August 29, 2010
Slavery Museum wraps up Northeast Tour!
Final stop at Compass Group headquarters in Charlotte, NC, perfect ending to a great tour; See the links to reports from all the stops below...
A three-week tour focused on the problem of modern-day slavery in Florida's fields ended with an emphasis on the solution to farm labor exploitation on its final stop in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The stop took place in the shadow of foodservice industry leader Compass Group's corporate headquarters (above), and the day was a clear demonstration of the ever growing partnership among workers, consumers, growers and major food retailers, a partnership that promises to one day end the poverty and often brutal abuse of this country's farmworkers.
Click here for a photo report from the final stop in Charlotte.
And click on the links below for photo reports from all the stops from the historic Northeast Tour. [On right, a museum-goer adds her voice to the growing call for Fair Food during the New York City stop with a postcard to grocery giant Ahold. Find out how you can get your own postcards, and other tools for taking action, by clicking here.]:
- Boston, Northampton, New Paltz & Baltimore
- New England (Providence, RI, Newton and Salem, MA)
- Bi-Continental Ahold action, Amsterdam and Quincy, MA
- New York City
- New Jersey
- Philadelphia
- Washington, DC
- Charlottesville, VA
And stay tuned in the days and weeks ahead for more news from the Campaign for Fair Food, and for details on the slavery museum's upcoming Southeast Tour, a tour designed to take the museum and its message of change through the states -- Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee -- where Publix does business.
This fall is sure to be full of action. See you there!
August 27, 2010
Traitor Joe's?... Massive rally outside Trader Joe's location in NYC (right) sends Fair Food message loud and clear to natural food giant!
PLUS: What they're saying about the Sodexo agreement!...
Just Harvest USA is an exciting new organization working within the growing food justice movement with a particular focus on farm labor justice. According to the Just Harvest website, their mission is "to build a more just and sustainable food system with a focus on establishing fair wages, humane working conditions and fundamental rights for farmworkers."
Last week, while we were covering the museum tour and the big Sodexo agreement, Just Harvest reported on the huge protest outside a newly-opened Trader Joe's store in New York's famed Chelsea neighborhood. The protest was organized by another exciting organization that's also new to the food justice movement -- the Community Farmworker Alliance out of New York City -- and from all indications it couldn't have been a more successful action!
August 23, 2010
Sodexo signs Fair Food agreement
with CIW!
Big Three foodservice industry leaders now squarely behind growing movement for Fair Food!...
Saying, "Sodexo is committed to protecting and upholding the rights of all workers, whether employed directly by us or by our business partners and suppliers,” Arlin Wasserman, Sodexo vice president for sustainability and corporate social responsibility, announced today that his company has signed an agreement to work with the CIW to improve wages and working conditions in the fields of its Florida tomato suppliers.
Speaking on behalf of the CIW, Lucas Benitez added:
“We are happy to be working with an industry leader like Sodexo to advance fundamental human rights in Florida’s fields. Social responsibility takes a genuine, sustained engagement with workers and growers on the ground, and a determination to support, with increased business, those growers who agree to comply with the highest standards.” |
See the joint announcement in its entirety here.
This is very big news for the growing Campaign for Fair Food. The foodservice industry -- the companies that, operating largely behind the scenes, manage cafeterias in the nation's grade schools and universities, hospitals and hotels, government agencies and institutions, and more -- is comprised, almost in its entirety, of its three largest members, Compass, Aramark, and Sodexo. With today's announcement, all three of those companies have now signed Fair Food agreements and will be implementing those agreements in their supply chains this coming season. This marks the conclusion of the Student/Farmworker Alliance's remarkably successful "Dine with Dignity" campaign, a campaign that combined energetic campus activism with smart tactics to bring all three industry leaders to the table in just over one year.
With the four largest fast-food companies -- McDonald's, Yum Brands, Burger King, and Subway -- likewise having signed Fair Food agreements with the CIW, the focus now falls squarely on the supermarket industry. And with the exception of Whole Foods, the natural food leader that signed an agreement with the CIW nearly two years ago, it's time now for the major grocery chains to step up and bring their considerable purchasing power to the plate.
Publix, Ahold, Kroger and WalMart -- which alone sells fully 25% of all food sold in US grocery stores -- all pack a very heavy punch when it comes to their market power in the produce industry. And with great power comes great responsibility -- both for the poverty and brutal working conditions from which they have profited for so many years, and for the work of reforming farm labor conditions in their supply chains that lies ahead.
If the goal of a more modern, more humane Florida tomato industry is to be fully realized, the supermarket giants must do their part.
And so, with today's great news from Sodexo, the Campaign for Fair Food completes its first decade -- with the support of the vast majority of the fast-food and foodservice industries now behind us -- and turns to the supermarket industry. This coming season, the battle for the future of Florida's farmworkers will be joined in the produce aisles of your local grocer.
