Rabbis For Human Rights - North America

Take Action

"You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow Israelite or a stranger in one of the
communities of your land. You must pay out the wages due on the same day, before the sun sets, for the worker is
needy and urgently depends on it." (Deuteronomy 24:14–15)

 

Photo by CWMc via flickr.com. Creative Commons License.

Take Action

Raise Awareness In Your Own Community

Some initial actions you can take as an individual and in your community to raise awareness about modern slavery and to put a stop to it. Join with local groups who work with victims of trafficking, refuse to buy products made by slaves, and learn to identify victims of human trafficking in your midst.

RHR-NA Supports the Campaign for Fair Food

Learn more about ending slavery in the Florida tomato industry. Who picks your food and what are they paid? The workers who pick our tomatoes are paid by the pound, not by the hour: most do not earn even minimum wage. Reports of human trafficking are rampant. One U.S. attorney has called the Florida tomato fields “ground zero” in the fight against slavery in the United States, and that many of us can assume that if we eat a Florida tomato, it has been picked by slave labor. Morever, the conditions in the fields can be incredibly unsafe: workers handle harsh pesticides, and can be subject to sexual assault by their bosses.

But these workers are fighting hard to change this reality. Through the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, they have persuaded some major fast food restaurants and most of the major Florida produce growers to pay a penny more a pound, to institute of a code of conduct towards the workers, and to stop human trafficking in the tomato fields. However, the grocery industry (other than Whole Foods) has stubbornly refused to pay more for tomatoes and stamp out slavery. RHR-NA is joining together in partnership with the CIW to raise awareness in the Jewish community about their Campaign for Fair Food and inspire Jews to take action! The Campaign is currently focused on Publix, Stop and Shop's parent company Royal Ahold, and Kroger's.  Here are some actions you can take, both online and at your local grocery store. We demand slavery-free tomatoes!

 

Support Critical Anti-Trafficking Legislation

Millions of people live today as slaves, trapped in endless cycles of debt bondage, violence, and exploitation. Slavery exists in our own communities, in the supply chains of the products we buy every day, and around the world. Every year, Jews sit around the Seder table and give thanks that we are no longer slaves. Our memory of slavery and liberation also compels us to work to ensure that no one else in the world experiences the degradation of slavery. Faced with a problem this vast, we may feel helpless, but we're not. Today, you can take action to ensure that the American government continues to use its resources to protect victims of slavery, prosecute traffickers, and prevent the root causes of slavery. The 2011 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act is currently being debated in both the House and Senate. This bi-partisan bill is the core of American anti-trafficking legislation. We need you to contact your elected representatives today to ask them to co-sponsor this legislation and support its reauthorizations. 

Click here to contact your Member of Congress.