Date of publication: April 28, 2009
Source: ILRF
Come hear Amanda Camacho, a Colombian Flower Worker and Union Leader, Speak Out Against the Harsh Working Conditions in the Cut Flower Industry!
Amanda Camacho is the president of ASOPAPAGAYO, a Colombian union of flower workers. She is a single mother of two adolescent boys, she has been working at the same flower plantation for the last 14 years, enduring low pay, long hours and health and safety hazards. Amanda says that she has chosen to stay at the company not only out loyalty, but as a strategy to organize and work towards better conditions for all flower workers. She will discuss the challenges of organizing her plantation and her unions' most recent victories.
According to Amanda, “I chose to take action because I am tired of the humiliations from my employers.”
The tour is co-sponsored by ILRF, SFJwJ, USLEAP, SEIU Local 32BJ Latino Caucus, Trade Unionists in Solidarity with Colombia (TUSC), NYSUT and UFCW Local 348
See Amanda in DC on May 5th or in New York City on May 7th and 8th!
Click here to see her in Chicago with USLEAP [1]
Washington, DC
A Mother's Day Brownbag: Meet Amanda Camacho, a Colombian Cut-flower Worker and Union Leader
Tuesday, May 5th, 12-1:30
AFL-CIO, Cesar Chavez Room
815 16th St NW
Hosted by the Coalition of Labor Union Women, DC Jobs With Justice and the ILRF, this casual brownbag lunch reception will give local women labor leaders a chance to exchange stories of union organizing and working womens’ issues with Amanda.
A Mother’s Day Congressional Briefing: Working Women in Global Export Industries
Wednesday, May 6th, 1:30-3pm
US Congress
2257 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Hosted by co-chairs Rep. Phil Hare and Rep. Jan Schakowsky of the House International Worker Rights Caucus
For nearly a decade, the ILRF and the International Workers Rights Caucus (IWRC) have worked together to raise awareness of worker exploitation in the global economy. The IWRC is made up of Members of Congress concerned about trade and international workers' rights. It has played an important role in promoting the enforcement of labor rights through trade policy and other legislative mechanisms.
In light of Mothers Day, the IWRC, hosted by Representative Phil Hare (D-IL) and Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), will show Congress and the public stories of Amanda Camacho and Mirna Lizeth Chavarria Lopez, two women workers from Colombia and Honduras. Both women labor leaders decided that they would no longer withstand their harsh working conditions so they organized unions to demand dignity and better conditions.
Click here [2] to RSVP.
For more information, please contact Eva Seidelman at eva@ilrf.org [3].
New York, New York
A Flower Workers’ Story: Union Organizing in Colombia
Thursday, May 7th at 6:30 pm
SEIU Local 1199, 310 W 43rd St. 7th Floor
Contact Carlos at 347-546-3170 with questions
Friday, May 8th, 1-3pm
SEIU Local 32BJ Headquarters Auditorium
101 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10013
Amanda will discuss the harsh working conditions and labor injustices on the flower plantation where she's worked for over a decade. Amanda will tell her story of surviving on poverty wages as a single mother. (Colombia exports 80% of its flowers to the US market and has a pending Free Trade Agreement with the US.)
Click here [4] to RSVP.
For more information, please contact Saul Nieves at snieves@seiu32bj.org [5] or Eva Seidelman at eva@ilrf.org [3].
Farm to Grocery Store: Workers in Global Supply Chains Unite
Friday, May 8th, 6:30-8:30pm
Musicians Union Local 802, Clubroom
322 W 48th Street (just west of 8th Avenue)
New York, NY 10036
Co-sponsored by International Labor Right Forum, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500, The Cornell Global Labor Institute, Brandworkers International
This panel will bring together workers or experts that represent different points in food and agricultural supply chains controlled by international food corporations. Panelists will include:
Jose Schiffino, Jose Schiffino, Chairperson, Fair Trade Committee of the NYC chapter of the Labor Council for Latin‐American Advancement (LCLAA)
Amanda Camacho, Colombian flower worker
Angela Lomosi, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Africa
Brandworkers, Wild Edible Campaign Worker
Gourmet Grocery Worker
Click here [6] to RSVP.
For more information, please contact Eva Seidelman at eva@ilrf.org [3] or (202) 347-4100 or Moriah Kinberg moriahkinberg@gmail.com [7].