Fair Pay Program Honorable

news-press.com

In our Sept. 23 editorial “Workers deserve back pay,” we expressed alarm at a lawsuit filed, claiming that certain farmworkers hadn’t been paid per the extra “penny-a-pound” pact negotiated by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers with tomato buyers.

The allegations were shocking – and while the coalition was not named as a defendant – buyers such as Burger King, Subway, McDonald’s and Taco Bell were or will be sued in court.

We conceded that the lawsuit may have no merit, and today, after further interviews and research, we believe that these are baseless accusations.

We also feel the questions we posed regarding payment processes and decisions have been answered, and that the coalition, the buyers and the growers are acting in a good faith.

Further, we hope this program to increase tomato pickers’ wages, expand farmworker education, and bring to light conditions on the fields will continue. So, we affirm our selection of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers as The News-Press’ 2010 People of the Year.

The lawsuits filed by Greg Schell of the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project representing 16 former farmworkers – on behalf of 2,000 – are predicated on false premises.

Specifically, Schell claims the workers, who picked tomatoes between 2007 and 2010, weren’t paid.

But during that time, no Florida grower would participate in the program, with the goal to pay workers an extra cent per pound for tomatoes picked.

Instead of payouts to the workers, the extra money that participating buyers agreed to pay was placed in a trust during this time.

In addition, there was no mechanism to actually pay out bonuses to any workers until 2011.

A decision to donate $225,000 in accrued money to the Harry Chapin Food Bank this year instead of wages was Taco Bell’s decision alone.

Amherst, Mass.,-based labor rights non-governmental organization Verite has been conducting audits to ensure the money is being paid; it has been. Earlier this year the group’s CEO, Dan Viederman, was named Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Geneva-based Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.

Schell described the group as an outfit in Immokalee. We’re not sure if he told us this to discredit Verite or because he didn’t know. He did acknowledge that he had not contacted the organization.

The pay system is new and there have been hiccups. Buyers and growers haven’t always been able to acknowledge the information for all workers.

The past year was the pilot season, used to develop protocols and procedures. There’s no precedent for something like this – they’re pioneering a new paradigm. Perfecting the system will take time.

Kent Shoemaker, CEO of Lipman (formerly Six L’s), North America’s largest field tomato grower, said: “It’s a new program so it took a while to get it set up, but from our perspective, the progress is working as it was set up to work and the third-party auditor has had complete and open access to verify that.”

Schell said he believes what is indisputable is that his lead plaintiff wasn’t paid and will never get paid. It’s true none were paid because not one of them worked past 2010 before the payout system was in place. While he may not like that fact, it’s how the agreement was structured.

Schell said he wants to make the agreements between the buyers and the coalition public. They are currently confidential for proprietary reasons, and Schell said that makes it difficult for workers to know whether they are getting everything they’ve been promised.

Coalition organizer Greg Asbed and attorney Steve Hitov say those agreements are confidential precisely to ensure that buyers would participate and continue to participate in the bonus program.

We believe in transparency, and this has been an area that has caused some discomfort for us. We cannot independently verify what is in the agreements because we haven’t seen them.

However, we understand the role of confidentiality in business contracts and we believe the coalition is seeking in good faith to make the program work.

Another claim by Schell is that buyers either have not paid or were encouraged by the coalition not to pay the money to workers.

We have seen no evidence of that, and buyers and growers say they are respecting the agreements.

It is difficult to predict how far these lawsuits will go.

However, we hope they do not distract from the coalition’s work to provide fair wages to farmworkers.

This effort should continue and supporters, like us, who were alarmed by the lawsuits, should take new confidence in it.