The long wait is over. The paint is dry on the signs and banners, shelter and food along the route are set, even the port-a-potties are lined up and ready to go…
This morning, hundreds of workers from Immokalee and their Fair Food allies are gathering in downtown Tampa for the launch of the long-anticipated Farmworker Freedom March!
We will have complete coverage of the march — photos, video, and first-hand reports — later this evening. We’ll also be tweeting throughout the day, so check on us on twitter here. And in the meantime, check out some of the pre-march press for a sense of the excitement that around the state this morning:
| “TAMPA — The Coalition of Immokalee Workers doesn’t give up.
Since it organized a national boycott against Taco Bell in 2001, each company it has asked to pay tomato pickers a penny more per pound has agreed to do so. The group often has to march and picket. It took them four years to persuade Taco Bell. But they’ve won every battle, including campaigns aimed at McDonald’s and Burger King. Now the coalition has its sights set on Publix…” “Farm workers coalition targeting Publix over pay for pickers” ***** “Thirty-year-old Romeo Ramirez has worked on Florida farms for his ‘whole life,’ he says. And despite the conditions he’s seen — stagnant wages, no benefits, and even migrant farm workers forced to work against their will — he still seems to see the state he lives in as a vast community, where neighbors should be pitching in to help neighbors…” “Immokalee Workers Plan Major Push on Publix This Weekend” ***** “… ‘We wanted to have a large and strong and visible action over the course of a number of days,’ said Marc Rodrigues, with the Student Farmworker Alliance, a group that is participating in the event… He said the campaign to increase the price of tomatoes by a penny a pound began in 2001 and has largely been successful, with Publix being the exception among large grocers, food distributors and restaurants. ‘I don’t know why,’ Rodrigues said. ‘We would think that Publix, based here in Florida, would jump at this opportunity. It’s baffling why they are not.'” “Tomato pickers plan march to Publix to protest prices” |
Check back soon for the full update from Day One of the 2010 Farmworker Freedom March!