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.
Two Farms Agree to Better Wages, Conditions for Florida Tomato Workers
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The campaign of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to bring better wages and improved working conditions to Florida’s tomato fields took a big step forward this week.
Whole Foods Market announced that two of the largest organic growers in Florida—Lady Moon Farms and Alderman Farms—have signed agreements to implement the principles of the “penny-per-pound” program to improve wages for tomato harvesters. That means workers on those farms will get 72 cents to 77 cents for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick, up from 40 cents to 45 cents.
These agreements effectively break a stalemate that began nearly two growing seasons ago when the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange threatened to levy a $100,000 fine on any member who participated in the CIW agreements. At that time, two Florida growers who had been passing on the penny-per-pound increase under a 2007 agreement with Taco Bell agreement ceased doing so.
Although fast-food companies such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway and Yum! all agreed to the CIW principles, no farms in the area dared buck the Growers Exchange until now.
McDonald’s to Limit Pesticides After Shareholder Action
In a big win for workers and consumers, McDonald’s Corp., the largest purchaser of potatoes in the United States, has agreed to take steps to reduce pesticides used to produce french fries and other potato products.
The action came in response to a shareholder proposal by three investors, including the AFL-CIO, that would have required McDonald’s to publish a report on options for reducing pesticide use in its supply chain. Under the agreement, the groups—Bard College Endowment, Newground Social Investment and the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund—will withdraw the shareholder resolution they filed jointly.
