Yes folks, even in the great United States of America.

Today is the National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness, a day created to help us open our eyes to the more than 12 million around that globe that are trapped in forced labor, everything from sexual slaves to tomato pickers.

I’m not talking tomato pickers in some far away land. I’m talking right here, in Florida.

I just finished a book called “Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy”, by John Bowe, and I can’t help but think it should be required reading in colleges, even high schools. It paints a horrific picture of working conditions for low wage, low skilled workers, many of which are immigrants.

“There are many reasons why immigrant workers in the United States are reluctant to discuss bad, dangerous and abusive situations with their employers, much less with bolillos, or whites. Fear of losing their jobs and being labeled troublemakers is only one. Another reason, of course, is that immigrant workers live in constant fear of being seized by la Migra — the Immigration and Naturalization Services — and deported. Unscrupulous labor contractors use this implicit threat of exposure to keep workers in line. Workers often borrow money to travel north from loan sharks back home at interest rates as high as 25 percent per month. If they are deported, the loan is foreclosed. Frequently homes are put up as collateral, so deportation can be a financial calamity for an entire family.

All of this helps explain why South Florida has rapidly become one of the most exploitive labor environments in the country, earning the designation by a former prosecutor with the Justice Department of “ground zero for modern slavery.”

This is not just some bleeding heart liberal junk from a wacky author folks.

This Human Trafficking Awareness day was created thanks to the passing of a bipartisan resolution in the Senate last year. U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Dianne Feinstein introduced it.

Cornyn says:

“Americans would be shocked to learn that slavery still exists today—not just in remote parts of the world, but hidden away in communities across our nation. So we need to improve protection of victims, punish the criminals and prevent more innocent people from suffering this fate.”

Author Bowe points the finger at all of us a consumers. We need to know where our produce and products are coming from, and if the companies that make those products are treating their employees fairly, or at least humanely.
I know we all want the cheapest goods possible. But corporations have created a situation where they produce food at low, low levels and that translates into substandard jobs for farm workers in particular.
Some interesting stats from Bowe’s book:

From 1929 to 1958, Americans spent between 18 and 25 percent of their disposable income on food. From the mid-1980s to the present, the share has dropped from about 12 percent to about 10 percent. How is it that we’ve become a vastly wealthier country with a far cheaper supply of food, we’ve succeeded in creating a food system that can’t pay farmworkers a living wage?
The food sector (food, groceries, food processing and restaurant businesses together) is worth about a trillion dollars a year in the United States and is second only to pharmaceuticals in profitability. Considering that the American public gives some $47 billion per year in direct subsidies to agricultural producers and billions more in tax breaks, research allocations to universities, marketing initiatives, subsidized water, food aid programs to poor countries, and so on, it is blind idiocy or willful deceit to say the money just isn’t there.”

He makes some good points. I know so many people that spend tons of money on the latest electronic gadgets but bitch about paying too much for a tomato at the store. OK, ok, I’ve done that too.

We need to get our priorities straight. Every individual should get a shot at having a descent life, no?

My uncle died last week and I had to take time off from work to attend the funeral in Houston. Since I technically work for myself, I didn’t have to ask a boss to give me the time off.

I did, however, tell all my editors that I would be out of pocket until today. I’m still expected to get my work done and meet deadlines. If that means working until 2 a.m. tonight that’s what I’m going to do.

It made me long for the days when I was working for a company and I got a day or two in bereavement time. But then I got to thinking…is there that a benefit corporations still provide?

It’s a good idea to read your employee handbook ASAP and find out what you’re entitled to. Let me tell you, you don’t want to find out you can’t take the time off during a tragedy.

If you can share with me what you get at work I’d appreciate it. Do you get a day, a week, or nada for bereavement. I may do a column on this if indeed the benefit is now a perk from days gone by.

I came across an interesting blog post on The HR Capitalist that refers to a football player who got docked pay because he went to his grandmother’s funeral. I know these guys are paid a lot, but what the heck happened to our civilized society?

Tonight, Jay Leno will do his first broadcast since the Hollywood writers’ strike began and his first guest, former Governor Mike Huckabee who is running for president.

Huckabee has gone to great pains to talk about his faith on the stump and in campaign ads. He has also talked quite a bit about being a supporter of the working stiffs in this country.

It seems odd that he would be crossing a picket line in such a public way.

He claims he didn’t realize what he was doing.

This from the New York Times:

“Former Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas today professed his support for the striking television writers union just a few hours before he was expected to board a plane to for a taping of the Jay Leno show where he will face a vocal picket line of striking writers.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Huckabee said he was unaware that he would be crossing picket lines and believed that he the program had reached a special agreement with the union.

Although crossing picket lines might not be unusual for most Republican candidates, Mr. Huckabee has waged an unusual populist campaign on economic issues, stressing his empathy with the anxieties of working people. On Wednesday, he said he identified with the striking television workers as an author himself and believed they deserved a share of the proceeds from the sale of their work.”

So, was this just a mistake? And anyway, is it a bad thing that he’s appearing on the show and snubbing the strikers? What’s your take?

The winter holiday season is so odd for people who can’t take time off from work. OK, I’m talking about myself.

I was able to take only a couple of days off the last few weeks … mainly the days when I couldn’t work even if I wanted to — Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

My husband yelled at me for most of the last two weeks because I was grinding away in my office when I had promised him I would be able to take a few more days off so we could spend time all together. I missed the family visit to Longwood Gardens, a beautiful botanical garden near by, and I missed a lot of hanging around and being lazy time.

It’s difficult when you are a freelancer/contractor. If you don’t work you don’t get paid. So I have to find the discipline to schedule time off. That means time management. How do you freelancers manage your time off?

Should I make a New Year’s resolution to schedule some vacation time?

NO! No resolutions, especially when it comes to our careers.

My column this week on MSNBC deals with how people should never use resolutions to help give some life to career decisions.

If you want a new job get a plan in place, don’t just make emotional leaps and bounds.