Jonathan+S’s+2018+OpEd+Article

= The Plight of the Worker =

**Translation: Yes We Can!**

Let it be known that the devil began his reign of terror nearly a century ago. Tempted the corporate ravens to bite the forbidden fruit. Prohibited man from the Garden of Prosperity. Commenced the plight of the worker.

The Robber Barons preached to Immigrants, like gods; controlled the country, like gods; merciless towards Workers’ odious conditions. Dying wages and slaving hours, was the Preacher’s mercy. Rat infested dwellings, was Worker’s kingdom. Death came in two forms: disease or the workplace. Dust or toxic fumes would invade the workers body, swell up the trachea, and the body would succumb to asphyxiation. Replaced by another cadaverous worker. Comparatively bodies fell from the sky, screams of agony amplified noisy New York, the building was burning, the Workers were burning! The preachers seemed to only exert a force of incompetence for safety regulations. No angel could tame these goats from corrupting the American system. Theodore Roosevelt couldn’t. Woodrow Wilson couldn’t. Must the Corporate Snakes triumph under the weak grip from the Titans of Washington?

Thirty years after Temptation, Corporations road Caterpillar Tractors into the Midwest. They transplanted thousands, only to mistreat the land (eventually leading to the Dust Bowl). Farmers were forced into a nomadic lifestyle. Trekked for jobs across sea of hot sand to California in a time of Great Depression. Those that survived the trip would fall into the hands of another Corporation. The demonic Corporations silenced agitators, burned down camps with no remorse, and swindled them into new dying wages. They were promised desirable wages, only to be halved in a week. These migrant souls cringed and crawled as they worked. Families, child to elder, worked to earn enough to eat. As stated, wages weren’t sufficient to live on, children would die in tents with their bellies empties. Children! I repeat, is this the Paradise we were promised. Is it a river that can’t be stopped? Must the demons watch from the stands as the poor workers fight in the ring? The government of California and Franklin D. Roosevelt couldn’t tame the corporate goats.

Thirty years after the Great Depression, the Saviours of the neglected workers took action. Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta lead the United Farm Workers (UFW) crusade against the vices of agricultural corporations. Like Unions in the Gilded Age, the goal was recognition, by the demons, of the //campesinos// (farm workers) plight. Chavez and his disciples fast of 36 days “for purification and strengthening” of the sun bathed migrant workers. Chavez and his disciples boycotted the blood of the corporates, for the plague of pesticides affecting //campesinos//. Chavez and his disciples led a tide of sorrow from Delano to Sacramento seeking legislative reform. California legislation only passed the Agricultural Labor Relations Act which “guaranteed” pitiful justice for workers, the first in the state. However, even Chavez couldn’t tame the serpent that stretched its power through decades. Chavez would rest in the Garden Tomb. He died for the grief of the workers. He died because of the corporate wickedness. Must evil triumph over the goodness of mankind?

Contemporary corporate exploitation of the vulnerable immigrant worker is witnessed; but not revealed to the public. Our leaders are aware, but the devil has the bills ready. California legislatures passed laws forcing corporations to provide: decent shading, plenty of water, and workshops to ensure safety in the workplace. None of them are enforced. //Campesinos// are dying from being exposed to the Californian sun. Corporations claim that they didn’t know. They claim they will eventually. They claim it is IMPOSSIBLE! Tell me how is it impossible to protect the lives of their own workers! This is BS. A century of BS!

Knowing primarily cultivation, immigrant workers will seek these jobs. Again, children to elders are hired to work in 90 degree weather. This can lead to dehydration, strokes, and death. It can be diverted, but corporation and contractors neglect the law. “Gods are above the law” I will believe they will say -- off the record of course. They neglect the law because to them immigrants don’t deserve American protection, Do hard working children and fathers that picked the lettuce, tomato, and onion in your hamburger, not deserve protection? Do hard working mothers with a newly born children that picked the grapes, strawberries, and orange in your fruit salad, not deserve protection? Does the backbone of the California economy not deserve protection?

They are illegal immigrants some may say? Well, it’s illegal business on behalf of the corporations. An immigrant can show up, request a job, and without documentation or identification, they will receive an alias and a forged Work Number. Let’s further examine the scope, the //campesinos// will need to cash in their checks, under a fake name. They will drive to a liquor store and cash in their check, with no identification. The clerk knows and is willing to ignore the law. It seems sympathetic of the clerk? However, if the clerk reports the check, the corporations will be investigated. Corporations don’t want the Feds in their business.

Corporations don’t want immigrants to gain from their business. They pay them below the minimum wage or 80 cents for 80 pounds of harvest. A hard working, efficient //campesino// would earn less than minimum wage, with the former form of payment. That is hardly a living wage to feed the worker, the family, and the children -- the Dreamers; while corporate CEOs dine lavishly with their family. Dreamers beg for a toy, so their parents tell them “no podemos pagarlo” (we can’t pay for it); while corporate, snubish children receive their wishes. Dreamers beg to not work, but they help support the family; while snubish children beg for 10 more minutes of gameplay. Dreamers want to escape the cycle of corporate oppression, but are being dragged back to the gates of hell.

Legislation to control the agro corporations is difficult since millions of immigrants would be impacted and hauled back to their country.

Take this into consideration:

Immigrant workers leave their native lands and their struggles. They arrive hoping for a new beginning; an opportunity to find that feeling we take for granted -- Happiness. They arrive with the mentality of work to the body’s limit. They arrive with aspirations for their children. They remain only to be harassed for their lack of industrial American education. They remain to receive mediocre “living wages”. They remain struggling for their children. They remain hoping to die knowing their children can live in better conditions.

The Day of Judgement will come when Corporations feel the Mighty wrath of Justice.

VIVA LA CAUSA! LONG LIVE OUR CAUSE!