title:  Bernie Sanders Releases Mini-Documentary On Florida’s Migrant Workers (VIDEO)
text: Today, Senator Bernie Sanders released a new commercial on his efforts to help migrant workers in Florida. The advertisement stars a woman from Mexico named Udelia Chautla who narrates the commerical, which is more of a mini-documentary, about her experiences with low wages and abuse as a laborer in Florida s tomato fields. There were cases of bosses abusing workers,  Chautla said in Spanish.  They would not provide workers with water or restrooms. The bosses would get angry because some of the men wouldn t want to keep working and start hitting them   It affected my children because I didn t have enough to buy food. The entire advertisement will air on Univsion this Thursday in Florida, Chicago, and Arizona, ahead of primaries in those states. // < ![CDATA[ <span class="mceItemHidden" data-mce-bogus="1"><span></span>(function(d, s, id) { &nbsp;var js, <span class="mceItemHidden" data-mce-bogus="1"><span class="hiddenSpellError" pre="" data-mce-bogus="1">fjs</span></span> = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; &nbsp;if (d.getElementById(id)) return; &nbsp;js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; &nbsp;js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v2.3"; &nbsp;<span class="hiddenSpellError" pre="" data-mce-bogus="1">fjs</span>.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', '<span class="hiddenSpellError" pre="" data-mce-bogus="1">facebook-jssdk</span>')); // ]]&gt;How many more Immokalees are there? How many fields or factories are there? We have to ask ourselves  who benefits from Posted by Bernie Sanders on Saturday, March 5, 2016 In 2008, I traveled to the tomato fields of southern Florida and met with migrant workers who were paid starvation wages for backbreaking work and were being ruthlessly exploited,  wrote Bernie Sanders on his campaign website.  After the visit, I invited leaders of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to Washington to testify during a Senate committee hearing regarding abusive labor practices. As a result of the tremendous grassroots effort of this coalition, working conditions in Immokalee improved and workers received a wage increase. In 2011, Bernie Sanders wrote an article on what he saw in Immokalee. In the United States of America, millions of workers are being forced into a race to the bottom. As poverty increases and the middle class shrinks, they are seeing their standard of living decline,  he wrote.  They are working longer hours for lower wages, and are losing their health insurance, pensions and other benefits. What we have in the tomato fields of Florida are workers who are living on the lowest rung of the ladder in that race to the bottom. We must address their plight not only from a moral perspective, but with the understanding that if we look the other way, and accept the terrible exploitation they are suffering, every American worker is in danger as that race to the bottom accelerates. If any state in the country needs a Bernie Sanders, it is the state of Florida. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, 3 of the 10 cities in the country with the greatest income inequality are in Florida; Miami, Tampa Bay, and Gainesville. The wealthiest 5 percent of households in Florida earn 24 percent of all income earned in the state. Nearly a quarter of African-Americans in the state can t legally vote because Florida is the only state in the country other than Iowa to place a lifetime ban from voting on convicted felons. South Florida is already facing many threats caused by climate change, with some scientists predicting rising sea levels will flood Miami by 2100. Meanwhile, Florida s Republican Governor Rick Scott has banned state agencies from even using the phrases  global warming  and  climate change  in their correspondence.Whether its environmental concerns or growing levels of poverty and wealth disparity, many of the problems focused on by Bernie Sanders campaign are exemplified in Florida. This is the same state that brought us Jeb Bush, Senator Marco Rubio, and elected Governor Rick Scott, who even Republicans have  called the state s worst governor ever, so it should be no surprise Scott is being seriously considered for Donald Trump s running mate. Hopefully, the campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton can resonate with voters in the state to swing Florida s electoral votes in the direction of Democrats for the 2016 general election because Florida will once again likely be key in determining who the next president of the United States will be.Featured Image Courtesy of Flickr