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Students, workers, community allies mark International Human Rights Day with Publix actions in Naples, Miami While many students are finishing exams, packing their bags, and getting ready to head home for the holidays, the Campaign for Fair Food continues in full swing! This past weekend, the CIW joined students and other Florida allies to celebrate the annual International Human Rights Day. This year, they had a special message for Publix: it's time to respect the human rights of farmworkers!
One day later, an energetic crowd packed the roadside at the Grand Opening of Publix's newest Miami location. Among the crowd were students from nearby Barry University, Miami Dade College, Florida International University, and the University of Miami. Even Santa Claus got in on the fun, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas except — of course — the biggest scrooge of them all (and no, we're not talking about Ebenezer!) To no one's surprise, Publix shunned another opportunity for dialogue and instead threatened to arrest anyone who entered the store simply seeking to speak with management. And so CIW members presented their Declaration of Farmworker RIghts to a rather reluctant corporate representative who had made the trek from Lakeland to see the action first-hand. Click here to see more photos and read the full report from Miami. Check back soon for more updates as we ring in a new year chock-full of actions, organizing, and (hopefully) some big victories! This Thanksgiving, keep the pressure on Trader Joe's! This week many of us will gather around the table with family and friends to celebrate love, life, and each other.
But this season will be a season like no other for Florida's farmworkers, thanks to their efforts and those of their allies, the Florida tomato industry, and several of the largest food corporations in the world, who together are bringing about a new day in the fields. But despite this good news, other leading food retailers — among them Trader Joe's and Publix — continue to disrespect the workers on whose shoulders the bounty of America's tables weighs most heavily. Join us this Thanksgiving and help us send a message loud and clear to Trader Joe's that the time for slick public relations stunts is over, and the time for respecting the humanity of farmworkers is now! Download this special Thanksgiving Manager Letter to Trader Joe's and deliver it to your local TJ's. (Click here to find a TJ's near you.) Let the manager know that you're not satisfied and that the Fair Food movement won't rest until Trader Joe's respects farmworkers enough to sit down at the table with them, as equals, and find a verifiable, transparent, and lasting way to ensure human rights and fair wages in TJ's tomato supply chain. Of course, this shouldn't be so hard — nine other companies, including Trader Joe's competitor Whole Foods — have already done so. Once you've delivered your letter, drop us a line and let us know how it went. Tomato season begins in Immokalee... Students and youth come out in force to demand Fair Food from Trader Joe's and Publix!
As the calendar turns to November, we're finally starting to feel some semblance of Fall here in Immokalee. Oppressive heat and humidity give way to gentle breezes. Our streets – nearly empty during the summer while farmworkers spend the season harvesting crops up north – are busy once again with the bustle of the new tomato season. Yellow school buses have returned, joined by their former brethren now painted a variety of shades and re-deployed as farm labor vehicles, taking their passengers not to learn or study, but out to the fields to stoop and strain in cultivating and harvesting this country's food. But this season in Immokalee will be like no other, not merely for the wildly successful Week of Action protests and major action at Trader Joe's headquarters that punctuated the past couple of weeks, but because of the new dawn beginning to rise over Florida's fields as the CIW's Fair Food accords are implemented across 90% of the Florida tomato industry. Yet Trader Joe's and Publix continue to shirk responsibility and reject the CIW's Fair Food Program, therefore providing a market for exploitation-tainted tomatoes, inspiring other grocers to follow suit and threatening to undermine the groundbreaking yet fragile changes underway today. Perhaps that's why consumers are frustrated with Trader Joe's and Publix, and increasingly so. For must-see reports and photos from the Week of Action and from the protest at Trader Joe's headquarters — which were largely anchored by that all-important 'millennial' demographic — head on over to the CIW site today (and check out some of the great coverage in the sidebar to the right). And if that wasn't enough to get your Fair Food juices flowing, check out this amazing video created by allies in DC. Trader Joe's and Publix continue to grow and profit handsomely off the backs of farmworkers, but today, hope is on the horizon. If the past couple of weeks are any indication, students, young people, consumers and farmworker allies across the country will not be tolerating for much longer the utter lack of responsibility and lack of respect for the lives and well-being of farmworkers that has so brazenly been demonstrated by these corporations. This will surely be a season to remember — get involved today, and stay tuned for more updates! |
PO Box 603, Immokalee, FL 34143 :: (239) 657-8311 :: organize (at) sfalliance.org
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In Naples, protestors "Occupied" the sidewalks outside a local store. Carrying signs that captured the zeitgeist — The 99% wants Publix to Pay 1 cent More, Bailout Tomato Pickers — they called for an end to Publix's inexplicable penny pinching. 
Together we will enjoy the fruits of the harvest made possible by farmworkers — those who have always toiled at one of our nation's worst paid, most difficult types of work.