CIW members and documentarians from the award-winning Canadian film production company Mercury Films shoot scenes for an educational video that will be distributed to farmworkers on over 90% of Florida’s tomato fields beginning next season. The video is just one way workers will learn about their new rights under the Fair Food Code of Conduct in a process that is already underway on some of Florida’s largest tomato farms. Mercury Films personnel are generously donating their time and resources to help produce the unique new video.

Change.org calls out Ahold; Neighbors call Publix to account; NYC Community Farmworker Alliance readies for Northeast Encuentro (Feb. 4-5)…

As the Campaign for Fair Food inches closer to the big “Do the Right Thing Tour” (now less than one month away!), the focus continues to tighten on Ahold and Publix.

Over at change.org, the exciting new media center for grassroots social change, they’re singling out Ahold brand Stop & Shop for its refusal to work with the CIW, and encouraging consumers to join the Fair Food march in Boston this February 27th. In the process, they do a fine job of framing the theory of change behind the Campaign for Fair Food and the decision before Ahold executives today:

“The CIW’s Campaign for Fair food is revolutionizing the tomato industry and the lives of thousands of farmworkers. Here’s how it works: by leveraging their high-volume purchasing power, corporations like Ahold USA can either prevent or perpetuate farmworker exploitation and modern-day slavery in the U.S. Right now, Ahold USA is keeping wages low and conditions poor for the men and women who harvest the tomatoes they use. But by signing onto the Campaign for Fair Food, Ahold USA would help raise farmworker wages by a penny a pound and prevent serious rights violations, including human trafficking, in the workplace. Sounds like an easy choice, right?”

An easy choice, yes, but one Ahold continues to get woefully wrong.

Meanwhile, in Lakeland, Florida, even Publix’s neighbors are demanding justice from the hometown grocery giant. Here’s a hard-hitting letter to the editor of the Lakeland Ledger from January 19, 2011:

“If there are some atrocities going on, it’s not our business.” — Publix spokesman Dwaine Stevens, Dec. 11, to The Bulletin, Daphne, Ala.

Oh yes. There are some atrocities going on. Slavery exists in 21st century Florida. The new phrase for it is human trafficking. “Federal Civil Rights officials have successfully prosecuted seven slavery operations involving over 1,000 workers in Florida’s fields since 1997, prompting one federal prosecutor to call Florida ‘ground zero for modern-day slavery,'” according to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. The coalition is asking for a penny a pound increase in pay for tomato pickers and agreements to banish working conditions in which slavery can flourish.

Publix does not employ agricultural workers. It purchases tomatoes from brokers who buy from farmers who hire the contractors who pay the workers. Publix reports that its “Net earnings for the third quarter of 2010 were $283.2 million, compared to $254.9 million in 2009, an increase of 11.1 percent. Earnings per share increased to $0.36 for the third quarter of 2010, up from $0.32 per share in 2009.”

Admirable, to be able to make a profit in this economy — perhaps a penny a pound increase in pickers’ wages won’t break the bank. But Publix says slavery and poverty is none of its business.

Taco Bell thinks this is its business. It has agreed to the wage increase and guarantee to do business only with brokers that treat the agriculture workers fairly. So have McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Whole Foods Market and giant food-service corporations Bon Appetit Management Co., Compass Group, Aramark and Sodexo.

Why? Because systems built on exploitation are bound to fail. Because more and more consumers are voting their consciences with their dollars. Atrocities in Florida fields are my business, and Publix’s.

SUSAN TRUETT

“Because systems built on exploitation are bound to fail.” Perfect.

Finally, this weekend is the highly-anticipated Northeast Encuentro, hosted by the fine people at the NYC Community Farmworker Alliance. Click here if you are interested in joining other Northeast Fair Food activists for an exciting weekend of strategic planning and celebration.