Esperanza, the CIW’s 15 ft-tall, mobile puppet in the form of a female farmworker, walks the luxury store-lined streets of downtown Palm Beach on Day One of the Farmworker Freedom Festival yesterday, spreading her message of hope for a Fair Food agreement and a future of collaboration between workers and hamburger giant Wendy’s toward a more modern, more humane produce industry.
Day One of Farmworker Freedom Festival a big hit in the streets of historic Palm Beach.
Miami Herald: “Her name is Esperanza, or hope, because we hope for a better world,” said Lupe Gonzalo, a leader of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. “A world where we are all treated with dignity and respect as human beings.”
Day One of the CIW’s first-ever Farmworker Freedom Festival kicked off with a bang yesterday as the farmworker community of Immokalee unveiled its new, 15-ft tall, animated farmworker puppet and turned heads throughout the manicured, mansion-lined, streets of Palm Beach, Florida, home to business and financial leaders from around the country, including Wendy’s Board Chair Nelson Peltz.
And pedestrians in Palm Beach’s tony streets were not the only ones to take notice. Major media outlets, from NPR to the Miami Herald and the Palm Beach Daily News, issued extensive dispatches from the days events. The Palm Beach Daily News, in an article titled “Farmworkers bring three-day workers’ rights festival to Palm Beach this weekend,” described the motivation for the day’s events:
Esperanza crosses famous South Ocean Boulevard on her way to Brazilian Beach to take her message to star-struck beachgoers yesterday.
… Calling the festival a three-day “celebration of farmworker culture and fundamental human rights,” the fete was born as group leaders planned and realized there was more interest and there were more events than could fit in one day, the group said.
“As farmworkers, it is important to celebrate how far we have come thanks to the Fair Food Program, with its unique protections against wage theft, sexual harassment and even climate change, including mandatory rest, shade and water,” Lupe Gonzalo, farmworker and senior coalition staff member, said in a news release. “But we know that for every farmworker empowered by the FFP, there are many more still toiling in extreme exploitation outside the program’s bounds.”
That is why, Gonzalo said, the festival is held in Palm Beach — home to Nelson Peltz, the billionaire chair of the board of directors of fast-food giant Wendy’s. Peltz has the power to expand the Fair Food Program to include farmworkers in Wendy’s supply chain, Gonzalo said. read more
Meanwhile, the Miami Herald focused its coverage on the success of the Fair Food Program in transforming farmworkers’ lives, and on the unprecedented partnerships with both growers and buyers alike that have resulted from the FFP’s unique model for protecting farmworkers’ fundamental human rights. In an article titled, “Blocked by lawmakers, farmworkers seek help on heat protection from food industry,” the Herald wrote:
Pedestrians pose with Esperanza along South Ocean Boulevard.
… It’s not the first time South Florida farmworkers have tried the tactic of pressuring powerful corporations — and they have a track record of success. They have won contractsfor workplace improvements with some of the largest tomatoes buyers in the world, from McDonald’s to Walmart…
… Since then, the four largest fast-food companies— Burger King, McDonalds, Subway and Yum Brands (KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) have signed onto the Fair Food agreement. So have the three largest food service providers, Compass Group, Aramark and Sodexo.Now, they are focusing on the supermarket industry, including Florida-based Publix and additional fast food chains, including Wendy’s.
Bon Appétit, a company that runs more than 1,000 cafés in colleges and corporations, including Google, signed on to the Fair Food program in 2009. Theresa Chester, the company’s vice president of purchasing, said signing on was a matter of principle.
“Through our purchasing powers and our purchasing orders that go to the program, the issue of workers’ rights is brought to that same level of food safety,” Chester said. “Respect for workers is just as important as the food safety we bring to the table. It brings us peace of mind that our supply chain is free of those typical abuses…
… Jon Esformes, the CEO of the Sunripe Certified Brands tomato fields in Immokalee and Central Florida, said he can’t see and monitor every corner of the field, so having a reporting system that workers feel comfortable using is the main reason he joined forces with the coalition 14 years ago. While the company previously had a similar code, he said he soon realized workers were scared to complain to the boss and the audits and tipline became an important outlet.
“It was a 180-degree transformation in the relationship between the company and the people who do the work,” he said. “For lack of a better word, it was magical.” read more
Meanwhile, NPR station WGCU posted a behind-the-scenes video of farmworkers and their allies getting Esperanza ready for her cross-town trek on Day One and preparing Palm Beach’s Bradley Park for Day Two’s full schedule of events — including a blockbuster concert and original theater presentation — in an article titled, “Farmworker Freedom Festival kicked off in Palm Beach”:
And that’s still not all of the extensive media coverage from Day One! The produce industry journal The Packer carried a story on the unique 3-day festival, as did the online news magazine Truthout. Be sure to read those stories here and here, respectively.
That’s all for now from an exciting Day One of the first-ever Farmworker Freedom Festival. Be sure to check back tomorrow for a full report from Day Two!
