Editorial: “Consumers must back farmworkers”…
Cutting through the hype and spin coming from the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange on the growers’ “new social responsibility program,” the Ft. Myers News-Press published the following editorial this morning (“Consumers must back Farmworkers,” 2/19/10). It is included here in its entirety:
 “It sounds like a complete victory for Florida tomato pickers, until you take a second look.
The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange announced it was reversing its long and fierce opposition to letting its grower members distribute extra wages to workers contributed by several major fast-food companies and grocers. The FTGE also announced a social responsibility program to establish guidelines for employment practices. This seemed like another milestone in the remarkably successful campaign of the grass-roots Coalition of Immokalee Workers for better pay and conditions for tomato pickers, whose wages have been stagnant for decades. But one goal of the FTGE’s change of position seems to be to undermine the coalition, the very organization that forced the FTGE reversal. The FTGE’s new policy presumably will allow growers to pass on to pickers an extra penny per pound of tomatoes harvested, which the coalition got the food retailers to agree to pay. Previously, the FTGE, to which 75 percent of growers in the state’s $400 million tomato industry belong, threatened $100,000 fines against any members who passed the penny through to their workers. It relented on that recently. So why is the coalition not celebrating? The problem is that the social responsibility program which the coalition worked out with McDonald’s, Burger King and other food retailers was crafted with worker participation. On the other hand, the FTGE’s program excludes worker participation through the coalition, or otherwise. Coalition leader Lucas Benitez says, “In the end, the growers’ code leaves the foxes squarely in charge of the henhouse, and sadly, Florida tomato growers have never demonstrated the ability to police themselves.” It is the workers, through the coalition, who have brought this campaign this far, persuading retailers — and the public whose good opinion the retailers cherish — that the pickers deserve better than the growers were giving them. It is critical that customers educate themselves on whether the retailers they patronize are supporting the coalition’s Campaign for Fair Food, as well as other sincere, independent campaigns to ensure fair pay and humane conditions for the agricultural workers who harvest what we eat and drink. Those workers need an engaged public.” |
Confusion Alert!: And one more thing… while we’re on the subject. Some news outlets have had a harder time sifting through the hype in the FTGE’s announcement, resulting in stories like this, which reported, “In a surprise move Tuesday, the Florida Tomato Exchange agreed to pay migrant workers the extra penny per pound the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has fought for the last three years.“
Naturally, this has caused considerable confusion around the meaning of the FTGE’s decision to allow its individual members, if they so choose, to pass on the penny-per-pound. So, here’s the real story:
The FTGE is not saying its members will start paying workers one more penny per pound across the board.
They’re not even saying they’ll require buyers to pay a penny more per pound…
They’re simply saying that they’ll allow their members to pass on whatever price premium particular buyers want to pay, whether it’s a penny per pound, half a penny per pound, or less. Or nothing, which is still the case for all retail food companies that have not yet reached an agreement with the CIW, despite the FTGE’s announcement.
So for anyone who mistook this news for an announcement that the FTGE was instituting an across-the-board, penny-per-pound raise, please understand that is not the case.
Hope that clears that up. And please check back very soon for some big news from the Modern-Day Slavery Museum (soon to be in a community near you!), which has gathered some impressive support while this story was making a stir.