New Report Released on Wage Theft in Florida
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<p>New report released by the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy at Florida International University on widespread wage theft in the state.</p>
The Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy [RISEP] at Florida International University released a groundbreaking analysis of reported wage theft cases throughout the state of Florida. The report entitled: “Wage Theft: An Economic Drain on Florida.
Florida Expanding Flawed Medicaid Managed Care Experiment
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<p>Report from the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy faults statewide expansion of Medicaid managed care experiment by legislature.</p>
Archbishop Wenski on Abdication of Responsibility
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<p>Archbishop of Miami criticizes Congress and the Administration for failing to enact immigration reform.</p>
In a very strongly worded statement last month, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami accused both the Congress and the Adminstration of abdication of responsibility for their complete failure to deal with the pressing issued of immigration reform. Failing to do so, he wrote, leaves immigrant families living in fear and, without action, “the nation’s social fabric will begin to tear, to the detriment of all Americans.” The complete statement can be found here.
Tomatoes, Farmworkers, and Social Justice
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<p>In the hot Florida sun and in the aisles of our nation’s supermarkets and fast food outlets, a small David contends with multiple Goliaths about what is fair and what is not, about human dignity and slave labor, and about what is the “common good” for those who harvest this nation’s crops. “David” is the Coalition of Immokalee Workers [CIW] (supported by their colleague organization Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida and The Student/Farmworker Alliance), an association of about 4,000 largely Mexican, Guatemalan, and Haitian farmworkers founded in 1993. Its headquarters are in the small town of Immokalee in the remote heartland of South Florida. This David’s goal is to have major purchasers of Florida’s tomatoes— over half of our nation’s fresh tomato crop—agree to pay one cent more per pound and sign a Code of Conduct guaranteeing certain rights and working conditions to tomato farmworkers.</p>
By Fr. Fred Kammer, S.J.