<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/56cef3e5-0595-410f-b5c0-d800a16f8d16/9DB53660-A835-4B88-ADEA-9865CB158CF0/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://blogs.oxfamamerica.org/index.php/2009/05/21/standing-up-for-farmworkers-then-and-now/" href="http://blogs.oxfamamerica.org/index.php/2009/05/21/standing-up-for-farmworkers-then-and-now/" style="font-size: 11px;">blogs.oxfamamerica.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blogs.oxfamamerica.org/index.php/2009/05/21/standing-up-for-farmworkers-then-and-now/"><H2>Standing up for farmworkers, then and now</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blogs.oxfamamerica.org/index.php/2009/05/21/standing-up-for-farmworkers-then-and-now/"><EM>Sarah Zipkin is the project officer for Oxfam’s <SPAN><A href="http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatwedo/issues_we_work_on/worker_rights">decent work program</A></SPAN> in the US. This is the first of two guest posts by Sarah about food, farms, and what it means to support workers’ rights in 2009.</EM></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blogs.oxfamamerica.org/index.php/2009/05/21/standing-up-for-farmworkers-then-and-now/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/blogs.oxfamamerica.org/img/117837CA-DE88-401C-87A2-6D97124C3FE9" alt="Sarah Zipkin on a visit to a farm in Mississippi." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blogs.oxfamamerica.org/index.php/2009/05/21/standing-up-for-farmworkers-then-and-now/"><P>Today, a farmworker in this country makes around $13,000 a year and has a life expectancy of 49 years. (Yes, you read that right.) Hazardous working conditions, long hours, and a lack of health services take a toll on these workers, especially tobacco pickers–<A href="http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatwedo/where_we_work/united_states/news_publications/taking-on-the-green-monster-oxfam-partner-fights-for-rights-of-tobacco-pickers">some even get physically ill</A>. And this has been the reality for over 30 years.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blogs.oxfamamerica.org/index.php/2009/05/21/standing-up-for-farmworkers-then-and-now/"><P><SPAN id="more-1657"></SPAN>At the meeting, we watched executives discussing profit gains over the year, something that their shareholders would appreciate. Except the ironic thing was that the people who form the company’s lifeline–tobacco pickers–were completely absent from the tables and charts that they displayed with pride. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blogs.oxfamamerica.org/index.php/2009/05/21/standing-up-for-farmworkers-then-and-now/">Our shareholder resolution, which recognizes that farmworker rights are human rights, won 15 percent of the vote.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/9DB53660-A835-4B88-ADEA-9865CB158CF0/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

New from the makers of Clipmarks:  Amplify.com - Don't just share the news...Amplify it!