October 14, 2010
CIW PHOTO GALLERY
Press Conference to Announce
Agreement with Pacific Tomato Growers
October 13, 2010
Click on the first thumbnail below to see the full-size image, then click through the rest of the images with your right arrow key:
October 13, 2010
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Lucas Benitez, left, of the CIW shakes hands with Jon Esformes of Pacific Tomato Growers following yesterday's press conference at Pacific's Immokalee farm. Rev. Russell Meyer, Executive Director of Florida Council of Churches, looks on. Photo by Andrew West, Ft. Myers News-Press. See a complete photo gallery here. |
Media Round-up: What they're saying about yesterday's big announcement...
"For Jon Esformes, operating partner of Pacific, the announcement was a chance to acknowledge the industry's sins and promise to help transform the future. Quoting the late philosopher and rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Esformes said, 'Few are guilty, but all are responsible'. ... The transgressions that took place are totally unacceptable today and they were totally unacceptable yesterday.'" read more
Yesterday's announcement of the breakthrough agreement between the CIW and Pacific Tomato Growers generated a good deal of coverage. Here below are excerpts from several of the reports, with links to the full articles.
[NB: Pictures from yesterday's announcement -- rightly described as an "emotional Immokalee farm field news conference" by the Ft. Myers News-Press -- will be posted soon. Thanks for your patience!]
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Wall St. Journal ("Major grower to join wage plan," 10/14/10): The Wall St. Journal piece was excellent, but what really stood out was the incredible visual timeline of the history of the Campaign for Fair Food that accompanied the article, copied here below (read the article in its entirety here, where you can also find a full-sized, more legible version of the timeline):
Ft. Myers News-Press ("Tomato grower, harvesters strike historic accord," 10/14/10):
"The deal is just a first step but one that can lead "a model for generations of farmworkers and farmers to come," said the coalition's Lucas Benitez. Author and coalition ally Eric Schlosser, who's testified at Senate hearings on the tomato industry, agreed. Not only should the agreement be replicated throughout Florida, it should be a model for grower/worker partnerships in the 21st century... ... FGCU instructor Tim Durham, who grew up on a New York vegetable farm and lectures on agriculture, believes the announcement heralds a coming industrywide shift. "This is definitely going to reverberate," Durham said. "They've set the bar and now their competitors will have to follow suit or they'll have a scarlet letter." read more |
Video, Fox News (Ft. Myers, "Group wants better conditions for farm workers," 10/14/10):
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The Packer ("Pacific Tomato strikes deal with Coalition of Immokalee Workers," 10/14/10):
"Jon Esformes, Pacific’s operating partner and chief marketing officer, said Pacific’s owners felt it was time to join with the labor group and take a stand against labor abuse cases. He said it is critical that farmworkers have the same protections white collar workers. “Abuses have happened in agriculture,” he said. “We felt it is time the industries start to speak up and speak out loud and publicly about some of these practices that have led to some of these cases over the years and how unacceptable they are. We view this as an opportunity to partner with CIW and raise the awareness of social accountability in agriculture with the public. For us, you wake up and you realize that maybe this is something we could have done yesterday, but I am certainly not going to wait until tomorrow.” read more |
Associated Press (from ABC News, "Fla. Tomato Pickers Announce New Deal with Grower," 10/14/10):
"The agreement announced Wednesday with Pacific Tomato Growers will be put into practice during the current growing season, which has already begun. The company employs about 1,500 workers at the height of the season. It sets up several measures, including:
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Click here to see the joint press release for yesterday's announcement. And here are a few of the statements of support for the agreement:
Statements of Support for Today's Announcement |
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October 11, 2010
Must-see new video launches
CIW Supermarket Campaign!
Ready to take action now? You're in luck:
- First - Click here to send emails to the CEO's of Publix, Ahold (owner of Stop & Shop and Giant), Kroger, and Trader Joe's, demanding they work with the CIW for farm labor justice...
- Then - SAVE THE DATE! - Campaign for Fair Food announces dates for BIG spring action... or should we say actions!
By leveraging its high-volume purchasing power, the U.S. supermarket industry plays an active role in farmworker exploitation.
Publix, Ahold, Kroger and Trader Joe's all pack a very heavy punch when it comes to their market power in the produce industry. And with great power comes great responsibility -- both for the poverty and brutal working conditions from which they have profited for so many years, and for the work of reforming farm labor conditions in their supply chains that lies ahead.
With the four largest fast-food companies (McDonald's, Yum Brands, Burger King, and Subway) and three largest foodservice providers (Compass Group, Aramark, and Sodexo) having signed Fair Food agreements with the CIW, the focus now falls squarely on the $550 billion supermarket industry. And with the exception of Whole Foods, the natural food leader that signed an agreement with the CIW nearly two years ago, it's time now for the major grocery chains to step up and bring their considerable purchasing power to the plate.
If we are to end Florida's decades-old Harvest of Shame, the supermarket giants must do their part. And for that to happen, the Campaign for Fair Food needs YOU to take action.
- Send an email today to the CEO's of Publix, Ahold, Kroger, and Trader Joe's to demand they quit stalling and start working with the CIW to protect human rights in their Florida tomato supply chain.
- Then, take out your calendar and SAVE THE DATE: This coming spring, farmworkers from Immokalee and allies from across the country will be gathering not once, but twice, for farmworker justice!
- Sunday, February 27th, join us in Quincy, Massachusetts, for a protest at Ahold's U.S. headquarters. Then, following a week-long tour back down the east coast...
- Saturday, March 5th, we'll be back in Tampa, Florida, for a second major protest, this time in Publix's backyard.
- Sunday, February 27th, join us in Quincy, Massachusetts, for a protest at Ahold's U.S. headquarters. Then, following a week-long tour back down the east coast...
During the first several years of the Campaign for Fair Food, we focused our efforts on the fast-food industry. Then, last year, the campaign turned to the foodservice industry, and won agreements with the three largest companies in that sector.
This year, let's end this struggle. The supermarket giants are the only thing standing between us and a future of respect for human rights in Florida's fields, between a food industry based on farm labor exploitation and degradation today and a more modern, more humane industry tomorrow.
Let's send them a message -- loud and clear -- that it's time for the supermarket industry to join the growing movement for Fair Food.
September 29, 2010
Announced: Modern-Day Slavery Museum SOUTHEAST Tour!
Tour to visit Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee...
This October 10-28, and again from November 15-23, the Modern-Day Slavery Museum will visit historic landmarks, places of worship and educational institutions throughout the Southeastern United States in a two-part tour designed to raise awareness about the continuing problem of forced labor in Florida's fields and to offer solutions to the human rights crisis faced by farmworkers across the southeast.
With the upcoming semicentennial of Edward R. Murrow's hard-hitting documentary Harvest of Shame as a backdrop, the tour will also raise awareness about the urgent need for the supermarket giants -- companies like Publix, Kroger, and Trader Joe's -- to support the growing Campaign for Fair Food.
View a complete tour itinerary
Read the tour media advisory
And be sure to contact us, at workers@ciw-online.org, if you live along the tour route and would like to get involved in organizing a stop!
September 27, 2010
If only Publix executives could appreciate the simple justice behind Fair Trade coffee captured so eloquently on this label (pictured on right)...
Oh... Wait a second. That's the label from the new Publix-brand Fair Trade coffee.
Never mind...
It just makes sense. "Fair Trade prices help small farmers provide employees with livable wages and work conditions."
That's the fundamental principle behind the growing Fair Trade market. And it's the fundamental principle behind the Campaign for Fair Food, too.
A penny more per pound for Florida tomatoes and a rigorous code of conduct help Florida growers provide the wages and working conditions necessary to build a more modern, more humane Florida tomato industry.
Yet while Publix embraces those wholesome values -- "community, well-being, and a nicer world" -- when it comes to marketing its new Fair Trade coffee (the front label of which is pictured here on the left), the supermarket giant has stubbornly resisted joining the growing movement for Fair Food when it comes to buying Florida tomatoes.
And that's despite the fact that the workers who pick Florida tomatoes don't live thousands of miles away from Publix's Lakeland, Florida, headquarters, but in the very same communities (broadly speaking) as Publix executives.
Publix can't have it both ways. Either its claims to ethical trading principles are a hollow marketing sham, or it is time for Publix to change course on the Campaign for Fair Food and join with the CIW in improving wages and working conditions for Florida's hardest-working, worst-paid, least-protected workers.
A "nicer world" begins at home. Let's hope Publix's support of Fair Trade makes its way to our shores before too much longer. Florida farmworkers could use their support.
September 18, 2010
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Above, Fair Food activists in Washington, DC, talk with shoppers outside of a local Giant supermarket during last Thanksgiving's "Stop and Drop" week of action. |
Human rights group rebukes Ahold for "misleading, stalling tactics" in response to Campaign for Fair Food!
NESRI Director Cathy Albisa says Ahold, “dragging its feet on farmworker justice in its supply chain and attempting to co-opt the good name of (the CIW) to cover its tracks"...
In a scalding statement to the press released this past week, the New York-based National Economic and Social Rights Institute (NESRI), strongly rebuked supermarket giant Ahold (owner of Stop & Shop and Giant) for its refusal to join with the CIW in the growing movement to protect and advance the human rights of workers in the Florida tomato industry.
September 13, 2010
Chipotle's nagging "farmworker problem"...
Kellogg Food Fellow pens hard-hitting opinion piece in the pages of Grist!
Chipotle, the highly successful burrito king, is not like other fast-food companies. Rather than run high-price national ad campaigns on tv, Chipotle, spends a lot of time talking about the social virtues of its food -- or, what it calls, "Food with Integrity" -- in smaller, more targeted settings, like last year's screenings of "Food, Inc."
Given that Chipotle does take certain measures to ensure that its ingredients are relatively more sustainability produced than most fast-food companies, the burrito maker could reasonably lay claim to selling a more ethical product -- if its claims weren't undermined by Chipotle's "ongoing farmworker problem."
September 3, 2010
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The image above is from an excellent video by Honolulu's KITV on the news of yesterday's indictment. You can watch the video by clicking here. |
Recipe for Slavery: Take US farm labor relations, add "guestworker" visas, and voila... Forced labor!
Federal prosecutors in Honolulu unseal indictment charging forced labor ring active in 13 states including -- yet again -- Florida;
Multi-state operation involves guestworker recruiting giant Global Horizons in what prosecutors are calling "the largest human trafficking case in US history"...
Labor Day weekend will be celebrated with a little more meaning this year by 400 farmworkers from around the country whose bosses were charged yesterday by Justice Department officials in Hawaii with "conspiracy to commit human trafficking."
Six people in the US were charged in the case, including four employees of Global Horizons Manpower, Inc, a labor recruiting company that specializes in the overseas recruitment of "guestworkers," foreign workers brought to the US to work in agriculture under an H2A visa for temporary employment in agriculture. Two more people based in Thailand were also indicted in the case. This is not the first time that Global Horizons has been accused of violating farm labor protection laws.
FBI Special Agent Tom Simon described the latest case to KITV News in Hawaii, where the indictment was filed:
"It's a classic bait-and-switch what they were doing. They were telling the Thai workers one thing to lure them here. Then when they got here, their passports were taken away and they were held in forced servitude working in these farms...” read more |
August 27, 2010
Traitor Joe's?... Massive rally outside Trader Joe's location in NYC (right) sends Fair Food message loud and clear to natural food giant!
PLUS: What they're saying about the Sodexo agreement!...
Just Harvest USA is an exciting new organization working within the growing food justice movement with a particular focus on farm labor justice. According to the Just Harvest website, their mission is "to build a more just and sustainable food system with a focus on establishing fair wages, humane working conditions and fundamental rights for farmworkers."
Last week, while we were covering the museum tour and the big Sodexo agreement, Just Harvest reported on the huge protest outside a newly-opened Trader Joe's store in New York's famed Chelsea neighborhood. The protest was organized by another exciting organization that's also new to the food justice movement -- the Community Farmworker Alliance out of New York City -- and from all indications it couldn't have been a more successful action!
August 23, 2010
Sodexo signs Fair Food agreement
with CIW!
Big Three foodservice industry leaders now squarely behind growing movement for Fair Food!...
Saying, "Sodexo is committed to protecting and upholding the rights of all workers, whether employed directly by us or by our business partners and suppliers,” Arlin Wasserman, Sodexo vice president for sustainability and corporate social responsibility, announced today that his company has signed an agreement to work with the CIW to improve wages and working conditions in the fields of its Florida tomato suppliers.
Speaking on behalf of the CIW, Lucas Benitez added:
“We are happy to be working with an industry leader like Sodexo to advance fundamental human rights in Florida’s fields. Social responsibility takes a genuine, sustained engagement with workers and growers on the ground, and a determination to support, with increased business, those growers who agree to comply with the highest standards.” |
See the joint announcement in its entirety here.
This is very big news for the growing Campaign for Fair Food. The foodservice industry -- the companies that, operating largely behind the scenes, manage cafeterias in the nation's grade schools and universities, hospitals and hotels, government agencies and institutions, and more -- is comprised, almost in its entirety, of its three largest members, Compass, Aramark, and Sodexo. With today's announcement, all three of those companies have now signed Fair Food agreements and will be implementing those agreements in their supply chains this coming season. This marks the conclusion of the Student/Farmworker Alliance's remarkably successful "Dine with Dignity" campaign, a campaign that combined energetic campus activism with smart tactics to bring all three industry leaders to the table in just over one year.
With the four largest fast-food companies -- McDonald's, Yum Brands, Burger King, and Subway -- likewise having signed Fair Food agreements with the CIW, the focus now falls squarely on the supermarket industry. And with the exception of Whole Foods, the natural food leader that signed an agreement with the CIW nearly two years ago, it's time now for the major grocery chains to step up and bring their considerable purchasing power to the plate.
Publix, Ahold, Kroger and WalMart -- which alone sells fully 25% of all food sold in US grocery stores -- all pack a very heavy punch when it comes to their market power in the produce industry. And with great power comes great responsibility -- both for the poverty and brutal working conditions from which they have profited for so many years, and for the work of reforming farm labor conditions in their supply chains that lies ahead.
If the goal of a more modern, more humane Florida tomato industry is to be fully realized, the supermarket giants must do their part.
And so, with today's great news from Sodexo, the Campaign for Fair Food completes its first decade -- with the support of the vast majority of the fast-food and foodservice industries now behind us -- and turns to the supermarket industry. This coming season, the battle for the future of Florida's farmworkers will be joined in the produce aisles of your local grocer.
