Dole flowers. I bet that you didn't know they were into flowers too. In fact, they run huge plantations in Colombia and Ecuador. Eighty percent of the cut flowers in American stores come from these two nations and Dole runs many of these near-slave labor plantations.
Dora Acero, a flower worker from Colombia, spoke [through an interpreter] to a church group this evening, telling them of the terrible working conditions that Dole forces upon them in the greenhouses. One toilet for 80 workers, a scant 
amount of drinking water, 18-hour shifts, harmful pesticides and fungicides, low pay, no benefits, and the inability to unionize. In fact, attempts at organizing the workers leads to death.
amount of drinking water, 18-hour shifts, harmful pesticides and fungicides, low pay, no benefits, and the inability to unionize. In fact, attempts at organizing the workers leads to death.Dole, the same company that screwed the workers in Hawaii and the Philippines, is doing it again in South America. USLEAP, a labor education project, has the full story of the brutilization of the mestizo and Indian workers in the flower growing regions of South America.
Letters were written to the CEO of Dole as part of the action plan to try to convince Dole that Americans will not stand for those labor conditions from an Americna Corporation. Further, letters were written to Senator George Voinovich urgin him to oppose the Colombia Free Trade Agreement that the Bush Administration has sent to Congress. This agreement would devistate the local produce workers in that country.
Educate yourself about this tragedy unfolding right now , a story that hides behind the beauty of the product being produced.
