The Dark Side Of The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival: Capitalism, Farmworkers Exploited, & True Crime

The dark side and reality of this flower farming industry in agriculture: - ; 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V9kj4Dz178 

PURE EVIL The Dark Side Of The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival (DEEP-DIVE) Capitalism & True Crime, Today I talk about, The UNSOLVED True Crime Case Daily Stories Of This Flower Farming Industry, I talk about, Tulips and daffodils symbolize the arrival of spring, but the fields are bitterly cold when workers’ labors begin. Snow still covers the ground when workers go into the tulip rows to plant bulbs in northwest Washington state, near the Canadian border. Over 80 tulip farm workers in Skagit County, Washington, went on strike Tuesday in a struggle against unsafe working conditions and poverty wages. The strike took place one week before thousands of tourists visit Skagit for the annual Tulip festival. Rosa Martinez held up a sign over her head Wednesday that read “huelga” — Spanish for “strike” — with hands covered in clusters of sores she says were caused by the caustic liquid daffodils release when cut, Martinez said she and other field workers are left to buy their own medical-grade disposable gloves, which can cost $30 a box, and are only provided a small container of ointment the size of a ketchup packet to treat sores upon request. With the help of Familias Unidas por la Justicia, an independent union of Indigenous families, the workers are also demanding an increase in wages, guaranteed eight-hour workdays, improved sick leave and safer application of pesticides. Washington Bulb Co., which farms about 2,000 acres of land, is owned by RoozenGaarde Flowers and Bulbs, the largest tulip-bulb grower in the country and one of the largest employers in the Skagit Valley, The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, The festival draws thousands to view the vast tulip and daffodil fields, and spend money on food and lodging in the nearby towns of La Conner and Mount Vernon! Skagit Valley’s economy, Much like the rest of Washington’s agricultural regions, relies heavily on migrant labor, with workers often forced to toil in harsh weather conditions, 

Santiago Martinez said her mother, who speaks Mixteco — an Indigenous language mainly spoken in the Oaxacan region of Mexico — only received three packs of the ointment during an entire season. Herminio Juarez has worked in agriculture for over 20 years. The poor working conditions farmworkers experience can exist everywhere, whether it’s California or Washington, he said in Mixteco through an interpreter. Juarez had been working seven days a week, as is common, and was fired recently for taking a Sunday off, he said. Adding to the list of complaints, he said supervisors keep track of bathroom breaks and workers spend much of their break time going back and forth to their cars. He said supervisors only provide verbal warnings, but keep track of complaints against employees that may hinder job prospects for the next season. Intimidation from superiors plays a major role in workers’ decision to remain quiet and work through the abuses, Juarez said. Often, a crew of 80 people will have to share a small barrel of water, Alfredo Juarez said, “Sometimes we just see the vision the company paints like the tulip festival because we don’t take time to ask workers what conditions they really work under,” Alfredo Juarez said. Fear of retaliation has kept workers quiet, Many people look at the tulip fields and think about the “beauty of the landscape,” but don’t realize what it takes to produce and harvest what’s there, Franks said. Farmworkers are human beings that have the same needs, dreams, and hopes for the future of their families as everyone else. The beauty of the flowers is not enough; the rent must be paid and children must be fed! The 500 acres of tulips in Skagit Valley represent 75% of the US commercial tulip production, Farmworkers who grow 75% of a national industry do not deserve poor working conditions, low wages, and inadequate restrooms, Farmworkers whose labor brings 500,000 visitors to a community deserve compensation, ETC!!!