The folk over at Portside have circulated an article from the San Jose Mercury News. It decries the treatment of workers at local neighbourhood stores, and is another reminder that 'local' need not be synonymous with 'ethical'....

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Groups decry labor abuses at 'mercado' markets

Campaign will inform workers of their rights

By Jessie Mangaliman - Mercury News

Scores of California workers employed in small neighborhood stores in Latino and Asian communities are enduring abuse in the workplace - unpaid wages, long hours without breaks, verbal and sexual abuse - union and civil rights officials said this week. ... read more »

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Posted on 23 April, 2007 - 04:47

[Photo credit:tjgiordano]

I have an appalling memory. Birthdays, anniversaries, appointments, I've forgotten them all. The only poem I've ever been able to commit to memory (the only one that's fit to print, at any rate) is this one by William Blake. It's beautiful, haunting, a little too chilling for a candlelit dinner, but entirely appropriate for today's February 14th posting:

The Sick Rose

O Rose, thou art sick!
The Invisible worm,
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed
Of Crimson joy;
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

This Valentines, stay off the roses.

Not only are they pumped full of some of the nastiest agricultural chemicals, the people who grow and pick them likely have a fairly raw deal. ... read more »

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Posted on 14 February, 2007 - 05:15