Immokalee farmworkers have Congress’ attention
By KATY BISHOP (Contact)
Originally published 1:56 p.m., Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Updated 9:23 p.m., Tuesday, April 15, 2008



Daily News
Lucas Benitez



GREG KAHN / Daily News

Carlos Martinez, a tomato picker from Immokalee, passes by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers while writing notes on his hand on Tuesday, April 15, 2008. On Tuesday farmworker representatives and farm managers were in Washington D.C. being questioned by U.S. senators about their practices and wages. Farmworkers have been trying to persuade fast food companies to pay a penny more per pound of tomatoes picked.


The stories don’t add up.

Federal lawmakers cast a spotlight on Immokalee farmworkers on Tuesday, and after hearing conflicting testimony, they called for a federal wage audit and more government oversight of working conditions.

At the hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S. Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio and Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, D-Ill., expressed concern about farmworkers’ living and working conditions, in Immokalee and across the country.

“In America today we are seeing a race to the bottom, the middle class is collapsing, poverty is increasing,â€