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| Students from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL, join CIW members, local Fair Food allies, and participants in the World Communion of Reformed Churches annual conference at a protest in front of a Naples, Florida, Publix yesterday, Cesar Chavez Day. Photo by David Albers/Naples Daily News. You can see a great gallery of pictures by David Albers from the action here. |
Drawn to Southwest Florida by the landmark agreement between the CIW and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange (FTGE), members of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WRC) — representing 80 million Christians worldwide, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the United Church of Christ — are meeting this weekend in Ft. Myers.
An op/ed published in the Florida Weekly (NB: this link goes to a pdf, please scroll down to see the op/ed) by the Rev. Dr. Thomas Harp of Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church and the Rev. Dr. Ron Patterson of Naples United Church of Christ explained why the WCRC chose to locate the annual conference in the CIW’s backyard and its connection to yesterday’s Publix protest:
| “… [The CIW/FTGE] agreement has become a true beacon of hope and a model for economic justice such that 90 percent of our state’s tomato harvesters now enjoy a strict code of conduct to protect their labor rights. The agreement also provides for a cooperative complaint resolution system, a participatory health and safety program and a worker-to-worker education process as well as a penny- per-pound wage increase for tomatoes sold to participating retailers.
The WCRC’s newly elected president, Jerry Pillay of the Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, along with pastors, seminary professors, theologians and |
The op/ed goes on to examine the recent shift in Publix’s message in response to the Campaign for Fair Food and challenges Publix to make true its assertion that it would pay the penny-per-pound if it were “put into the price”:
| “… Unfortunately, Publix has refused to join with Whole Foods and others to pay an extra penny a pound to help relieve farmworker poverty. However, recent statements suggest that Publix may be more open to that agreement than previously indicated. A new post on the company website states: ‘Publix is more than willing to pay a penny more per pound… however we will not pay employees of other companies directly for their labor.’ Instead, Publix recommends that growers, ‘put the cost of the tomatoes in the price they charge the industry for the goods.’
The CIW has clarified that in fact that’s exactly how the program works: ‘Repackers charge the extra penny to the retail buyer and those funds are then accounted for and passed on to the growers. It is price based. For most buyers, unless they themselves prefer a different system, the Fair Food premium is built directly into the price.’ Publix’s declaration of a willingness to pay the penny if a way can be found underscores the importance of company officials sitting down with the CIW to address the mechanics of passing the penny on to workers. Only through dialogue can the noble common objective of ensuring fair wages and safe work conditions for farmworkers be met…” read more |
We’ll have much more on Publix’s new “Put it in the price” mantra soon, but in the meantime, do check out the photos and article from yesterday’s protest. And definitely take a minute to watch a nice piece on the protest by local tv. It’s not every day you get religious leaders from 16 countries standing on a street corner in Naples calling for Fair Food!