What people are saying about the 8th Fair Food agreement…
From mainstream media to student press to the food blogs, people are talking about the CIW’s newest Fair Food agreement, this time with foodservice giant Aramark.
Here’s a sense of the coverage thus far:
| “Aramark, FGCU’s exclusive on-campus food provider, has signed an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers that requires the corporation to address the wages and working conditions of local area farmworkers.
By signing this agreement, Aramark will join a growing list of food industry corporations that are a part of the CIW’s “Campaign for Fair Food.” Burger King, Taco Bell and McDonald’s are among the companies that have already signed… … In early March, the CIW and its partners brought their traveling modern-day slavery museum to the university to spread awareness on the issue. University President Wilson Bradshaw and his Vice President of Finance, Joe Shepard, were among the visitors who toured the exhibit. Bradshaw stated he was ‘pleased’ that an agreement had been reached. ‘The agreement announced today is a great example of what can be accomplished through earnest dialogue. I also am proud of our students for engaging in thoughtful, civil discussions about the issues, which is what civic engagement at a university is all about,’ he said.” “Food service provider has promised to join the ‘Campaign for Fair Food'” ******* “… For 26-year-old FGCU political science major Angela Cisneros, the campaign is more than political; it’s personal. The U.S.-born Cisneros, the daughter of former Immokalee farmworkers who are now U.S. citizens, remembers living in a Six Ls labor camp as a child as her family faced ‘a hard life that a regular American wouldn’t be able to fathom.’ Getting the FGCU student senate to pass a resolution calling on Aramark to work with the coalition was hard, she said. ‘This is a fairly conservative area and the first time we went before the student government, we were shot down,’ she said. But the group persisted, and after a series of events, including a two-day campus visit by the coalition’s Florida Modern-Day Slavery Museum, the student senate passed the resolution 21-8. ‘Some people think all college students these days are apathetic and apolitical, but we’re not,’ Cisneros said.” “Food giant Aramark agrees to pay increase for tomato farmworkers” ******* “… For years, UF students have protested for higher wages for the farm workers and, in October, UF’s Student Senate passed a resolution calling for Aramark to provide better pay and treatment… … Richard Blake, a UF student and member of the Gainesville chapter of the alliance, said the group will be targeting Publix next. It is planning a march from Tampa to Lakeland — site of Publix’s headquarters — later this month, Blake said, to pressure the company to sign a similar agreement.” “Wage hike OK’d for UF’s food service field workers” |
Also check out this quick update on the Aramark agreement from the Gourmet/Atlantic/ Politics of the Plate blogger extraordinaire, Barry Estabrook entitled, “Farmworkers Score Major Victory in the Fight for Fair Treatment” (4/1/10)