FTGE’s “New Social Responsibility Program” an old lemon with a fresh coat of paint…
We told you yesterday that we’d have more to say about the FTGE’s big unveiling of a “New Social Responsibility Program,” and now that we’ve had a chance to take a look under the hood, here’s what we’ve found:
- The FTGE’s “new” code of conduct is 90% identical to it’s old code of conduct, known as SAFE.
[SAFE, or “Socially Responsible Farm Employers,” was unveiled, also with much fanfare, in 2006 but discredited from the outset by its total lack of worker input or enforcement mechanisms, and ultimately undone by the finding of slavery operations on SAFE-certified farms. This is also a helpful read for a look at the origins of SAFE.]
- Where the “new” code is different from SAFE, the FTGE has taken provisions from the CIW’s Fair Food code of conduct, but not before rendering those provisions meaningless by carefully removing any and all forms of worker participation.
- The true character of the FTGE’s “new” code is perhaps most clearly revealed in what its drafters chose not to borrow from the CIW’s Fair Food code.
In short, what the FTGE has done is take a broken-down old lemon of a code and slap some fresh paint on it. And now they’re trying to sell it as a “new social responsibility program.” What follows is a detailed breakdown of the above three points of analysis. It’s a little technical, but worth reading through to get a full picture of the FTGE’s strategy here.But after this, we’re going back to reporting on real news from the Campaign for Fair Food. Despite all the fanfare, the FTGE’s whole “New Social Responsibility Program” is old news. Even their announcement that they would no longer fine their members for participating in the penny-per-pound agreements is old news – they announced the same thing back in October of last year following the defection of Florida’s third largest tomato grower, East Coast Growers and Packers.In other words (and this is especially true for the fields): Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss…