Tomato Workers, Growers Sign Historic Agreement
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After more than 15 years of struggle, justice may be just around the corner in the Florida tomato fields. In what workers call a “watershed moment,” the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange (FTGE) yesterday signed an agreement that will extend the CIW’s Fair Food principles to more than 90 percent of the Florida tomato industry.
The agreement includes a strict code of conduct, a cooperative complaint resolution system, a health and safety program, a worker-to-worker education process and the penny more a pound for tomatoes picked that workers have long sought.
The agreement will take effect in two stages. This growing season (2010-2011), all participating FTGE members will pay the penny more per pound. At the same time, CIW and two growers, Six L’s and Pacific Tomato Growers will hammer out a process for enforcing the code of conduct throughout the industry. The code will apply only to Six L’s and Pacific this season. It goes into full effect in the 2011-2012 season.
Tomato Pickers’ Struggle Coming to a Grocery Store Near You
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The fight for justice for tomato pickers is headed to grocery store aisles across the country now that the top three food service companies and the four largest fast-food companies have signed agreements to improve wages and working conditions in the Florida tomato fields.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) announced earlier this week that Sodexo, the largest food service company in the nation, had agreed to pay an additional 1.5 cents for every pound of Florida tomatoes it purchases, with the extra money going directly to the harvesters.
At least 30,000 immigrant farm workers in Florida pick 95 percent of the nation’s tomato crop between October and June. The workers are demanding safer, more humane working conditions and a penny more per pound of tomatoes picked. Florida tomato pickers earn 45 cents for a 32-pound bucket of tomatoes, a rate that has not changed for three decades.
Sodexo joins a growing list of companies that have signed agreements with CIW, including Aramark, Compass Group North America, Bon Appetit Management Co., Subway, Taco Bell and its corporate parent, Yum! Brands, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Whole Foods Market.
Tomato Workers Score Huge Victory
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In a huge win for farm workers, one of the nation’s top food service and management companies reached an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to improve working conditions and give a raise directly to Florida’s tomato harvesters.
The pact between Compass Group North America and the CIW calls for the company to pay an additional 1.5 cents per pound for all the tomatoes it purchases each year, with 1 cent per pound passed directly from the supplier to the workers. The agreement boosts workers’ wages from 50 cents for a 32-pound bucket to 82 cents per bucket, a 64 percent increase.
This is the first agreement where the money goes directly to the workers. Previous agreements called for the money to go into an escrow account.
