Students Show Power to Create Change

On October 30, Barry Estabrook, the author of the book "Tomatoland," spoke here at UCBA on the subject of industrial agriculture. The book and the lecture chronicle the deplorable working conditions of the tomato field workers in Florida.
Unfortunately, most of what the workers endure is perfectly legal, since agriculture workers are exempted from most of the laws that protect other industries. In order to change the working conditions that plague their industry, the workers turned to a grass roots approach to pressure the restaurants and grocers to pay one penny per pound more for the tomatoes to be passed on to the field workers.
No one paid much attention to a handful of migrant field workers until three college students picked up the cause and began contacting student organizations throughout the country. From this small beginning, Yum Brands was forced to remove their Taco Bell restaurants from twenty-two campuses around the country.
Although this was one piece in the puzzle that led to improved working conditions, it was the piece that made people listen. Students who register to vote and take an interest in their communities can mobilize to help bring social justice to a country in dire need.
Students contributed to the end of the Vietnam War, pushed for the civil rights laws, and fought for equal rights for women without the technology available today. Enthusiasm and technology applied to a just cause could see real change.