Things are looking up in TN… for Fair Food!

Through house parties and the hard work of thoughtful alliance building, the Fair Food Movement is taking root in the Volunteer State, and making its voice heard…

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 Following a boisterous picket (pictured below) by a broad coalition of more than 50 students, people of faith, labor activists, and consumers last month in Nashville, TN, Fair Food fever began to spread like wildfire around the state, and Tennessee Fair Food took off in earnest. Fueled by local strategy meetings (like the one pictured above in Murfreesboro earlier this month) and careful coalition building, people from Nashville to Knoxville are building the foundations for a powerful statewide Fair Food movement, united by the motto: “Publix, you can’t expand into our state without first expanding your commitment to human rights!”

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Saturday’s actions, which took place in the midst of the massive heat wave gripping much of the middle of the country, caught the attention of the press, too. From The Tennessean (“Activists protest outside Publix over farmworker’s salaries,” 7/20):

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“If you went to Publix on Harding Road on Saturday, you may have seen 15 to 20 sweaty protesters carrying signs saying things like ‘Un Salario Justo’ or chanting ‘No more slaves. Pay a living wage.’

The heat did not deter these activists who called for Publix Super Markets to join the Fair Food Program organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). The coalition wants the grocery chain to help increase farmworkers’ salaries and work with the CIW to hold the suppliers responsible for any human rights violations. Eleven corporations have signed on for the program, including Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe’s and McDonald’s.

Publix has refused to sign on for the past four years. ‘Publix does not get involved in labor disputes with its suppliers. We feel that labor costs should be included in the negotiated price of all products we purchase,’ said Brenda Reid, media and community relations manager for Publix, in a statement.’

‘Publix if you want to move into Tennessee, we need to see you expand your human rights,’ said Zach Blume, volunteer organizer for the Student Farmworker Alliance at Vanderbilt University. The protest was part of six coordinated events at Publix stores across the state Saturday.” read more >>

And from the Nashville Business Journal (“Farm worker supporters to protest Publix in Belle Meade,” 7/19):

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“Nashville Fair Food, a Tennessee group seeking improved working conditions for Florida farmers, plans to protest the Publix in Belle Meade Saturday, as a part of six protests in Tennessee.

The group objects to Publix buying tomatoes from growers in Florida where workers are denied access to the Fair Food Program, which supports fairer pay and better treatment for farm workers in Florida’s tomato fields, according to a statement from the protest group. Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods are among Publix competitors who have committed to the Fair Food Program…

… ‘The fight for fair food and justice in the tomato fields started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and carried on in solidarity by Tennessee communities where Publix is expanding into, is bigger than all of us,’ Rachel Tyree, a senior at Middle Tennessee State University, said in a statement.'”It’s about basic human rights and our responsibility to hold corporations like Publix accountable to those basic standards and rectify injustice.’

Publix spokeswoman Brenda Reid issued a statement that read: ‘Publix is in favor in paying a penny more per pound for tomatoes so long as the penny goes into the price of the product. It is not in our best interest to pay additional labor costs on top of the price of the products. Publix does not get involved in labor disputes with its suppliers. We feel that labor costs should be included in the negotiated price of all products we purchase.'” read more >>

Most importantly, Saturday’s actions are just the beginning. Tennessee’s growing network of Fair Food activists is in it for the long haul. As one Tennessean put it:

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“Almost all of the actions included people who had been on the 200-mile march, and many more who have now met CIW members. Its that relationship-building we’ve been doing that’s going to make this TN energy chug along for a long time. We’re long distance runners!”