening tests so that companies can avoid paying legally required maternity leave, according to a 2003 study by the Colombian flower worker advocacy organization CACTUS.
-snip-
Workers like Amanda Camacho ultimately hope that U.S. support for their cause will give them more power. Washington, they say, could make enforcing protections of workers rights and prosecuting crimes against trade unionists a precondition for any new trade agreement with Colombia. President Obama had opposed his George W. Bush’s proposed free trade agreement with Colombia, but after April’s Summit of the Americas U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said that the administration would push for approval of new pacts with both Colombia and Panama.
“I want people in the United States to support this organizing campaign,” Camacho says, “and know that behind all these beautiful flowers there is suffering because of all the humiliation we face.”
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mostly women workers
there are more women in the world then men
there are more women in the US then men
we DO have the power
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