NYT Letter to the Editor: Beyond Foodie–It’s About Values

Mark Bittman’s column raises the important point that those who profess to care about “good” food must consider the structure and failings of our food system. This includes not only nutritional content and sustainability of production, but also the treatment of the people who plant and harvest the food for our tables.

There are about 2.5 million farmworkers across the country, at least half of them undocumented immigrants. These workers labor under difficult and dangerous conditions every day, vulnerable to weather, pesticide poisoning and employer abuse.

In New York State, for example, farmworker rights and protections lag significantly behind workers in every other sector. New York farmworkers do not have the right to bargain collectively, do not have access to overtime pay, and are not guaranteed a day of rest. Bills to address these basic rights have stalled for years in the New York State Senate.

The treatment of these workers is a great injustice in our food system and one that should be a concern of “foodies” everywhere. People who labor to produce our food should be treated with dignity and fairness.

BRUCE GOLDSTEIN
LIBRADA PAZ
Washington, June 26, 2014

The writers are, respectively, president of Farmworker Justice and the Robert F. Kennedy human rights laureate for 2012.

Mark Bittman’s column raises the important point that those who profess to care about “good” food must consider the structure and failings of our food system. This includes not only nutritional content and sustainability of production, but also the treatment of the people who plant and harvest the food for our tables.

There are about 2.5 million farmworkers across the country, at least half of them undocumented immigrants. These workers labor under difficult and dangerous conditions every day, vulnerable to weather, pesticide poisoning and employer abuse.

In New York State, for example, farmworker rights and protections lag significantly behind workers in every other sector. New York farmworkers do not have the right to bargain collectively, do not have access to overtime pay, and are not guaranteed a day of rest. Bills to address these basic rights have stalled for years in the New York State Senate.

The treatment of these workers is a great injustice in our food system and one that should be a concern of “foodies” everywhere. People who labor to produce our food should be treated with dignity and fairness.

BRUCE GOLDSTEIN
LIBRADA PAZ
Washington, June 26, 2014

The writers are, respectively, president of Farmworker Justice and the Robert F. Kennedy human rights laureate for 2012.