This summer the University's administration, without the consent of students or farmworkers, lifted a boycott on the Mt. Olive Pickle Co. My curiosity provoked, I recently visited two farms that supply cucumbers to Mt. Olive.
In addition to not earning minimum wage, the workers, who are mostly undocumented Mexicans or on temporary visas, are subject to inhumane conditions, crammed in tiny, rancid spaces infested with insects, inhaling toxic chemicals in the fields and working relentlessly six days a week.
The little money they do earn is taken back by the owners for rides to stores, overpriced food and enormous transportation costs from farm to farm. A cycle is created, leaving the workers with little or no money, working for a goal that is impossible to reach.
However, there is hope. If Duke supports this boycott, aiding in unionization, the lives of al farm workers in North Carolina will be changed for the better.
In Ohio, students like us were able to help in the unionization of a corporation like Mt. Olive. Because farmers realized that workers would leave nonunion farms for the unionized one, a domino effect was inaugurated throughout Ohio and resulted in improved working conditions for all Ohio farm workers.
I don't doubt the Duke administration's ability to make decisions. It is clear that they have just been misinformed. When President Nan Keohane visited a Mt. Olive farm, she was taken to a "model camp" under the auspices of Mt. Olive's CEO. This same CEO required the farmworkers shower and clean up before Keohane arrived.
I think it is about time the administration started listening to farmworkers and students instead of believing the promises of a man who has so much to lose if Duke boycotts his company.
It's so easy to forget this issue, but these are real people, and, like any people, they deserve respect and dignity. We need to address their concerns.
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