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May 21, 2013

National media, Fair Food networks, amplify pressure on Wendy's ahead of Thursday's shareholders' meeting!

Democracy Now (above), Huffington Post, run extensive coverage of growing Wendy's campaign; solidarity actions organized from coast to coast...

With the Wendy's shareholders' meeting in New York just a day away -- outside of which, both Kerry Kennedy of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights and Larry Cox, former Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, will be joining farmworkers from Immokalee and New York City Fair Food activists for a press conference calling on Wendy's to stop stalling and join the Fair Food Program -- the campaign to bring the final fast-food holdout to the table is gaining real momentum in the national press.

The media round-up begins with a strong op-ed by best-selling author and sustainable food advocate, Anna Lappé, published in the pages of the Huffington Post in the lead up to this past weekend's huge March on Wendy's in New York City. Here's an excerpt:

Just a few days after the big action in New York, Democracy Now! invited CIW's Gerardo Reyes-Chavez for an in-depth interview with Amy Goodman, highlighting not only the Wendy's campaign but also the remarkable success of the CIW's Fair Food Program. You can check out that interview in its entirety in the video embed ed at the top of this post.

But that is not all! The Huffington Post's Latino Voices page also headed out to cover the March on Wendy's, including a thorough report from all the action and a taste of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra as well -- don't miss it!

We give the last word in today's media roundup to the CIW's Oscar Otzoy (pictured below), from an interview with Ohio's examiner.com. Oscar speaks for tens of thousands farmworkers in Florida -- and hundreds of thousands of Fair Food activists around the country -- when he calls on Wendy's to do its part in building a new world in Florida's fields, a world where farmworkers' fundamental human rights are respected. And when protesters are gathering outside Wendy's shareholders' meeting in New York on Thursday, the fine folks at Ohio Fair Food will be standing outside Wendy's corporate headquarters in Dublin, OH, in solidarity with Oscar and all his fellow CIW members:

Meanwhile, back in the streets...

As awareness of the nascent Wendy's campaign spreads, so does action in the streets of cities large and small, from coast to coast. Delegations and protests at local Wendy's restaurants popped up across the map of the vast Fair Food Nation over the past week, from the Bay Area of northern California to the heartland.

Cincinnati Fair Food members rally outside a local Wendy's in the lead up to next week's shareholder meeting (featuring a re-appearance of iconic red and yellow flags from the Campaign's 200-mile march, on the left!)

Bay Area Fair Food came together for a raucous Wendy's action, as brassy as their New York counterparts! Committee members were joined by the Brass Liberation Orchestra (below, left) as well as local food service workers from UNITE HERE local 2850. Spirits fueled by the uplifting music, protesters held a lively picket outside of Wendy's before heading inside to deliver their letter.

Cincinnati Fair Food (above) also took to the streets, delivering their own manager letter and staging a colorful picket outside a local Wendy's.

Cincinnati Fair Food is planning another action at the headquarters in Dublin, OH, on Thursday, to take place simultaneously with the shareholder meeting action in New York.

At these and many of the other actions across the country, including New York's big march, an interesting phenomenon has begun to emerge, which is something of a first in the 13-yr history of the Campaign for Fair Food: At protest after protest, managers are refusing to speak to the manager delegations and refusing to accept letters expressing the delegation members' concerns about Wendy's supply chain practices (the photo below is from the manager delegation in Cincinnati).

And, thanks to a manager at one of New York's dozens of Wendy's restaurants, we happen to know that the mandate to refuse the manager letter came directly from the corporate level in the form of a memo to all Wendy's restaurants. In effect, the company is refusing to even listen to its consumers about the unprecedented progress in human rights taking place in Florida's fields and what Wendy's can do to help to advance that progress (and, in the process, keeping its own employees in the dark about the conditions in its supply chain, too).

For a company that exists on the razor's edge of competition with an abundance of easily substituted alternatives -- many of them companies that have already committed to the highest standards for social responsibility in their Florida tomato supply chains -- that is an impressive, and risky, commitment to ignorance. It will be interesting to see how executives respond when presented with over 90,000 signatures by farmworkers and their allies at Thursday's shareholders' meeting collected through the sumofus.org online petition calling on Wendy's to join the Fair Food Program.

Unfortunately for Wendy's, the act of refusing a manager letter does not miraculously make it vanish -- nor does it make disappear the growing number of people at the doorstep there to deliver it. If anything, it only redoubles their resolve to be heard.

But most importantly, digging your head deeply into the sand does not make the growing call for real corporate social responsibility -- from Immokalee to Bangladesh -- go away. It may quiet the sound in your own ears, but the situation on the ground doesn't change. In this age of information, the harsh realities of exploitation and abuse that stayed safely tucked away year after year in the dark corners of a company like Wendy's supply chain can, and will, be brought to your company doorstep until you meet the challenge and take real action to address those conditions.

May 19, 2013

Hair raising!

CIW members, 300 of their closest friends, formally introduce themselves to Wendy's with massive march, protest in New York City...

Next up: Thursday's shareholder meeting

Well, if it wasn't clear already, it certainly should be now: The Campaign for Fair Food has arrived at Wendy's doorstep, and it's not leaving until the final fast-food holdout joins the Fair Food Program and does its part to protect and advance real human rights in the fields!

300 Fair Food activists joined a delegation of workers from Immokalee for a massive -- and colorful -- action yesterday in Manhattan, beginning with a popular theater presentation in the open air of New York's storied Union Square park and ending with a march through city streets and protests at two separate Wendy's locations. Indeed, all the elements of a classic Campaign for Fair Food protest were in play yesterday:

• Spirited music? Check, with tunes from both New York's own Rude Mechanical Orchestra (pictured below) and the CIW's DC-based Son Jarocho players.
  
  
• Colorful signs? Check, with some of the incredible art from the March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food making its way north for the Wendy's action.
  
  
• Multi-generational, diverse crowd? Check.

Yep, New York was treated to a full-on, CIW-style protest, and Wendy's was formally put on notice: you can't hide from food justice!

Next up: Wendy's shareholder meeting this Thursday, right back here in Manhattan, where CIW representatives plan to deliver 90,000 signatures to Wendy's Board of Directors calling on Wendy's CEO Emil Brolick to "join the Fair Food Program and protect farmworkers’ rights"!

Wait, how many signatures is that again, you say?... You read it right, 90,000. In less than one week. And if you haven't added your name to the petition yet, it's not too late. You can do so by clicking here now.

For a full photo report from yesterday's big action, click here. You don't want to miss this one. And be sure to check back soon for more on Thursday's shareholder action.

May 16, 2013

"A powerful voice for dignified wages and working conditions in the fields of Florida..."

CIW staff Lupe Gonzalo honored as mother, community leader!

Mother's Day is typically celebrated with flowers, cards, and calls home to mom. But the folks at the National Council of Church's Poverty Initiative have their own way of celebrating mothers, with a special focus on "lifting up, celebrating, and praying for mothers who are fighting poverty and alleviating suffering in their communities."

Much to our delight (though not our surprise!), one of the mothers and leaders they highlighted was CIW staff member, Lupe Gonzalo. You may remember Lupe from the moving videos shot on International Women's Day during the March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food. Here's one of those videos, to give you a sense of just why Lupe caught the NCC's eye this Mother's Day:

The NCC's post explaining their selection was particularly eloquent. Here's an excerpt:

We thank our friends at the NCC Poverty Initiative for their recognition of the incredible leadership of mothers in Immokalee, and say again -- Happy Mother's Day, Lupe!

A mother's work is never done...

This very weekend, with the Mother's Day letter penned last week in hand, Lupe and other members of the CIW Women's Group are headed to Wendy's to continue the fight for Fair Food.

The Women's Group action comes as part of a national mobilization this weekend. The heart of the action will take place Saturday in the Big Apple, with the huge March on Wendy's in New York. The march will feature a theater piece, including a larger-than-life, red-headed puppet and some classic CIW theater action with workers from Immokalee making the trek north to join Fair Food allies for the production. If you're in the Northeast, it's not a day you want to miss -- make sure to check out the event page for details!

The Wendy's campaign is so hot right now, it even got a special shoutout from the widely-read food writer and opinion columnist at the New York Times, Mark Bittman, who helped spread the word by tweeting the Wendy's SumOfUs.org's e-action!

Don't miss all the action this weekend, and check back next week for photos and first-hand reports.

May 14, 2013

Under pressure!

In home stretch before shareholder actions, Wendy's targeted in
nationwide e-action...

Hot on the heels of the Publix e-action launched last week by our new friends at Walk Free, longtime Campaign for Fair Food allies sumofus.org have kicked off an e-action of their own, and this one is aimed right at the final fast-food holdout, Wendy's.

The petition is timed to coincide with the big actions coming up this week and next in New York City and across the country. Here's an excerpt from sumofus.org's announcement accompanying the e-action:

You can -- and should -- sign the petition yourself by clicking here. Once you have signed it, be sure to share it with all your friends!

And speaking of the big actions this week and next... Check out this great video put together by the fine people at the Community Farmworker Alliance in NYC ahead of the protests!

 

Now that you're ready to hit the streets, here below is a just a sample of the cities where actions will be taking place. If you have a protest planned and don't see your city's name here, be sure to send us an email and let us know at workers (at) ciw-online.org!

Keep the pressure on, it's time to level the playing field in the fast-food industry!

May 13, 2013

Fair Food movement gains key new ally in campaign to demand respect for human rights in Publix supply chain!


International anti-slavery champion Walk Free to mobilize network of 2 million activists, call on Publix to "join the Fair Food Program and ensure our tomatoes meet the highest human rights standards in the food industry."

The Fair Food Program has been winning the attention of more and more advocates for fundamental human rights these days, and this past week another international human rights organization has stepped into the ring to help press Publix to do the right thing and join the Fair Food Program.

Walk Free, the "movement of people everywhere, fighting to end one of the world's greatest evils: modern slavery," has pledged to mobilize its network of 2 million human rights activists to join the fight and help expand the program the White House called, "one of the most successful and innovative programs" in the world today for the prevention of modern-day slavery, the CIW's Fair Food Program.

Toward that end, Walk Free has launched an e-petition to Publix CEO William Crenshaw. The petition begins by introducing the Fair Food Program as "a new solution" to Florida's history of farm labor abuse that "has proven successful." Then it moves on to Publix:

You can sign the petition today by clicking here. We look forward to working with Walk Free and its growing army of activists in the weeks and months ahead as this important new front in the Campaign for Fair Food continues to develop.

Quick media update...

There has been a lot happening in the Fair Food world of late, and so some things, like some really wonderful articles from the past few weeks, get lost in the shuffle.

The first piece we want to be sure to bring to your attention is an op/ed by the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Orlando, Bishop John Noonan, entitled "Program Transforms Food Industry" (4/29/13). Published in Publix's hometown newspaper, the Lakeland Ledger, the article has caused quite a ripple in the community that Publix executives call home. It too begins by recounting the widely-acclaimed success of the Fair Food Program:

And then goes on to question Publix's resistance to the Program, concluding with an interesting invitation:

As far as we know, that invitation has yet to be answered.

A second piece, which was published just last week in the popular internet news reader truthout.org, is a great read, too, that ends on a particularly poetic quotation by the CIW's Gerardo Reyes ("A Penny a Pound, Plus Power: The Coalition of Immokalee Workers Changes History," truthout.org, 5/12/13):

Definitely check out the rest of the article when you get a chance.

That's all for now. Come back soon for much more from the fast-moving Campaign for Fair Food!

May 9, 2013

With the Wendy's shareholders' meeting in NYC just around the corner, the pressure is rising on the final fast-food holdout...

Head of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), farmworker mothers, pen letters to Wendy's calling on the hamburger giant to do the right thing ahead of next week's national actions

Before joining Wendy's in September of 2011 as President and CEO, Emil Brolick served for several years as CEO of Taco Bell. It was during his tenure with Taco Bell, in 2005, that he became the first food industry executive to sign a Fair Food agreement with the CIW.

At that time, Brolick had some very encouraging words for the the nascent partnership in the joint press release announcing the agreement:

He concluded his remarks at the time by underscoring the need for others to follow Taco Bell's lead and join in partnership with the CIW, saying, "We hope others in the restaurant industry and supermarket retail trade will follow our leadership.”

On the heels of that announcement, Clifton Kirkpatrick, the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at the time, also issued a statement expressing his hope that the groundbreaking agreement would spread throughout the fast-food industry:

As Rev. Kirkpatrick's statement indicates, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) played an important public role in the campaign to bring about the first-ever Fair Food agreement, and it has played an important role ever since, as the Fair Food movement has continued to spread throughout the fast-food industry... with one key exception: Wendy's, the final fast-food holdout, today under the direction of Emil Brolick.

And in an echo from Mr. Brolick's not-so-distant past, the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) -- a post occupied today by the Rev. Gradye Parsons (below), who replaced Rev. Kirkpatrick in 2008 -- sent a letter this week to Wendy's CEO urging him to "sit down with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers without delay and discuss how Wendy’s can become a part of the Fair Food Program." Here's an excerpt:

Will history repeat itself? Will the Emil Brolick of 2013 make good on the words of Emil Brolick, circa 2005?

Here are a few points to consider as Wendy's ponders the question before it today:

• The Campaign for Fair Food has only grown stronger since the last time Emil Brolick put his leadership on the line and signed the first-ever Fair Food agreement.
  
  
• Since that time, the Fair Food Program has sprung to life, as well, its remarkable success catching the attention of everyone from the White House to the United Nations.
  
  
• With all its major competitors squarely on board, Wendy's can't complain about being put at a competitive disadvantage by paying the penny-per-pound premium. If anything, Wendy's is actually deriving a competitive advantage today by refusing to pay the premium and continuing to profit from farmworker poverty while all other major fast-food companies are paying their share to end decades of farm labor degradation.

The logic for Wendy's to join is indisputable. The decision, once again, is in Emil Brolick's hands. How much longer will Wendy's hold out and prolong the inevitable, while public pressure on the hamburger giant continues to mount?

Mothers' Day is a day of action in Immokalee...

We shall see, but if the members of the CIW's Women's Group have anything to say about it, the answer will be a resounding: Not long!

On April 27th, women in Immokalee gathered for a beautiful, joint celebration of Mother's Day (a bit early) and Children's Day (closer to the date, but still a bit early, too) that boasted both a homemade piñata and -- more importantly -- a powerful message from the remarkable mothers of Immokalee. While the children were happily occupied making more traditional Mother's Day letters for their moms, the women put pen to paper themselves to draft their own letters... to Wendy's. Here below are a few of the many letters written that day that will be delivered to Wendy's during the shareholder meeting in New York on the 23rd:

As we promised back in April, plans for a major action in New York have been in the works for weeks. On May 18th, the March on Wendy's will hit the streets of New York City, while several other major actions will be taking place as well between the Big Apple and the heart of Wendy's operations in Ohio. Following next week's action, Fair Food activists will gather in NYC again for the big shareholder action on May 23rd!

In just a few short weeks, buses will be pulling out of Washington, DC, Boston, Providence and Philadelphia to join allies in New York. Check out the flyer and more info on the action (not to mention the delicious food and gathering with the CIW that will come after!) if you think you might be able to join the Fair Food Nation in action starting next week.

May 7, 2013

The three founding myths of corporate-led social responsibility (continued...)

Myth #3: Corporations can be trusted to unilaterally investigate, and to determine any appropriate corrective action, when their suppliers violate their workers' human rights.

In the third and final installment of our series, "The Three Founding Myths of Corporate-Led Social Responsibility," we turn to the fundamental question: Who can be trusted to protect workers' rights in corporate supply chains?

Can the corporations themselves be expected to police their suppliers' operations and determine the appropriate actions in the event violations are found?

Or, to be effective, and therefore credible, must workers themselves have a voice in the protection of their own rights, in the investigation and resolution of complaints, in a partnership for responsibility with the corporations that benefit from their labor?

You will probably not be surprised to learn that Ahold and the CIW don't see eye to eye on the answer.

---

We got this...

Ahold's perspective on the question is clear, and is captured in this single sentence from its Statement on the Campaign for Fair Food:

Efficiently packed into those sixteen words are three huge, paradigm-defining assumptions:

1. Ahold should -- and can -- investigate abuses in its supply chain
   
   
2. Ahold should define what constitutes appropriate action in response to a finding of abuse
   
   
3. Ahold should decide when action is warranted

One small sentence for the public relations department. One giant leap -- backward -- from the real protection of human rights for workers who pick the produce sold in Ahold's thousands of supermarkets across the globe.

No, you don't...

In keeping with Ahold's efficiency, we will address each of those points, in order, with quick dispatch:

1. The Fair Food Standards Council has fielded over 250 complaints from workers on participating farms in the past two seasons alone. The FFSC has a staff of 10 to manage the 24-hour complaint line, investigate complaints, determine the facts, and resolve the complaints. There is no way on God's green earth Ahold could do all that for tomato workers in Florida, and so when the question is "can" Ahold investigate abuses in its supply chain, the answer is a resounding No.

And when the question is "should" Ahold play that role, the answer is the same, only more emphatic. Ahold's many deeply-held, competing interests -- from public relations damage control to supply chain stability -- make it effectively impossible for Ahold to conduct the impartial, transparent, and rigorous investigation into potential human rights violations that the FFSC does every day.

When a proven, established program like the Fair Food Program exists -- one lauded by human rights experts for its "independent and robust enforcement mechanism" -- the answer for Ahold is clear: You can't do this. You shouldn't even try. Join the Fair Food Program.

2. See above re "competing interests."

3. See above.

Those are the mechanical, utilitarian arguments against Ahold's effort to arrogate to itself the role of policing its own supply chain. In short, it won't work. It didn't work in the past, when Ahold's opportunity to police its supply chain solo coincided with decades of documented abuse, and it won't work now.

The only parties that benefit from such an approach are Ahold and the growers who would cling to the old way of doing business in the fields. But far more people will suffer as a result. Workers will continue to suffer abuse as violations will go uninvestigated and bad actors will pay no consequence for their actions. Growers seeking to do the right thing will not be rewarded for their investments in improving working conditions. And consumers will continue to be sold food tainted with the abuses -- from sexual harassment to slavery -- of the past.

But there is one more argument, founded on the concept of basic human dignity.

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: When it comes to human rights, the process of investigating abuses, of determining the "appropriate" thing to do, of deciding what is "warranted" to resolve a complaint, must include the humans whose rights are in question. And we'll take it one step further. It must not only include the workers whose rights are in question, it must, when possible, be led by those workers.

To paraphrase an argument from an earlier moment in this campaign: Nothing can be done for workers that is done without workers, because no matter how ethical and pure of intention Ahold believes itself to be, sooner or later, company executives have got to to wrap their minds around this simple truth: Farmworkers in Immokalee are building a new world -- in partnership with growers and willing retail food corporations -- in the fields of Florida, where farmworkers' rights are respected and workers have a real voice in the industry. The very foundation of that new world is the recognition of farmworkers as a vital, and equal, part of the industry as a whole, every bit as essential to Ahold's success as are Ahold executives and its preferred growers.

Because without farmworkers, there is no food, with or without integrity.

**************

With that we conclude our three-part series in response to Ahold's statement on the Campaign for Fair Food. We will close the series with the questions Lucas Benitez of the CIW traveled to Amsterdam last month to ask of Ahold's executives. He was cut off before he could finish, so we invite Ahold to take this opportunity to see his hear his statement out and to respond -- we promise we will publish your response..

We await Ahold's response.

May 6, 2013

U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights "impressed" with Fair Food Program, says "merits of [FFP] are clear" for workers, business!

UN: Fair Food Program "innovatively addresses core worker concerns," has "independent and robust enforcement mechanism," addresses "governance gaps relating to labour issues"

At a press conference in Washington, DC, last week, the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights issued its formal end-of-visit statement publicizing the Group's initial findings from its 10-day mission to the United States. The goal of the mission -- which took the delegation to communities across the country, from the Navajo Nation in Arizona to coal towns in West Virginia to the farmworker community in Immokalee -- was "to explore practices, challenges and lessons relating to efforts on implementing the UN Guiding Principles (“GPs”) on business and human rights."

During the delegation's two-day visit to Immokalee, UN representatives met with the full spectrum of Fair Food Program participants -- workers, growers and buyers alike -- as well as with the staff of the FFP's independent monitoring organization, the Fair Food Standards Council. Rounding out its investigation, the delegation spoke to at least one buyer that is not part of the program in an effort to view the FFP from all relevant angles.

The Working Group's assessment of the implementation of the Guiding Principles in the US as a whole was strongly negative, captured in this passage from the delegation's press release, which also offered some sage advice for companies looking to do a better job of monitoring and addressing the human rights impacts of their business:

Against this rather bleak backdrop, the UN team's glowing assessment of the Fair Food Program stood in stark relief:

The UN statement comes as the latest in a series of strong, high-level endorsements of the Fair Food Program, including last month's recognition by President Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which lauded the FFP as "one of the most successful and innovative programs" in the world today in the fight to uncover -- and prevent -- modern-day slavery. Those endorsements, and the undeniable, measurable benefits of the program to all of its participants, make the facile arguments against joining the Fair Food Program put forward by companies like Publix, Ahold, and Wendy's ring all the more hollow.

From Corporate Social Responsibility to Human Rights

The UN statement also comes at a crucial moment in the relatively short history of efforts to address the human rights issues that arise in the supply chains of today's multi-billion dollar, multi-national corporations.

The latest tragedy in Bangladesh's garment industry, last month's building collapse that has now claimed well over 500 workers' lives, marks the beginning of the end of the traditional corporate-led, audit-based approach to social responsibility. The utter failure of audits to protect workers in Bangladesh -- again, with the building collapse coming on the heels of last winter's factory fire that killed over 120 workers -- signals a coming paradigm shift in the still evolving field of business and human rights.

An article this week in the Huffington Post eloquently sums up the situation ("Bangladesh Collapse Shows Safety Audit Shortcomings," 5/4/13):

As the FFP wraps up its second season in operation across the vast majority of the Florida tomato industry, the advantages of its worker-led approach as a variation on the traditional "multi-stakeholder" model for social responsibility are increasingly clear. The active participation of farmworkers (or the "rights holders" themselves, in the parlance of the social responsibility world) in the FFP model, from its inception to its day-to-day operation, distinguishes the program from virtually any other approach active in the field today.

As we mentioned in last week's post on the inadequacy of codes of conduct without sufficient resources and procedures for their enforcement, the FFP contains several elements essential to its success that are simply not part of the traditional audit-based approach:

• a code of conduct developed in a decade-long process led by the workers whose rights are at stake and involving the participation of all relevant actors, including growers and buyers;
  
  
• worker-to-worker education, on the farm and on the clock;
  
  
• a 24-hour complaint line and effective complaint investigation and resolution mechanisms;
  
  
• market consequences, based in the CIW's Fair Food agreements with participating buyers, for the most egregious violations and/or the failure to correct violations uncovered through the complaint system or field and office audits;
  
  
• a monitoring organization specific to the FFP and independent of the brands whose suppliers are audited for compliance.

Even with that array of safeguards in place, the Fair Food Program is still very much a system in development. Audit protocols continue to be refined with feedback from the field, education curricula continue to be tweaked, and participating farms continue to adjust to the demands of the 21st century marketplace.

But bracketed by worker education on one end, and market consequences on the other, the very worst abuses of the past are becoming increasingly rare or vanishing altogether. Florida's tomato fields are gradually becoming the more modern, more humane workplace first imagined by CIW members when they began meeting at the local Catholic church to chart a path together toward a better future in the early 1990's.

Meanwhile, in a parallel process, the United Nations has been on its own multi-year path, studying the all-too-often appalling failure of corporations to protect human rights in their supply chains and constructing a set of principles designed to give workers and communities a voice in the decisions that affect their lives in order to eradicate the worst abuses.

Both processes began, interestingly enough, from a basis in the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with CIW members gathering to reflect on the relevant articles in the UN's little blue book at countless Wednesday night community meetings over the years and UN officials taking those same articles as the mandate for their efforts across the globe. And this past week, those two paths finally crossed in Immokalee, the CIW's Fair Food Program and the UN's Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights arriving at the same place from very distinct points of departure: The human rights crisis is urgent, the safeguards in place are undeniably inadequate, and the key to a real, lasting solution is the participation -- better yet, the leadership -- of those affected by the abuses themselves.

Now met on this road, the two efforts are sure to work more closely together in the months and years ahead.

May 3, 2013

The three founding myths of corporate-led social responsibility (continued...)

Myth #2: The market price, by definition, is a "fair price"

It is time, again, to return to our our continuing series, "The Three Founding Myths of Corporate-Led Social Responsibility," the series we began in response to Ahold's statement on the Campaign for Fair Food, issued in the run up to its recent shareholders' meeting in Amsterdam.

When we launched the series, we wrote:

Our first post, Myth #1: Standards, without resources or mechanisms sufficient to enforce them, are adequate to respect and protect human rights in the supply chain, poked the first hole in that balloon, and the second is now on its way. So, here below follows our second post in the three-part series, Myth #2: The market price is, by definition, a fair price.

---

Fair for whom? Even Ahold seems confused...

When you are talking about price, the word "fair" is decidedly in the eye of the beholder. But, interestingly, when Ahold talks about a "fair" price, it talks out of both sides of its mouth.

On the one hand, there is Ahold the staunch proponent of all things Fair Trade. Here's a quotation from an Ahold press release from 2004, when one of Ahold's US-based chains, Giant Food, entered into an important new relationship with Transfair, the Fair Trade certification organization:

Here, the meaning of the words "fair price" couldn't be clearer: A price, higher than the market price, capable of reversing the damage caused by the existing unequal market relationship between large, consolidated coffee buyers and small family coffee growers -- an inequality that drove coffee prices to an unsustainable low and farmers into an existential crisis. In light of that crisis, Ahold feels it is necessary to pay a Fair Trade price, which includes a premium over the market price, to help farmers "bootstrap their way out of desperate poverty."

Ahold redoubled its commitment to Fair Trade when, in 2009, it launched its private “Puur & Eerlijk” (pure & honest) brand, which includes a foundational commitment to Fair Trade. From the release announcing the brand:

So Ahold's Fair Trade credentials are impeccable. A "fair" price -- nay, "honest" price -- is one that reverses the downward pressure on producer prices driven by unfettered market forces and undoes the poverty created by unfair market prices. And Ahold is all in.

Or is it? Here are Ahold's words on "a fair market price," out the other side of its mouth, from the company's statement on the Campaign for Fair Food:

Before getting into the meat of Ahold's statement, let's dispense with one thing from the start that might cause some confusion: No one is asking Ahold to "enter into direct wage negotiations with suppliers' employees." This is a red herring taken directly from the pages of Publix's playbook. By signing a Fair Food agreement, Ahold would no more be entering into "direct wage negotiations with suppliers' employees" than it did when Ahold signed its agreement with Transfair to buy Fair Trade coffee from small family coffee farmers.

Now, that aside, what does Ahold mean when it talks about a "fair market price" in relation to the Campaign for Fair Food? It means, ironically, the very same unsustainably low price it decries in its pronouncements on Fair Trade, the impossiby low price to growers driven ever lower by Ahold's constant leveraging of its volume purchasing power. Here are a few descriptions of the volume purchasing mechanism at work from interviews with Ahold representatives:

So, to answer the question at the top of this post: Fair for whom? In the case of Fair Trade, Ahold would say fair for the farmers and farmworkers who have been squeezed within an inch of their lives by unfair market forces. But in the case of the Campaign for Fair Food, Ahold would say fair for Ahold, fair by the rules of the unfettered market, where volume purchasing is all in the game, a perfectly legitimate business strategy, to hell with the poverty and abuse it may create.

Speaking of which... Not everyone is as confused
as Ahold

It just so happens that Pope Francis, speaking about the horriffic factory building collapse in Bangladesh that has taken the lives of well over 400 garment workers at last count, has some pretty strong feelings himself on the subject of the unconscionable poverty at the end of multi-national supply chains. Here are his words, from a private mass earlier this week:

Pope Francis' words are as powerful as any in recent memory from the Vatican on labor, and they are refreshingly frank.

Ahold can be a socially responsible company that takes real, effective measures to mitigate the damage caused by its purchasing practices, or it can be a company that leverages its buying power to undercut the competition and maximize profit by cutting costs. But it can't be both.

A market price can't be called "fair" when that price condemns workers to a life of poverty wages and abusive, dangerous working conditions. Poverty, sexual harassment, forced labor -- those are human rights violations that no buyer of goods produced in those conditions can ignore. Rather, it is incumbent on companies like Ahold that buy products in exploitative conditions to know about those conditions and to help fix them. And that is especially true when a respected, established, successful program like the Fair Food Program is already hard at work addressing the problems and needs the buyers' help to finish the job.

We'll close today with the words of another authority on the question, this time the United Nations, birthplace of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, in the wake of World War Two and its attendant horrors. Today, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights continues the work of education and vigilance necessary to protect those rights, and in the realm of the marketplace, its Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights provide unambiguous counsel for corporations seeking the proper path:

We will return to the Guiding Principles again soon, with exciting news from last week's visit to Immokalee from the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights. Until then, there remains one installment to go in this particular series, on the question: Can corporations be trusted to unilaterally investigate, and to determine any appropriate corrective action, when their suppliers violate their workers' human rights.

Check back soon...

May 1, 2013

The three founding myths of corporate-led social responsibility...

Myth #1: Standards, without resources or mechanisms sufficient to enforce them, are adequate to respect and protect human rights in the supply chain

On Monday we brought you news from Ahold's annual shareholder meeting, where the Dutch supermarket giant once again roundly -- and, truth be told, a bit rudely -- rejected a call by the CIW's Lucas Benitez to join the Fair Food Program.

Just days before the shareholders' meeting, Ahold issued a statement in response to the Campaign for Fair Food that, perhaps predictably but certainly not intentionally, did a terrific job of laying out what we are calling the Three Founding Myths of Corporate-Led Social Responsibility. Here below are those three myths, in the order in which they appeared in Ahold's statement:

In our last post, we promised to take a closer look at each of the myths -- at how Ahold staked a claim to each in its statement, and why each is so woefully misguided. So today we begin with our first post examining the Ahold statement, on the question: Can standards, without enforcement, protect human rights?

---

The quizmaster approach to social responsibility...

"All of our tomato suppliers... demonstrated extensive knowledge of our standards and fully understood their requirements..."

Fully half of Ahold's statement is dedicated to its "Standards of Engagement" and to the steps the company has taken in the three years since the CIW first brought the existence of a brutal slavery case in Ahold's supply chain to the Dutch company's attention back in 2010.

[Ahem... this might be your first clue to the fact that Ahold's internal monitoring mechanisms are not, shall we say, state of the art, as it required the CIW's intervention to bring Ahold's attention to the watershed slavery case of US vs. Navarrete at the time.]

Here below is the relevant passage from Ahold's statement, quoted in its entirety. Take a moment to read it closely for any description of Ahold's mechanisms and procedures for monitoring and enforcement:

Let's begin by dispensing with the two things in the passage that might pass for substantive actions:

• When Ahold says it "met with the CIW," it was only to let us know that they had no intention, whatsoever, of signing a Fair Food agreement. We had one face-to-face meeting in New York City and, for all intents and purposes, it was over before it started.
  
  
• Ahold "suspended purchasing tomatoes from the Immokalee region" during Immokalee's off-season, when there were no tomatoes to be purchased.

Now, those two elements aside, what's left? Nothing but a series of meetings, once every year or two, where Ahold's suppliers:

• "demonstrated their commitment,"
  
  
• "reconfirm(ed) their commitment,"
  
  
• "demonstrated extensive knowledge of our standards,"
  
  
• and "fully understood their requirements"

As far as anyone could possibly tell from Ahold's own description of its monitoring process, Ahold employs a system of social responsibility by quiz, and not even a pop quiz at that. Ahold representatives apparently show up and test their suppliers' knowledge and understanding of the company's standards, and a passing grade signifies "commitment" to those standards.

It is a classic case of standards without the resources or procedures necessary to enforce them, in other words, of 20th century social responsibility. Ahold's approach is mired in a past when it was sufficient for a corporation to simply declare that it has "standards of engagement," and if it waved those standards around hard enough, sexual harassment, wage theft, and forced labor would miraculously disappear from its supply chain, like some sort of magic eraser.

Death, taxes... and human rights

Real social responsibility, however, isn't magic.

It is, in a way, quite similar to taxes. No one enjoys paying taxes, even those who believe they are a necessary part of a civilized society. And so, if it were virtually impossible to get caught for cheating on taxes and, even if you were to get caught, the penalty were minimal, the vast majority of people would cheat on their taxes. There is simply no doubt about that. And that is why we as a society have created a vast apparatus of monitors, why we fund that apparatus sufficiently to do its job, and why we have established a hard and fast regime of penalties for cheating on taxes. As a result, the vast majority of people today voluntarily comply -- happily or otherwise -- with the tax laws (not to say there aren't still cheaters, but that's why we still have the IRS, because even voluntary compliance requires constant vigilance).

Real social responsibility is a grinding, day-to-day, on-the-ground job. It is a relentless battle with exploitation, abuse, and humiliation in the workplace, a gradual, incremental process with countless small victories punctuated by both regular setbacks and occasional great leaps forward. And it is achieved only by building an unbroken process of worker education, complaints, complaint investigations and resolutions, audits, corrective actions, and more audits that creates such a seamless environment of monitoring and enforcement that those who would humiliate or exploit their workers view the chance of getting caught too certain, and the cost of getting caught too high.

This relentless groundwork then leads to a true multi-stakeholder initiative, one in which willing buyers (among which Ahold cannot be counted), growers and workers have equal voices, and claims of progress are verifiable. Only then is the ideal of voluntary compliance even possible, and even then still at the cost of constant vigilance.

That is 21st century social responsibility -- real, measurable, comprehensive, and driven by the people whose rights are in question, not those whose brands are in play. And that is what the Fair Food Program does, every day. To quote from the Fair Food Standards Council website:

And all that is backed by the market consequences built into the CIW's agreements with 11 multi-billion dollar retail food companies.

The times when corporations could point to a code of conduct and declare, unilaterally, that their suppliers are "committed" to that code are gone, washed away with the flood of information and analysis available today at the tap of a fingertip. The 20th century supermarket could get away with the kind of superficial attestation of compliance that Ahold so casually deployed in its statement ahead of the shareholders' meeting. But the information age has cast a klieg light into every nook and corner of every multi-billion dollar retailer's supply chain, from the fields of Immokalee to the factories of Foxconn, and 21st century consumers are demanding more of brands that want to earn their trust, and their business.

The standards-without-enforcement approach may help, in the short term, to protect a corporate brand. But it never was an effective way to respect and protect human rights, and it's no longer sufficient to satisfy consumers when stories of gross human rights violations make the news. Ahold can, and must, do better than that. Ahold can, and must, embrace the highest standards of monitoring and enforcement in the industry today by joining the Fair Food Program.

April 27, 2013

The three lies CEOs tell themselves about social responsibility (that only they believe), brought to you by Royal Ahold!

After being cut-off by the Chairman of Ahold's Board of Directors during the question and answer session of this year's shareholder meeting in Amsterdam, the CIW's Lucas Benitez (left) presses his case with Ahold CEO Dick Boer to convey the unprecedented progress that has taken place in Florida's fields thanks to the Fair Food Program and how Ahold can help advance those gains by joining forces with the FFP.

Another year, another exercise in hypocrisy at the Ahold shareholder meeting in Amsterdam

Let's cut right to the chase: The field of corporate social responsibility is characterized, for the most part, by attention to the appearance of accountability over the substance -- to the facade of reassuring words and admirable standards over the hard work of real-life enforcement. Ahold's stated approach to social responsibility falls squarely within this dismal tradition.

Of course, Ahold -- the Dutch grocery giant that owns US brands Giant, Stop & Shop, Martins, and Peapod -- is fluent in the peculiar patois of social responsibility. Here's an example, from a 2013 report:

But whatever those words might actually mean in English, in practice they most definitely don't mean that Ahold is willing to meet the highest standards of monitoring and enforcement in the industry today, because Ahold, like Publix and Kroger, refuses to join the Fair Food Program.

As the Fair Food Program (FFP) wraps up its second full season of operation in the Florida tomato industry, it is becoming increasingly clear that the FFP is the leading model for social responsibility in the US produce industry today. The carefully constructed program -- combining worker-to-worker education (right), a 24-hour complaint line, a complaint investigation and resolution process without equal in agriculture, and regular field and farm office audits, all backed by strict market consequences built into the CIW's Fair Food agreements with participating buyers -- is drawing the attention of human rights observers from the White House to the United Nations, and putting the lie to many age-old myths about what constitutes a satisfactory approach to corporate social responsibility.

Yet Ahold, at its annual shareholders' meeting in Amsterdam last week, stubbornly held the line on the old school, form over substance model of corporate accountability. Once again, Ahold refused to participate in the the Fair Food Program and instead doubled down on the myths of corporate-led social responsibility that are losing credibility like a hot air balloon that has sprung a leak and is sinking back to earth.

And like that balloon, the only question left to answer now for Ahold is how hard the landing is going to be.

The 3 founding myths of corporate-led social responsibility

The one value to Ahold's dogged resistance to progress is that it prompted the company to issue a statement in response to the Campaign for Fair Food that reads like a laboratory specimen of the corporate-led social responsibility model. And so, as a public service, over the coming days we will dissect the Ahold statement in a series of posts designed, step-by-step, to strip away the public relations veneer and expose the three founding myths that underlie the corporate model. We'll conclude the series with the statement that the CIW's Lucas Benitez was prevented from delivering in full at the shareholders' meeting, and with the questions that Lucas was unable to ask of Ahold's board and CEO. Maybe, just maybe, Ahold's executives will have the courage to face and answer those questions, given a second chance.

We begin with today's post, bringing you Ahold's statement in its entirety, followed by an enumeration of the three myths. In the days that follow, we will examine each of those, one by one. Here below is the statement issued by Ahold ahead of last week's shareholders' meeting:

That's a hard act to follow, but follow it we will. And so, without further ado, we present the Three Founding Myths of Corporate Social Responsibility, in order of their appearance in the Ahold statement:

In the coming days we will address each of these three myths and compare them, in philosophy and practice, to the Fair Food Program.

So there you have it, the lines are drawn, the great debate set to begin.

At this podium, Ahold stands four-square in defense of the the corporate-led, 20th century vision of social responsibility.

And at the other, the CIW steps to the microphone, ready to argue the case for the Fair Food Program, the worker-led, functioning, 21st century approach to corporate accountability.

Check back soon as the debate is engaged...

April 24, 2013

Welcome, Treasure Coast Fair Food!

March gives rise to new Fair Food Committee on Florida's east coast with a strong interfaith spirit...

After more than a decade of community gatherings, class presentations, candlelight vigils, pray-ins, and protests -- not to mention the hotly contested Publix campaign right here in the CIW's home state -- the Campaign for Fair Food has built a pretty impressive network of consumer allies across Florida. But the campaign has never had an organized presence in Florida's aptly named Treasure Coast (the area encompassing the long middle stretch of the state's east coast)... until now!

Sparked by the infectious energy of the March for Rights, Respect and Fair Food, the newest member of the family of Florida Fair Food communities is Treasure Coast Fair Food (their website and Facebook page are under construction at the moment, but you can go here for a first-hand post on their creation and their plans for the future).

Last week, at the culmination of a CIW presentation held at a Treasure Coast area synagogue, the rabbi asked any newcomers to stand up and introduce themselves. One by one, people rose — from the UCC church, from the UU congregation, from four different Catholic parishes — until 20 people were standing. In the palpable silence that followed, the participants registered the moving - and all too rare - display of diversity before them.

Take a look at the firsthand account by the Treasure Coast Palm, where the columnist was every bit as taken aback as the rest of those in attendance:

The following morning, the founding members met for their first, exciting strategy session as Treasure Coast Fair Food, where they decided to leap into action with a call-in, timed to coincide with the Publix shareholder meeting last week. They certainly wasted no time! Welcome aboard, Treasure Coast Fair Food, we love your spirit, and we look forward to marching together, and building a fairer food system together, in the months and years ahead.

Farmworker boss pleads guilty in beating case...

A victory, of sorts, was won on Tuesday afternoon in the Hendry County courthouse 25 miles north of Immokalee, a victory over violence against farmworkers that carries with it a valuable lesson for Fair Food activists everywhere.

Longtime readers of this site will remember the story from March of last year of the beating of a farmworker whose nose was bloodied and broken (right) by his packing house supervisor. We revisited the story again in January of this year when, after a months-long investigation, the farm boss was finally arrested.

Tuesday marked the final step in that year-long state prosecution, as the court system slowly but surely ground out justice for the worker in the form of yesterday's guilty plea by his supervisor, Francisco Javier Garcia Farias.

The lesson behind this particular piece of news is perhaps best captured in that age old proverb: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The beating took place at a packinghouse that exists in a sector of the Florida agricultural industry that remains outside of the Fair Food Program. Tuesday's news, coming more than a year after the beating itself (and only then thanks to the dogged persistence of the victim and his witnesses), dramatically underscores the need for the Fair Food Program, where the response to abuse, when it occurs, is quick and effective.

But even more important than the response after the fact is the Fair Food Program's remarkable success over the past two seasons at preventing violence against farmworkers. The Program is still young, and the results still clearly preliminary, but it appears that after two full seasons of the Fair Food Program in Florida's tomato industry that the day-to-day violence against farmworkers that had plagued the industry for so long may now be a thing of the past. The wall-to-wall education of workers, the efficacy of the 24-hour complaint line and complaint resolution process, and the market consequences backing the rights established under the Fair Food Program have combined to create a new world in Florida's tomato fields, a world in which the potential cost of violence against farmworkers is so prohibitively high that it has become so rare as to be effectively non-existent.

With Tuesday's verdict we are reminded, even as we celebrate hard-won justice for the worker who was so savagely beaten, that thousands of Florida farmworkers remain just beyond the reach of the Fair Food Program, still mired in the antiquated labor relations of last century's Florida agricultural industry. In those tomato fields that refuse to join the program -- and in the fields of peppers, squash, melons, and citrus where the Program has yet to reach -- real, sustainable farm labor justice remains a distant dream.

April 22, 2013

UN expert group on business and human rights to visit Immokalee, CIW!

UN delegation to spend two days in Immokalee, meet with Fair Food Program participants

On Friday and Saturday of this week, a delegation from the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights will visit Immokalee "to learn first-hand about opportunities and challenges in ensuring business respect for human rights in the United States," in the words of Michael Addo, one of the two independent experts participating in the UN mission.

According to a UN press release, the visit to Immokalee comes as part of a broader "information-gathering visit to the United States from 22 April to 1 May 2013, to look at current initiatives, opportunities and challenges in implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the country."

You can see the UN press release in its entirety here. In Immokalee, the UN delegation will be meeting with Fair Food Program participants -- growers, buyers, and workers alike -- to get a closer look at the program recognized just last week by the White House as "one of the most successful and innovative programs" in the world today in the fight against modern-day slavery.

We are honored by the UN's interest in the Fair Food Program and look forward to hosting the delegation in Immokalee. Be sure to check back next week for a complete report following the visit!

April 17, 2013

Correction: Wendy's "independent, non-profit purchasing cooperative" is not what we thought it was...

... if anything, it's even less independent. And, more importantly, it's still not even close to a substitute for real social responsibility.

In a television report on last weekend's Wendy's protests in New York City, Wendy's spokesperson Bob Bertini said the following in defense of the company's refusal to participate in the Fair Food Program:

In our post responding to Mr. Bertini's claim, we incorrectly identified that purchasing cooperative as the Strategic Sourcing Group (SSG). As it turns out, the SSG was a purchasing coop that pooled the buying power of Wendy's and Arby's for a brief, shining moment. Today, however, the "independent, non-profit cooperative that purchases all food supplies" for Wendy's restaurant is in fact the Quality Supply Chain Coop (QSCC).

For those of you who are interested in this sort of thing, here are the explanatory paragraphs from the "History" page of the QSSC website (which is also where we found the photo at the top of this post, featuring Wendy's founder Dave Thomas and a juicy red tomato slice):

So, in short, in 2010, Wendy's and Arby's formed the SSG. In 2011, Wendy's sold Arby's, and shortly thereafter, SSG was dissolved and its functions absorbed into the QSCC.

Why are we bothering you with all this?

You might be saying "whatever" right about now and wondering just what we are getting on about, but stick with us, there are several reasons why we wanted to make this particular correction:

• First, because we are a farmworker organization, not a multi-billion dollar corporation, and our credibility is our only currency. While, in our experience, many corporations have shown a remarkably cavalier attitude toward the truth (we're looking at you, Publix...), If we make a mistake, no matter how inconsequential, we will correct it.
  
  
• Second, because, if anything, the QSSC appears even less "independent" than we had originally thought (the image on the right, from their website, speaks louder than all of Mr. Bertini's words). From the photo of Dave Thomas on its home page, to the content of its "Who We Are" and "History of QSCC" pages, QSCC leaves little doubt about its intimate connection to Wendy's. Here are just a few quotes from those pages, you be the judge:
  
  
  • "Quality Supply Chain Co-op, Inc. is honored to be part of the Wendy’s® extended family..."
    
    
  • "Wendy’s and Wendy’s Restaurants of Canada Inc. (WROC) establish and enforce product and service specifications as the quality assurance gate keepers for QSCC. Wendy’s and WROC also approve authorized suppliers and distributors."
    
    
  • "QSCC oversees the Wendy’s supply chain and manages a wide range of supporting programs to ensure that all Wendy’s restaurants in North America have everything they need delivered right to their door."

  So, it seems that while the SSG combined the purchasing power of Wendy's and Arby's restaurants, the QSSC actually focuses on serving the supply chain needs of Wendy's restaurants, and Wendy's calls the shots, down to establishing product specifications and approving authorized suppliers.

• And third, because we wanted another reason to discuss the role of purchasing co-ops in the food industry as a whole and just how absurd it is for Wendy's to point to its "independent, non-profit purchasing cooperative" as some sort of meaningful alternative to the Fair Food Program. So here we go...

Purchasing Coop + Hollow, Unenforced Code of Conduct = Recipe for Abuse in the Supply Chain

Wendy's is hardly alone in forming a purchasing coop to manage its supply chain needs. According to its own website, QSSC is only "the third-largest co-op in the food service industry, with $3 billion in buying power."

So, why do restaurant companies form purchasing co-ops in the first place? Let's ask them:

• Wendy's: QSSC enables "us to provide more favorable pricing and improved distribution service levels to our members."
  
  
• Subway (Independent Purchasing Cooperative): "IPC’s primary role is to negotiate the lowest cost for purchased goods and services, including food, produce, packaging items and equipment."
  
  
• Yum Brands (Unified Foodservice Purchasing Coop): "Our Mission: Provide our members with an assured supply of specified products at the lowest cost."

"Provide more favorable pricing." "Negotiate the lowest cost." "Provide... the lowest cost." Seeing a theme here?

Purchasing cooperatives -- be they owned by billion-dollar corporations or dirt-poor peasants -- allow their members to pool their buying power to negotiate the lowest possible prices for the things they buy together. Purchasing cooperatives, in and of themselves, are neither moral nor immoral, they are nothing more than a mechanical reality of the marketplace. Intrinsically, they are amoral.

They can, however, produce immoral outcomes, like farmworker poverty. And in the food industry, purchasing cooperatives have, beyond a shadow of a doubt, contributed to farmworker poverty for decades. When wielded by companies that combine the buying power of tens of thousands of restaurants, purchasing cooperatives allow their members to demand impossibly low prices for the lettuce, pickles, and tomatoes they sell on their sandwiches. Those prices are made possible, in part, by the sub-poverty wages paid to farmworkers for generations.

That is why it is to their credit that companies like Yum Brands and Subway -- and every multi-billion dollar food company that has joined the Fair Food Program -- have taken steps to mitigate the impact of their purchasing strategies. By adding a penny-per-pound to the price of tomatoes they buy from Florida, they are actually reversing the impact of their volume purchasing and improving the lives of Florida's farmworkers in real, measurable ways. Through the Fair Food Program, participating companies will have paid over $10 million since January of 2011 to help increase farmworkers' incomes, and their commitment to buy Florida tomatoes only from participating growers has turned their immense purchasing power into a tool to eliminate human rights abuses in the fields.

Wendy's, on the other hand, seems content to continue profiting from farmworker poverty.

If Wendy's is going to stand behind its "independent non-profit purchasing cooperative" to defend its decision to turn its back on the Fair Food Program, then we challenge Wendy's to disclose not only its code of conduct, but the resources and processes the QSSC has in place to monitor and enforce that code. For years, companies like Wendy's have hidden behind codes of conduct that went entirely, and shamelessly, unenforced. A code without resources and procedures adequate to enforce it isn't even worth the paper its written on. Without enforcement, the code is nothing more than a public relations tool to protect the brand of the company that waves it in its own defense, not the rights of those the code pretends to protect.

When Wendy's discloses those enforcement measures, only then we can start talking about whether it can be considered an alternative to the Fair Food Program.

The ball's in your court, Wendy's...

April 16, 2013

"Your burgers may be square..."

"... but your food ain't fair!" The pigtail brigade takes to the streets in New York!

Kicking off a month of high-spirited actions to call on Wendy's to join its fellow fast-food leaders in the Fair Food Program, members of the Community Farmworker Alliance hit the ground running in New York this past weekend! Over 60 protesters deep, the Pigtail March for Justice wound through the streets of Manhattan, stopping for lively pickets outside two Wendy's restaurants along the way. The colorful crew also included representatives from ROC United New York, United Food and Commercial Workers, and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra.

Their message was simple:

And the local CBS News affiliate heard the redheaded marchers loud and clear, putting together an extensive video report, which you can find here.

Unfortunately, it appears that Wendy's wasn't quite as inclined to listen. In fact, the news piece captured Wendy's first real stab at a public response, which was decidedly -- though by no means surprisingly -- non-responsive:

If Mr. Bertini's answer was a bit cryptic, that's because he was probably referring to the Strategic Sourcing Group, a purchasing coop that pools the buying power of Wendy's and Arby's and "is an example of our aggressive efforts to generate cost savings for our systems," according to Roland Smith, president and CEO of Wendy's/Arby's Group, speaking to the qsrweb.com in an article entitled, "Wendy's, Arby's combine purchasing power with new co-op," (4/19/10).

So, a couple of things. First, the "independent, non-profit cooperative" of Mr. Bertini's statement is simply a mechanism designed to increase Wendy's volume purchasing power with one primary goal: to drive down prices in the supply chain. Far from a guarantee against farmworker exploitation, purchasing cooperatives, common in the fast-food industry, are one of the principal tools available to food retailers for squeezing suppliers, and so squeezing farm labor wages, at the bottom of the supply chain.

Second, though we welcome any clarification Wendy's might provide on the issue, we are pretty darn certain that the Strategic Sourcing Group doesn't have supplier standards half as progressive as those contained in the Fair Food Code of Conduct, nor does it have teams of auditors trained in monitoring the Florida tomato industry, an education process to inform workers of their rights under the Strategic Sourcing Group code, and a 24-hour complaint line answered by a human being that goes from complaint to investigation and resolution in a matter of days.

No, the Strategic Sourcing Group doesn't have those things. But the Fair Food Program does.

So let's just go straight to the heart of the issue: Wendy's says that ensuring good working conditions for the human beings who harvest its ingredients is the "right thing to do." We agree. Assuming the company's commitment to that principle is genuine, Wendy's should jump at the chance to join us and eleven other major food retailers in the Fair Food Program, which just last week was recognized by the White House as "one of the most successful and innovative programs" in the field of social responsibility... anywhere. But something tells us Wendy's won't be jumping our way any time soon.

And so until they do, Wendy's managers and executives should expect to be seeing much more of this in the months ahead:

April 15, 2013

White House recognizes CIW's Fair Food Program!

CIW's early anti-slavery efforts called
"spark that ignited a movement" at White House ceremony...

At the first-ever White House Forum to Combat Human Trafficking last week -- an event that involved everyone from Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State John Kerry -- the CIW and the Fair Food Program were front and center.

The Fair Food Program was singled out in a major new report of recommendations to the President as "one of the most successful and innovative programs" in the world today in the fight to uncover -- and prevent -- modern-day slavery, a fight President Obama himself called "one of the great human rights causes of our time."

The report, by the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, was released in conjunction with the White House event. The Council is charged with "Identifying best practices and successful modes of delivering social services," and with "Making recommendations to the President and the Administration on changes in policies, programs, and practices." Here's the excerpt from their report, entitled, "Building Partnerships to Eradicate Modern-Day Slavery," citing the Fair Food Program:

The report went on to recommend that the Obama Administration demonstrate leadership in the fight to eradicate slavery by taking decisive action in the government's own supply chain, writing:

We here at the CIW are sincerely honored by the President's Council's consideration of our work. We look forward to working more closely with the the Obama Administration in the months and years ahead toward both the incorporation of the Fair Food Program itself within the federal government's produce supply chain, and the inclusion of the Fair Food Program's lessons and principles of corporate accountability into future guidelines for broader private sector engagement in the fight to eradicate modern-day slavery.

Meanwhile, at the same White House event, just how far that fight has come over the past twenty years was captured in the comments of the Ambassador at Large Luis CdeBaca, Director of the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Ambassador CdeBaca told a story about the CIW's first slavery investigation, US v. Miguel Flores, that placed the CIW at the birth of the modern-day anti-slavery movement (you can watch his comments in the video at this link, beginning around the 25 min. mark):

Events at the White House this past week were another milestone in the history of the CIW and our two-decade old fight to end the exploitation and abuse of farmworkers. The Fair Food Program and our Anti-Slavery Campaign have been recognized before by many branches of the federal government -- including the State Department, the Justice Department, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Agriculture -- but this is the first time that the White House itself has taken notice of, and praised, our efforts. That alone is quite an achievement for a movement that was born in the dusty streets of one of this country's poorest towns.

But recognition of the unprecedented changes taking place in Florida's fields today -- changes called "one of the great human rights success stories of our day" in a recent Washington Post op/ed, changes that are the result of a unique partnership among farmworkers, growers, corporate food giants, and consumers -- is not enough. Right here at home, Florida's largest grocer, Publix, continues to turn its back on human rights and act as though the historic advances in farm labor justice achieved through this partnership are really nothing more than a "labor dispute" not worthy of Publix's participation. Publix officials even go further than that, distorting the truth about the Fair Food Program in a desperate attempt to avoid doing their part to secure humane conditions for the farmworkers who pick their company's tomatoes. And beyond Publix, the rest of the supermarket industry, as well as several significant players in the restaurant industry like Wendy's and Darden Restaurants, continue to hold out.

The Fair Food Program may win the praise and admiration of everyone from your house to the White House, but until Publix -- and all the retail food giants still refusing to join -- stop burying their heads in the sand and join the Program, our victories will remain incomplete.

It's time for the stalling and the public relations games to end. Last week's White House recognition of the Fair Food Program should have marked the day when good faith replaced bad, when real social responsibility replaced hypocrisy, when truth and partnership replaced dishonesty and division. But it didn't. And so the campaign goes on, only now with one more -- very important -- new ally.

April 13, 2013

Nashville turns up the volume!

As Publix expands, the Fair Food Nation is right there, step for step...

Amid news of Publix's increasing profit margin and percolating price battle with Walmart (what's that Kenyan saying again about when elephants fight?... oh, yeah, "when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers," hmmm...) is another story that slowly, but surely, is coming into focus: Publix is expanding beyond its historic market focus on Florida and aiming to become the "neighborhood grocer" to the entire southeastern United States. From North Carolina to Tennessee, Publix is breaking ground and setting down some new roots.

Now, perhaps Publix thought that with a few ribbon-cutting ceremonies and billboards promising shopping pleasure, consumers would welcome them with open arms. Unfortunately for Publix, however, there's a large and growing population of southerners who recognize oppression when they see it, and they know what to do when injustice comes to town.

In fact, one of the Campaign for Fair Food's newest fronts is one of its strongest, too, right there in Music City USA, Nashville, Tennessee. And on April 6th, Nashville Fair Food greeted Publix's new stores with nearly fifty protesters from local student and faith communities, several of whom participated in last month's march (as you can see for yourself from the excellent video at the top of this post -- made by someone who perhaps watched one or two of the videos from the March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food...).

Clearly, folks in Nashville are not ready to roll out the welcome wagon for Publix quite yet. Although the video captures the action, we want to highlight a few choice words from consumers in Nashville, just in case Publix wasn't listening closely to the protest at their doorstep. First up, we have Rev. Dr. Judy Cummings (pictured below, in the yellow top and black slacks), president-elect of the Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship and of the New Covenant Christian Church (just one of six local congregations and temples represented at the action):

Shoulder to shoulder with the faith community, the students and youth of Nashville brought their own energy out as well! Here, below, long-time CIW ally and Student/Farmworker Alliance Steering Committee member, Kate Savage (also in the photo above, with the bullhorn), reminds Publix that it will, one day, be welcome in Nashville, as long as it meets certain conditions:

Meanwhile, echoing the calls for Fair Food up north (yes, it's north to us!), Florida students and religious leaders also took to the streets, helping spread the word this past weekend for Farmworker Awareness Week in Gainesville. Led by the Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice, this other stronghold in the movement for farmworker justice celebrated the week with a panel on the human rights of farmworkers, as well as lively protest of over fifty people at a local Publix.

The message is loud and clear: You can run, but you can't hide from social responsibility. No matter where you go, it's still the 21st century, and 21st century consumers demand respect for human rights for the workers who harvest their food, especially when the solution is as easy and as well-respected as the Fair Food Program. In the words of one Nashville protester, in truly southern style: "Publix, this is easy: one penny more. Get it done!"

April 11, 2013

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, Wendy's...

... it tolls for you, now, and just in time for the annual shareholder meeting!

In Haitian Creole, there is a proverb for those who bury they heads in the sand when danger is near: Le bab kamarad ou pran dife, met pa w' a la tranp… When your neighbor's beard catches on fire, it's time to soak your own. In other words, when you see trouble coming your way, do whatever you need to do to keep it from knocking on your door.

Well, this past month, Wendy's would have done well to pay heed to those Haitian words of wisdom. Between the March for Rights, Respect and Fair Food and the flood of letters and statements that followed, the Campaign for Fair Food has been engaged with Publix to the exclusion of all other retail food giants still dragging their feet on joining the Fair Food Program. And where was Wendy's? Did Wendy's seize the opportunity to get out ahead of any public protests and meet with the CIW to hammer out the details on how it could help protect and advance human rights in the fields where its tomatoes are picked?

No, Wendy's did not. Sadly, the world's third largest fast-food chain chose instead to close its eyes and ears to the chorus of calls from consumers for farm labor justice and hope they might forget that Wendy's is the only fast-food leader left that hasn't signed a Fair Food agreement.

Indeed, ever since the Wendy's campaign was announced back in January of this year, the company has been silent, nowhere to be found -- and every day that passes its beard (or in this case, perhaps, its pigtails) grows drier and drier.

And so now, the Campaign for Fair Food is knocking at Wendy's door in earnest. Over the coming two months, Fair Food allies from Ohio (where Wendy's corporate headquarters is located) to New York City (and many cities in between) will be turning their energy, creativity and commitment to Wendy's, and it should be getting a bit hot up under that frilly blue and white striped collar...

Up first is the April 14th Pigtail March for Justice (in the photo above, members of NYC's Community Farmworker Alliance put the finishing touches on the art that will carry their message to thousands of New Yorkers this weekend). In case you're thinking of joining the pigtail brigade, make sure to check out the Community Farmworker Alliance's clever Guide to Making Pigtails for some tips. Not to be outdone, New York's northern Fair Food neighbors in Boston and Providence are also gearing up for actions on April 26th -- make sure to stay tuned for all the photos and updates.

Wendy's Weekend of Action, May 17-19

We began this post with a Haitian proverb, but now we turn to one a that may be a bit more familiar: If April showers bring May flowers, what do April protests bring? If you answered "More protests in May," you're right!

Following April's actions, the Fair Food nation is really turning up the heat on Wendy's with a full menu of protests planned to coincide with the company's shareholder meeting in NYC on May 23rd! Fair Food allies from the entire northeast region will be converging in New York at the shareholder meeting itself, while the fine folks at Ohio Fair Food will be organizing a parallel action at Wendy's headquarters in Dublin, Ohio. Meanwhile, dozens of other protests will be taking place around the country, making the Wendy's Weekend of Action one to remember. Ready to plan your own mid-May action? Let us know at workers (at) ciw-online.org and we'll make sure you have everything you need to make your message heard.

Florrie Burke wins the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons

As we mentioned at the end of yesterday's post, we have some wonderful news out of Washington to share: At Tuesday's Forum to Combat Human Trafficking, White House officials awarded the "Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons" to long-time CIW ally and partner, Freedom Network Co-Founder Florrie Burke! Her work supporting victims with mental health and trauma counseling was absolutely central to one of the earliest human trafficking cases in New York City, and she has been a tireless leader in the national anti-slavery movement ever since. We applaud the White House on their excellent choice of such a dedicated, fiercely intelligent, compassionate warrior in the fight against modern-day slavery. Congratulations, Florrie!

April 9, 2013

And now, the oop to yesterday's alley!
Part 2 of Professor Hartley's letter to Publix...

Yesterday we shared the first half of a letter from Anne Hartley, a faculty member at Ft. Myers' own Florida Gulf Coast University (Eagles throwin' alleys!... ok, sorry, that's the last link, we promise) to Publix's Media and Community Relations Manager Brian West. You can find that first installment here.

Today, as promised, we bring you the conclusion of Professor Hartley's letter to Publix, which follows here below. As you'll see, Prof. Hartley wraps up her letter with a question, and a pretty simple one at that. To quote:

In short, Why not join the Fair Food Program? Why not support the very best hope for long-overdue farm labor justice in generations? What possible reason (real reason, or "evidence" in Prof. Hartley's carefully chosen words) could Publix have to turn its back on an established, successful program for social responsibility like the Fair Food Program, a program that eleven other major food corporations, including Publix competitors Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, have already joined?

Prof. Hartley's letter is full of questions for Publix, actually. Indeed, if anything, the letter is an invitation to dialogue, an appeal for Publix to go beyond its well-worn list of public relation bromides and share the real reasons for its refusal to help end farmworker poverty and abuse. Here is a list of the questions, in order, as they appear in the letter:

We look forward to hearing Publix's response to Prof. Hartley's questions (not that we're holding our breath, of course, as Publix's media relations department has proven that, if nothing else, it is quite adept at sticking to script).

So, until then, here below is the second installment of of Prof. Hartley's letter. See what you think. We have our own thoughts in response to the letter, of course, but we will wait to share them until Publix has had a chance to respond:

Meanwhile, check back soon for much more from the Campaign for Fair Food, including news of a BIG Wendy's action (or two...) coming up in NYC, and news out of the White House, where a long-time friend of the CIW was just acknowledged for her invaluable contributions to the modern-day anti-slavery movement with a much-deserved Presidential Medal!

April 8, 2013

Publix customers can advocate perfectly well for themselves, thank you...

FGCU professor takes Publix to task for hollow public relations responses to
Fair Food Program

In a recent article looking at Publix's growing competition with Walmart on prices, Publix spokesperson Shannon Patten was quoted as saying:

Well, one Publix customer decided to do a little advocating -- and challenging -- of her own in response, in the form of a letter to Publix's Media and Community Relations Manager Brian West, and she has shared her letter with us so that we might share it with the rest of the Fair Food Nation.

Professor Anne Hartley (right), a faculty member at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU... yes, that FGCU) in environmental sustainability and civic engagement, wrote an excellent letter deconstructing the company's public relations position in response to the Fair Food Program and including some questions of her own for Florida's largest corporation.

And in honor of FGCU's historic run in this year's NCAA basketball tournament, we are going to present her letter Dunk City style -- in a two-part series, or as they would call it at FGCU, an "alley oop"!

Today's installment -- the "alley" -- is Professor Hartley's point-by-point critical analysis of Publix's PR pablum, including her questions for Mr. West. Tomorrow's installment -- the "oop" -- is the second half of her letter in which she breaks Publix's position down to its essence and challenges the grocery giant with one final, penetrating question. So, without further ado, here is part one, or the alley, of Professor Hartley's letter to Publix:

And check back tomorrow for Part 2!

April 3, 2013

Publix march fuels Wendy's actions!

Wendy's protests on the docket for April around the northeast...

Last week we talked about the law of conservation of (social) energy, the notion of how social energy, like physical energy, once created -- as it was in massive quantities during last month's March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food -- is never destroyed but only changes form. By this law, the energy created in the Publix march will not be lost, but will continue to manifest itself in an ever-growing demand for the full respect for human rights in our nation's food industry.

In short, social action begets more action. And nowhere is that rule more evident than in the growing Wendy's campaign, where Fair Food activists who live outside of Publix's southeastern market -- many of whom traveled to Florida to march for all or part of the 200-mile trek to Publix's headquarters in Lakeland -- are directing their energy toward Wendy's and the campaign to convince the country's third largest fast food company to join Taco Bell, McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, and Chipotle in working with the CIW to eliminate farm labor exploitation in Florida's tomato fields.

The energy is particularly high in the northeast, and we will begin our tour in Boston where, just three days after the final day of the march here in Florida, 30 students braved the snow and picketed a local Wendy's (above). Here's their report:

Meanwhile, in New York, the fine folks at the Community Farmworker Alliance-- who helped organize an entire bus of marchers for the final days of the march -- are turning their energy into action and planning a "Pigtail March for Justice" next week (Sunday, April 14th). Here below is Siena Chrisman of WhyHunger writing in the pages of ediblemanhattan.com about the connection between her experience at the march on Publix and the upcoming Wendy's action in NYC:

Finally, the people over at Philadelphia Campaign for Fair Food, who will not be outdone when it comes to taking action for farm labor justice, are organizing their own action. In their own words:

They even included a link to the march wrap-up video to help move their ranks to action.

In the weeks and months ahead, the Wendy's campaign will continue to heat up. If you have recently held, or are organizing, Wendy's actions in your community, be sure to let us know and we'll share your pictures and reports with the entire Fair Food nation!

April 2, 2013

Peeps protesting Publix...

... and a march media round-up!

And now, in the immortal words of Monty Python, for something completely different...

Last week we brought you news of a Fair Food twist on the traditional Seder plate, a way to inject the modern-day story of farm labor liberation through the Fair Food Program into the age-old Exodus story celebrated every year at Passover.

This week, on a decidedly less serious note, we have a little twist on the traditional Easter basket to share with you: a Peeps-based re-creation of last month's March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food!

As part of Sunday's big Easter egg hunt at the CIW's office in Immokalee (right), CIW Women's Group members and their kids collaborated on the creation of a massive, colorful -- and delicious -- Peeps diorama.

[Ed. note: We must admit that while the March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food theme is almost certainly unique, the Peep diorama itself, examples of which you can find here, here, and here, is a proud tradition that pre-dates Sunday's CIW egg hunt. We, sadly, can't claim credit for that particularly brilliant idea.]

The diorama is a remarkably faithful rendition of the march, right down to the sound truck leading the way, the statue held aloft on a litter by four strong Peeps at the head of the march, the beautiful blue banners (the Penny-per-Pound example can be seen here on the right) announcing the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Fair Food Program, and the big yellow school bus bringing up the rear. The diorama even made great use of the giant white Peeps brought back this holiday season as a special treat (angry eyebrows not included, of course)!

So, in the spirit of the holidays, we share with you today a bit of Easter in Immokalee, Fair Food style. Enjoy it now, because those Peeps will be long gone by tomorrow.

Now, on to other business... The debate touched off by last month's march has not died down, with dueling op/eds published last week in Jacksonville's Florida Times Union, one a powerful opinion piece written by Rabbi Jesse Olitzky of the Jacksonville Jewish Center, the other a response from Publix to the rabbi's piece. Links to the two articles require a subscription, so we are including Rabbi Olitzky's eloquent article here, below, in its entirety:

Unfortunately, Publix chose to respond to Rabbi Olitzky's piece with the same, tired public relations drivel that it has used to answer inquiries about the Fair Food Program for several years now. Here are the relevant excerpts, you might recognize them by now:

And so on. Non-responsive. Sophistic. Twaddle.

Finally, Tampa's alternative weekly Creative Loafing weighs in on the march with a brief article entitled "Rotten Tomatoes" (3/28/13). Here's an excerpt:

Oh, wait, that's the exact same stuff they said in the Jacksonville article. It's like they just don't even care at this point. You can just picture Ms. Brous distractedly flipping through the pages of a report on company profits and checking Publix's Facebook page as she rotely repeats Publix's talking points, for the thousandth time, to the Tampa reporter.

We'll give CIW members Leonel Perez and Lupe Gonzalo the last word:

Check back soon for more from that campaign.

March 29, 2013

VIDEO: A final look back at the March for Rights, Respect,
and Fair Food...

Plus: An (unintentional) glimpse into the real (and misguided) reason why Publix won't pay the penny? Read on...

We begin today's update with a special treat for our readers who participated in the march, as well as for all those who just felt like they did because they followed the excellent daily video updates from afar. Our march media team has compiled a final highlight video with some of the most moving moments from the inspirational -- and for a remarkable number of participants, transformative (see the young marcher's story at the end of today's post) -- 200-mile trek. From the contemplative, and uplifting, launch at Jesus Obrero Church in Ft. Myers to the raucous final day with 1,500 farmworkers and Fair Food allies marching on Publix's headquarters in Lakeland, the video tells the story of a march that will surely go down in the pages of farm labor history. So check it out, and don't let the 10-minute length daunt you, it's 10 of the best minutes you'll spend today, we promise!

On another note, an article that came out this week in Publix's hometown paper, the Lakeland Ledger (if you followed the march, you might remember that the Ledger is the paper that wouldn't publish this op/ed by the nationally-respected religious leader and best-selling author Brian McLaren ahead of the marchers' arrival in Lakeland), may cast some light on the real reason behind Publix's refusal to join eleven other billion-dollar food retailers and pay the penny-per-pound to help farmworkers earn a fair wage. The article, which focuses on Publix's price competition with Walmart, quotes Publix spokeswoman Shannon Patten on the company's efforts to manage prices in its supply chain (the photo below, which accompanies the article, was provided by Publix to the Lakeland Ledger):

That sounds reasonable, in the abstract. But what happens when customers aren't asking Publix to "challenge" or "delay" a cost increase? What about when customers are instead asking Florida's largest grocer to support a small increase so that farmworkers might see some long-delayed, and much-deserved, justice? And, Ms. Patten, before you say, "But the people who march with the CIW are just a small segment of our market and don't represent broader consumer sentiment," here's a little visual evidence to the contrary, from a Tampa television station that polled its viewers during last year's Fast for Fair Food:

So here are the facts:

• Support for the Fair Food Program's penny-per-pound price premium is broad, and growing deeper every day;
  
  
• The need for this particular cost increase is not only justified, it is widely documented, and urgent;
  
  
• The cost increase in this instance is certainly small enough to be absorbed comfortably by a company that clears over $1 billion in profits every year, but if it were in fact passed on to the consumer, the penny-per- pound would only raise the typical tomato price at the produce aisle by approximately one half of one percent (0.5%).

This is one cost increase Publix needs to re-think, even by its own standards. To be a real customer advocate, in the case of the Fair Food Program, means getting with the program and paying the penny-per-pound.

Finally, we began this post with a mention of the transformative power of the March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food, for many of its participants, and we wanted to close today by sharing a quick, heartwarming message that reached the CIW this week from two of those participants, a first-grader by the name of Wylie and his mom Ericka. Ericka wrote to let us know that Wylie's participation in the march "changed the way my son sees the world." She added that Wylie gave a presentation to his first grade class in Illinois about his participation in the march (shown below with the triptych he prepared for his presentation), and that together he and his mom are preparing to deliver letters to the managers of nearby Wendy's stores:

The Fair Food movement is not going away. With Wylie, and uncounted others across the country who believe deeply in the need to ensure justice, equality, and fair pay for those who harvest their food, it only grows stronger every day.

Have a great holiday weekend, everyone.

March 27, 2013

A tomato on the Seder plate...

This Passover, join families across the country in celebrating a modern story of liberation with a tomato on the Seder plate!

This week, at hundreds of Passover Seders across the country, Florida's modern story of farmworker liberation is sitting squarely at the center of the holiday table. Joining the bitter herbs (symbolizing the bitterness of slavery) and salt water (tears shed during enslavement) on the traditional Seder plate is a new item: a shiny red tomato.

This creative twist on the traditional recounting of the Jewish story of exodus from slavery to freedom comes courtesy of longtime CIW ally T'ruah (formerly Rabbis for Human Rights -- North America). Rabbis associated with T'ruah from Atlanta to New York City have published op/eds rallying Jewish communities around the country to the innovative idea for raising consciousness about the new day for farmworkers in Florida's tomato fields, and have even designed this Haggadah Supplement (available for download and personal use). Here's an excerpt from one such op/ed, this one from Rabbi Eric Soloman in North Carolina ("From Farm to (Seder) Plate: Supporting a New Crop of Modern-day Isaiahs," Zeek, 3/22/13):

Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, Director of North American Programs for T'ruah and a participant along with her daughter in the March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food earlier this month (they're shown together in the photo below at the march), also penned her own op/ed, writing in the pages of the New York Daily News ("Why I'm putting a tomato on my seder plate," NY Daily News, 3/24/13):

From coast to coast, we've received word that the Fair Food Program has indeed been the talk of many a Seder table — and that some groups have even given the new tradition their own flair. The Workmen's Circle in Boston, MA, crafted their own "Tomato on the Seder Plate" cards and have already distributed almost 300 of them at schools and Seders throughout New York City and Long Island. Meanwhile, at Yavneh Day School in CA, every 5th-8th grader spent a entire day on the theme of farmworker justice that spanned all subjects (yes, even in math class, where they constructed word problems on the penny-per-pound... hmm... let's see... If CA-based Ralph's buys 20 million pounds of Florida tomatoes a year, and Ralph's parent company Kroger finally decides to join the Fair Food Program and pay a penny-per-pound to help raise farmworkers's pay, how many more dollars will go to Florida farmworkers and their families thanks to Ralph's? We'll let you do the math!). They even painted the beautiful plates featured at the top of this post:

We'll wrap-up today's post with the words of a young person delivered pre-Passover, as part of her D'var Torah, the sermon one gives in the Jewish rite of passage process of becoming a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. She delivered it on the eve of the 200-mile march, and it is a keen reminder of the transformative power of actions for social justice in a young person's life. This young woman, Leila, marched to Stop & Shop with the CIW in Boston in the snow two years ago at age 11, and now at age 13, when it came time for her to share her thoughts and analysis with a large audience for the first time, she chose to share her reflection on the march. Here's Leila, speaking on the topic of wisdom:

This year, a tomato on the seder plate.

Next year, perhaps, Publix too will have developed the wisdom, as Leila has, to know what wrong is and how to right it.

March 25, 2013

The march may be over, but its impact just keeps going and going!

141 Methodist Women visit Immokalee in wake of the march, send scorching letter to Publix Board Chair Carol Jenkins Barnett; Marchers pen own words in response to Publix's stubborn resistance to human rights...

Though the March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food ended just over a week ago, the momentum for Fair Food continues to build. Inspired by their time in the street with workers from Immokalee calling on Publix to respect farmworkers' rights, many of the groups who took part in the march are taking matters into their own hands and turning up the heat in recent days.

One organization in particular, United Methodist Women -- whose members marched with us, organized meals for hundreds, and read a statement of solidarity for International Women's Day from United Methodist Women's General Secretary/CEO Harriet Jane Olson -- organized a visit to Immokalee for their members from across their Southwest District this past Saturday. They came to learn about farmworker reality, about the history of farm labor exploitation in Florida and about the "New Day" of respect for farmworkers' rights under the Fair Food Program -- with a particular focus on the situation of women in the fields -- and to channel their new-found knowledge into action in the Publix campaign.

In what may have been one of the biggest visits to the CIW Community Center to date, the delegation included 141 United Methodist Women from 26 congregations across the region. And they wasted no time in taking action, addressing letters to Carol Jenkins Barnett, the chair of the Publix Board of Directors, daughter of Publix founder George Jenkins and one of the richest people on the planet -- someone who, simply by waking up tomorrow with a change of heart, has the power to change Publix's position on the Fair Food Program.

The letter, on the occasion of April Fool's Day, calls on Ms. Jenkins Barnett to use her power to end Publix's policy of spreading falsehoods about the Fair Food Program, adding, "please don't take Publix's customers as fools." You can read the full text below:

In the next week, Publix managers across southwest Florida can expect to hear from 141 Methodist Women who ask Ms. Jenkins Barnett to "please help Publix to do the 'right thing,' and become part of the solution to ending the human rights injustices in agriculture."

And speaking of Publix managers... We wanted to share with you this beautiful reflection that came to us in the days following the march from marcher and long-time Campaign for Fair Food stalwart, the Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson. It is an excerpt from a message she wrote to her congregation at the First United Church of Tampa, UCC, following her participation at the Tampa vigil in support of the march (do yourself a favor and check out the incredible video from that unforgettable night before reading her words). Speaking of the Publix manager and company representatives that received the delegation from the vigil that night, she wrote:

You can see a slightly longer, published version of Rev. Powell Jackson's reflection here.

Finally, we close this update with words from one of the youngest marchers, Luna St. Peter, 9, who participated in the entire two-week march with her mom (Julie), dad (Bob), and little sister (Emma) from Maine. For those of you who followed the march, Luna's smiling, full-of-life image is one of the unforgettable memories of the 200-mile journey, but here's a picture of the whole family for those who are just tuning in today, from the rally on Day Fifteen (Luna is standing in front, wearing the CIW cap):

In poring over the thousands of pictures taken on Day Fifteen, one picture -- that of a page containing the lyrics of an original song written in a child's hand -- passed under the radar on the first sweep. But a second look revealed a hidden gem -- an original composition, the product of a brilliant young person's mind processing two weeks of her life spent in the company of hundreds of people dedicated to justice, compassion, and human rights, a poem from the heart that should melt the hearts of those who, for whatever misguided reasons, have turned their backs on justice. Here below is the picture, followed by the lyrics:

"Some people are bare, some don't even care
But the people are the people and we are people too
When there's a problem we solve it right and we work together
It might take a month, it might take a year

It might take a month, it might take a year,
but the people are the people
Some people are mean and some people are nice
And we can change, change their hearts cuz we are people too"

Thanks, again, Luna.

March 20, 2013

The March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food is a Wrap...

Epic fifteen-day journey, huge final day lift Publix campaign to new level, inspire thousands of new leaders in fight for Fair Food!

The fifteen-day, 200-mile March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food came to a loud, colorful, and jubilant end on Sunday, March 17th outside Publix corporate headquarters in Lakeland.

The final day began with a 6-mile march through the city of Lakeland and ended with a 2-hour long rally that had audience members swinging between tears one moment and riotous laughter the next, as marchers reflected on the significance of their monumental journey, musicians performed a diverse selection of songs on human rights from 50-year old civil rights standards to fresh new hip hop tracks, and the CIW theater troupe put on its most elaborate production to date (the picture below gives a taste of the theater action):

By any measure, the march was a huge success. The two-week trek provided an ideal vehicle for unprecedented face-to-face outreach. Forty-five different churches and community groups were involved in feeding and housing the marchers on the 200-mile route, all of whom were able to learn of the Fair Food Program from the workers' perspective first-hand. Moreover, marchers were fueled along the way by the near constant honking and thumbs up of thousands of drivers and onlookers, most of whom had likely never heard of the campaign before coming across the march on the road:

Media coverage of the march was widespread and uniformly positive, as well, and began to chip away at the misinformation about the penny-per-pound payments and non sequiturs that have made up the whole of Publix's response to the Fair Food Program to date. Finally pressed beyond her canned quotes and facile dodges in this article, Publix spokesperson Shannon Patten revealed the real reason the grocery giant continues to turn its back on the Fair Food Program and purchase tomatoes from the few remaining non-participating buyers -- a reason that effectively boils down to "we prefer business as usual over human rights." Here's an excerpt:

But perhaps the most important upshot of the march was the impact it had on the participants themselves, the energy and commitment it forged in those who marched, whether for an hour or for all fifteen days, which will last long into the future and power the ongoing battle for Fair Food for years to come. Hundreds of new Fair Food activists were formed on this march, inspired by the workers' sacrifices, but also by the unfailingly warm, friendly, joyous spirit of celebration -- as opposed to protest -- that characterized the two-week long action. Like the physical law of the conservation of energy -- according to which, energy, once created, is never destroyed but only changes form -- the social energy created in the March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food will also never be destroyed, but will continue to manifest itself in an ever-growing demand for the full respect for human rights in our nation's food industry.

So, to give you a living, breathing sense of that energy, we close our final march wrap-up with a link to all the great videos and photo report narratives from our fifteen days on the road (including the final video with all the action from Day Fifteen). Take some time to re-live the march through the links below, to kindle that energy in your own spirit, and to fuel your own commitment to carrying the Campaign for Fair Food forward, both toward an agreement with Publix and toward a food industry founded on respect for farmworkers' human rights across the board, from Wendy's to Publix, from fast-food to supermarkets:

And, finally, you can find all the past daily wrap-ups right here:

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