Exploitation Of Tobacco Harvesters Exposed At British Embassy

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Labor activists brought the plight of Deep South tobacco workers to the doorstep of the British Embassy yesterday. Calling British American Tobacco (BAT) a “two-faced outlaw,” dozens of labor rights activists rallied outside the Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue NW Wednesday, chanting “Hey hey B.A.T- workers need their dignity!” and waving signs reading “Labor rights are human rights!” “Tobacco farm workers in North Carolina and around the world are some of the most exploited workers,” said Nick Wood (below) – an organizer with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) – who spoke first-hand about the horrendous working conditions that many tobacco harvesters face. “From sun up to sun down, separated from the communities that they live in, working in the hot fields of Eastern North Carolina and about, tobacco harvesters are often found working in situations where there isn’t bathrooms or water,” said Wood. “As the humidity settles on them, as they bend down to pick tobacco, as they feel the dew on their skin poisoning them with green tobacco sickness, as they kneel fearful of pesticides being sprayed on them - poisoning them and their families –  they work in fear of being deported, arrested and fired, and are afraid to speak out.” Wood added that many farm workers are forced to sleep on moldy and wet mattresses and use toilets without dividers, with “no privacy or dignity.” The FLOC, which represents tobacco farm workers in the South, is targeting BAT – a major stockholder in Reynolds American, one of the largest tobacco companies in the U.S. – calling on them to “take responsibility for the working conditions of tobacco farm workers” in its supply chain. At the noontime demo yesterday, a delegation delivered a petition asking the British Ambassador to tell BAT that “tobacco farm workers have a right to organize and to bargain,” and that they have the right to a “living wage, safe working conditions” and decent housing . “We believe BAT has an obligation to monitor and enforce compliance all the way down its supply chain,” said Metro Washington Council President Jos Williams as he handed the petition to Embassy representatives. Similar protests were held yesterday at the British Consulates in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Orlando, and San Francisco, while FLOC President Baldemar Velasquez joined trade union and religious leaders from around the world in front of BAT’s London office. Click here to learn more about the FLOC’s campaign for farm worker justice. - report/photos by Adam Wright