Problems

Workers in tomato production often struggle to earn enough income to make a living. In the U.S., the piece rate for tomato pickers has barely risen in twenty years and workers today are effectively paid 30 percent less than they were in 1980. In Spain, Italy and Mexico, tomato workers struggle with much of the same problems such as poor housing conditions and temporary contracts with little benefits. Farm workers report that, during the harvest, they work up to 10 to 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Workers are often subjected to unsafe working conditions. To disinfect the soil before the tomatoes are grown, the agent Methyl bromide is often used. Methyl bromide is a silent killer, colourless and odourless, affecting human health both directly and indirectly. It is lethal by nature and can cause neurological damage, causes harm to the reproductive organs and there are other types of poisoning. Under these circumstances in tomato production, forced labour is not unheard of. Sexual harassment in the male-dominated agricultural workplace continues to remain a serious problem for women farm workers. While investigating harassment of female farmworkers in California, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that hundreds, if not thousands, female farmworkers were forced to have sex with supervisors to get or keep their jobs.