Fair Food Nation, get ready!
This spring, in honor of National Farmworker Awareness Week, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is embarking on the Spring of Consciousness tour across three of Florida's biggest cities: Tampa, Miami, and Orlando! In each city, the CIW will connect with student, faith, and community allies and build awareness of the abuses farmworkers continue to face in fields from Homestead, Florida, to Delano, California, outside of the Fair Food Program (FFP).
For the last twenty years, farmworkers and consumer allies have stood together in the Campaign for Fair Food, demanding dignity and respect for the people who put food on our tables. That alliance has helped to usher in a new day of human rights for tens of thousands of farmworkers across the US who are now protected by the FFP, backed by legally-binding agreements from those same corporations that were once the subject of national protests by the Fair Food Nation, including McDonalds, Trader Joe’s, Burger King, and more.
Now, we are looking to deepen the bonds of solidarity between farmworkers and consumer allies by kicking off the Spring of Consciousness tour in Florida, which will feature presentations by farmworker leaders at different universities, congregations, and community organizations and a museum-style exhibit about the history of the CIW’s fight against forced labor in the fields.
Through this tour, the combined voices of farmworkers and consumer allies will ring louder than ever in their call for Wendy’s, Kroger, and Publix to finally join the FFP and expand its transformative power to the farmworkers who still toil outside of its industry-leading protections.
Wage theft, sexual assault, physical violence, and, in the most extreme cases, modern-day slavery remain all too common outside the reach of the FFP — and yet, as the Fair Food Program's unparalleled track record of success shows, these outrageous abuses are entirely preventable.
Since 2010, the FFP has restored hope for farmworkers and has served as a bright light in an often dark industry. The Program’s unique effectiveness is made possible by the partnership among workers, growers, and buyers, and demonstrates how respectful collaboration -- backed by real market power -- can create change.
Despite the Fair Food Program's unprecedented success, however, a handful of food industry leaders remain stubbornly opposed to embracing its proven ability to protect vulnerable farmworkers from longstanding abuse. That is why the CIW is reaching out to the Fair Food Nation this spring to help expand the FFP to new farms and fields where it is desperately needed. Indeed, rather than help spearhead the FFP’s expansion to thousands of farmworkers beyond the reach of its protections today, these corporations continue to reject calls from consumers to participate in the Presidential Medal-winning Program.
Yet, the commitment and consciousness of farmworkers and allies over the course of CIW's history has brought about extraordinary change in the fields time and time again. And we see that change everyday on the FFP's participating farms where workers can confidently report complaints without fear of retaliation, women can work in peace knowing they are protected from sexual assault, and workers see the difference in their checks that comes as a line item "Fair Food Bonus" by participating buyers.
Farmworkers across the country deserve to work in fields and greenhouses where they no longer have to fear being beaten, sexually assaulted, or robbed by their bosses and where consumers know that the workers who picked their produce were treated with dignity and respect. Only when all large buyers of produce are part of the Program will freedom and safety for all farmworkers be possible. Now more than ever consumers in Florida and nationally must demand that Wendy’s, Publix, and Kroger join the Fair Food Program.
To learn more about the Spring of Consciousness Tour, email workers@ciw-online.org!
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La Jornada: “Both the administrators and the CIW explain that, in the end, the agreement not only directly benefited the workers but also improved the company’s business and reputation.” Lucas Benitez, CIW co-founder, on Worker-driven Social Responsibility: “How beautiful it is that we can say: here’s the formula for this medicine and you can adapt it to your reality…” Since its inception 15 years ago, the Fair Food Program has ushered in a new day for farmworkers across the US by guaranteeing them essential human rights protections against wage theft, harassment, retaliation, and modern-day slavery. And now, the Presidential Medal-winning FFP […]
Welcome to Florida podcast: “The CIW was instrumental to enacting one of the most effective programs to improve working conditions for agriculture workers in U.S. history, the Fair Food Program.” Nely Rodriguez, CIW: “During the fast, I found myself reflecting on the things I’ve seen, like the mothers here who have to get up extremely early to drop their kids off at daycare or school, but under the Fair Food Program, that is no longer the case. If we can make this Program expand, those things will change.” Although the Fair Food Program now operates in 23 states domestically, covering […]
Gerardo Reyes Chavez, CIW: “We have been able to get rid of situations of modern-day slavery. The [Fair Food] Program has elevated conditions to the point of prevention.” “If you can do something to help some of the most vulnerable workers in this country, do it… Help us expand [the Fair Food Program].” As the Fair Food Program continues to expand both domestically and overseas, the CIW’s Gerardo Reyes Chavez sat down with Danielle Nierenberg, the founder of Food Tank, to reflect on the history of the CIW, the birth of the FFP, and the crucial role consumer allies continue to play today […]
José Ignacio, VT construction worker at press conference: “Just like we know that the community is facing challenges, we know that the community is capable of creating solutions.” Douglas Guerra, construction worker and CTUL Board President: “It is a win-win for both the workers and the companies that join the program. Workers can expect decent conditions and fair pay, while construction companies can be at the forefront of a system that will change the entire industry.” In yet another groundbreaking victory for advancing workers’ fundamental human rights through the Worker-driven Social Responsibility model, the Vermont Construction Company has committed to join […]
Professor Susan Marquis, in Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Envisioned and led by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the Fair Food Program is transforming agriculture, ending the endemic abuse on farms across the U.S. and, increasingly, around the globe. When this groundbreaking program was still a bold but untested idea in the early 2000s, Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center brought expertise in conflict resolution and Carter’s prestige to the farmworkers’ campaign for human rights.” Decades-long relationship began in 1997 with the former President’s public intervention in the CIW’s month-long hunger strike, continued through birth of Fair Food Program and growth of WSR […]
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