Big, big news out of the Fair Food Nation…

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Youth, faith, food movement allies come together under a single flag, form the new Alliance for Fair Food!

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Student/Farmworker Alliance, Interfaith Action and Just Harvest USA unite in one vibrant, diverse ally network ready for the next phase in the fight for Fair Food

The Alliance for Fair Food is back and better than ever!  But before we tell you about this exciting new development in the Fair Food movement, let’s first take a quick look back at its roots.

“There is today a human rights crisis in the fields…”

For longtime members of the Fair Food Nation, the Alliance for Fair Food (AFF) is a distant memory from the early, hopeful days of the movement.  Not long after the Taco Bell victory, in the midst of the McDonald’s campaign that followed, a growing list of organizations, individuals, and institutions began to coalesce around their support for the Campaign for Fair Food.  At that time, workers in Immokalee and their allies realized that something new and important was happening, that what had started as a one-off boycott was becoming a movement.  

That movement was founded on certain fundamental rights — the right to work free of sexual harassment and modern slavery, the right to fair wages, the right complain without fear of retaliation, the right to have a voice in the decisions that shape your workplace and your life — and the first iteration of the AFF was formed as a body through which like-minded organizations could formally endorse those rights for farmworkers and the Campaign for Fair Food.  

Beginning with the words, “There is, today, a human rights crisis in Florida’s fields…,” the declaration announcing the formation of the original AFF on March 8, 2006 was unequivocal:

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… For far too long, most people in our society have either not known the truth about exploitation in the fields or have chosen to tolerate these abuses as an acceptable cost of doing business.  But there is another way: the creation of a food supply chain that is truly fair and ensures farmworkers’ fundamental human rights. 

Therefore, as consumers from national and international religious, human rights, student, and labor organizations we join together in this Alliance for Fair Food to…  advance real rights for farmworkers, in partnership with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, throughout the Florida tomato industry.  Through the sustained, creative, non-violent action of consumers, we will demand socially responsible purchasing throughout the retail food industry.  And through a genuine partnership among growers, workers, retailers and consumers, we will eliminate the market conditions that have deprived and dehumanized farmworkers for years.

Individuals from Congressman John Lewis to Eric Schlosser, Kerry Kennedy, and Howard Zinn, organizations from Amnesty International to United Students Against Sweatshops and the Center for Constitutional Rights, and institutions from the Presbyterian Church USA to Pax Cristi, all signed on to that urgent call for a more just food system back in 2006.  

That was then…

Today, thanks in large part to the efforts of countless allies across the country, the hope for long-overdue farm labor justice has become a reality in Florida’s tomato fields.  The human rights crisis is no longer, and a new day has come where slavery and sexual assault in those fields are a thing of the past and the first real wage increase in over 30 years is now an irreversible reality.  Of course, problems still arise in the fields as they do in any workplace, problems ranging from wage theft to health and safety issues, but when they do there is a system in place today to quickly and effectively address them and fix their systemic causes.  The Fair Food Program is entering its fourth season in full effect across the Florida tomato season and the changes it has brought about are unprecedented in their depth and breadth. 

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And with that new day, a new AFF is forming to take on the challenges that face the movement as the Fair Food Program prepares to expand to new states and new crops, and as the model of worker-driven human rights launched by the Fair Food Program itself expands to new industries where low-wage workers fight exploitation at the base of corporate supply chains.

This is now… 

Here, in their own words, the founding partners of the new Alliance for Fair Food describe their mission:

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UNITING FOR FARMWORKER JUSTICE

The Campaign for Fair Food has won binding agreements with thirteen multi-billion dollar food retailers to date, including Taco Bell, McDonald’s and Walmart.  Tens of thousands of farmworkers are seeing never-before-seen rights in the fields, such as shade and water; the right to file a complaint without fear of retaliation; the right to work free of sexual harassment and modern slavery; and the first real wage increase in 30 years.

Today, as the Fair Food Program grows and the Campaign for Fair Food sees a reach far greater than ever before — through the “Food Chains” film, the Fair Food Program label, and the ever-strengthening on-the-ground organizing of the CIW’s ally network, the three ally organizations — Interfaith Action, Student/Farmworker Alliance and Just HarvestUSA are coming together under the umbrella of the Alliance for Fair Food.

We aim to build upon the network’s greatest strengths as multi-cultural, multi-generational and cross-constituency, while creating space for new allies who have typically fallen outside our structure.  

Following the tremendous leadership of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the ally network’s tenacity, creativity, spirit and commitment have been integral to the unprecedented victories for workers that are changing the landscape of human rights in U.S. agriculture. Drawing from our collective strengths and successes, our mission remains to stand with farmworkers as they continue their struggle for justice and dignity.  Until every person who labors in the fields enjoys the right to do so with fair wages, justice and dignity, we will be here… read more

The new AFF website is a thing of beauty, with all the latest news from the organizing front and clear and easy ways to connect with the Fair Food movement from communities across the country.  The new site should serve as an indispensable hub for informing and mobilizing Fair Food activists for years to come.

So head on over to the new site and check out the new generation of the Alliance for Fair Food!  Take a look around, let them know what you think, and take part in this exciting next phase in the movement as we marshall our forces in preparation to expand the groundbreaking gains we’ve won — together — in Florida’s fields.