Immokalee farm workers hold anti-slavery rally

 
More than four dozen farm workers from Immokalee came to the Old Capitol on
Monday to protest harsh working conditions and enslavement of migrant farm workers in
Florida.

The Coalition of Immokalee workers helped organize the rally of migrant workers and
religious and labor activists, who called on the state to join the fight against
"modern-day slavery'' and to improve wages and working conditions on Florida tomato
farms.

In September, five farm bosses pleaded guilty to a scheme to enslave Mexican and
Guatemalalan nationals as farm workers in Immokalee. Prosecutors said the farm bosses were
paid the workers minimal wages and threated them with violence.

Meghan Cohorst, co-coordinator of the Student/Farmworker Alliance, said she became
involved in the fight for farm workers rights as a student at Eckerd College in St.
Petersburg.

Cohorst said while the actual enslavement of farm workers is rare, more work still
needs to be done.

"We came to Tallahassee to say even one case of slavery is too many,'' she said.