Tune in for a very special panel discussion on the proposed Farmworker Fair Labor Practices (FFLP) Bill.

The bill, as described on the NY Senate website, "Enacts the farmworkers fair labor practices act: grants collective bargaining rights to farm laborers; requires employers of farm laborers to allow at least 24 consecutive hours of rest each week; provides for a 10 hour work day for farm laborers; requires overtime rate at one and one-half times normal rate; makes provisions of unemployment insurance law applicable to farm laborers; provides sanitary code shall apply to all farm and food processing labor camps intended to house migrant workers, regardless of the number of occupants; provides for eligibility of farm laborers for workers' compensation benefits; requires employers of farm laborers to provide such farm laborers with claim forms for workers' compensation claims under certain conditions; requires reporting of injuries to employers of farmworkers."

The conversation, moderated by Erin Fairbanks, covers a number of different perspectives and gives context on how this will influence the daily lives of farmers and farm workers.

Panelists:

John Cronan, Jr. is the workplace justice organizer at the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC-NY), a membership-based workers center dedicated to improving working conditions and raising standards in the restaurant industry. He also has over twelve years of experience as a restaurant worker.

Librada Paz is a Council Member of Western New York for the Rural and Migrant Ministry (RMM) and one of the main heads for RMM's Justice for Farmworkers Campaign (JFW). She has been a tireless leader in New York's farmworker human rights movement for 20 years.

Wade McMullen is the Staff Attorney for Partners for Human Rights. In this capacity he will help to develop a new PHR strategic litigation program to bring high impact human rights cases before regional mechanisms and domestic courts. He will work with staff to explore new avenues to enhance the existing work with RFK laureates and human rights defenders worldwide.

Margaret Gray is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Adelphi University.

Adriano Espaillat is a member of the New York State Senate and was a member of the New York State Assembly.

"The right to collective bargaining is a fundamental right." 14:00

--Wade McMullen on HeritageRadioNetwork.org

"It's really hard work, we need to keep the rights of these people. It doesn't matter where you go - farmers will struggle with one thing or another." [17:00]

--Librada Paz on HeritageRadioNetwork.org

"If we're talking about sustainability, we should be talking about sustainable jobs that go along with the delicious meal on the plate." [24:00]

--Maggie Gray on HeritageRadioNetwork.org

"People along the food chain are on public assistance at twice the rate of regular workers." [24:00]

--John Cronan, Jr. on HeritageRadioNetwork.org

This program was sponsored by Tabard Inn.

This week A Taste of the Past has a serious talk about tomatoes with James Beard award recipient Barry Estabrook, author of Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit. The discussion goes into the dark side of American farming in Florida where labor and human rights have been reported in some places to harbor slave-like working conditions. Find out about the Campaign for Fair Food why it is buying locally is more than just a fad or trend. If you care at all about where you're food comes from or curious why it is important to tune into this episode of A Taste of the Past, brought to you by the The NOFA-NY Locavore Challenge.

Katy Keiffer has a deep discussion about slaughterhouses and transparency with the author of "Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight", Timothy Pachirat. How do people deal with the routine slaughter of animals? How can we successfully compute and understand the practice of animal processing on a human and emotional level? Tune in and get an insiders perspective on transparency, morality and the many implications of eating meat. Carnivores and vegetarians alike can learn something new from this show. This program was sponsored by S. Wallace Edwards & Sons.

"I do think there is something significant to the act of taking life...What happens to the way we think about these practices if we begin to collapse some of the distances that shield us from having to confront the realities that they demand?"

"What I really want to get across is that there's absolutely something that happens in the act of taking another life. The current industrialized meat model allows people to eat meat without confronting that something. I believe that is deeply problematic."

--Author Timothy Pachirat on Straight, No Chaser