First order of business: Supermarket Week of Action with kick-off protest at Trader Joe’s headquarters!

The 2011 Fair Food Summit — a gathering of Fair Food activists from across the country with workers in Immokalee for a jam-packed, three-day planning process aimed at intensifying, and winning, the Supermarket Campaign — is a wrap. And as participants make their way home to communities from New York to California, they are carrying with them plans for a significant escalation of the movement to secure the supermarkets’ support for fair wages and humane working conditions in Florida’s tomato fields.

The first big action on the calendar: A national Supermarket Week of Action, October 16-24, to be kicked-off in style with a major protest and rally at Trader Joe’s corporate headquarters in Monrovia, CA, on October 14th!

International Food Day is October 16th, and National Food Day celebrations follow the next weekend, designed to “transform the way Americans eat,” with six defined goals, including #6: “Support fair conditions for food and farm workers.” The Campaign for Fair Food Supermarket Week of Action is book-ended by the two Food Days, and will feature supermarket protests from coast to coast.

Check back soon for more details on the upcoming week of action and how you can organize a protest in your hometown. And click here to find a brief photo report from the Fair Food Summit, including a lively protest at a Ft. Myers Publix store.

The Fair Food Summit came to an end on Sunday, dovetailing nicely into the CIW’s annual Independence Day Party (September 15-16 are Mexican and Guatemalan Independence Days), which, though it takes place in the community’s off-season, is always a nice celebration for the few hearty souls who brave the long, slow days of Immokalee’s summer and look forward to the return of the harvest in November.

Here’s an excerpt from a Naples Daily News article on the party, entitled “Independence days, labor rights celebration mix in Immokalee,” (9/18/11):

“… This year, CIW members also handed out fliers and made announcements about the new labor standards, which take effect this year at 90 percent of Florida tomato fields. The landmark negotiations resulted in a penny-per-pound wage increase agreement with most major tomato buyers, an abuse reporting system and regulations that farm workers only need to fill to the top of buckets, among other benefits. Carmen Esquivel, who has worked with CIW since she discovered her brother was making $35 picking tomatoes, said most Immokalee workers know of the regulations, though some remain in the dark. ‘We’re not just celebrating independence day, but the triumph of labor rights here,’ Esquivel said. ‘I think probably 80 percent of people here know the agreement. Those of us who know about the code have a responsibility to tell people who may not have heard and are coming down from the northern harvest.’ read more

Plans are taking shape for what is sure to be a season full of action in the CIW’s Supermarket Campaign. Stay tuned in the weeks and months ahead for details on how you can be a part of history as we write it, together, this coming season!