Slavery is Freedom?

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued a California-based labor contractor, Global Horizons Inc., and farms in Washington and Hawaii, claiming they discriminated against more than 200 Thai workers in what the authorities called the largest human trafficking case in the nation’s agriculture industry. Global Horizons confiscated the workers’ passports and threatened to deport them if they complained about conditions, commission officials said. Named in the suit were the Captain Cook Coffee Company, Del Monte Fresh Produce, the Kauai Coffee Company, Kelena Farms Inc., MacFarms of Hawaii and the Maui Pineapple Company, all in Hawaii, and Valley Fruit Orchards and Green Acre Farms of Washington. The commission also filed a lawsuit in Mississippi against the marine services company Signal International claiming that 500 Indian workers faced discrimination and substandard living conditions in Mississippi and Texas.

For those who say that slavery is a thing of the past, and no longer exists, I submit this entry as exhibit "A".

For those who say that business need not be regulated at all, I submit this entry as exhibit "A".

For those asking why we still need unions, I submit this entry as exhibit "A".

For those who believe that corporations have the right to be considered as "people" under the law, I submit this entry as exhibit "A". There is nothing human in nature about this. It is about as inhuman as it gets.

For those who believe that ONLY market solutions are the correct ones, I submit this entry as exhibit "A". Here is a market solution. Do you like what you see?

For those who believe there need be no laws which cripple corporate productivity, I submit this entry as exhibit "A".

Finally, for those wondering why, from this day on, I will never again buy a Del Monte product, I submit this entry as exhibit "A".