… grocers and consumers alike called on to “give thanks for those hands who struggle day in and day out in Florida’s fields to produce the meal before you.”
In most cases, retail companies that sign Fair Food agreements tend to go about the business of implementing those agreements rather quietly. The Bon Appetit Management Co., which joined the Program in 2009, is the exception to that particular rule. Always active on Twitter, this holiday season Bon Appetit’s Vice President of Strategy, Maisie Greenawalt, decided to go a bit more long form, gracing the Huffington Post with a strikingly personal, moving reflection on the Campaign for Fair Food and the new world being built by the Fair Food Program, “My Holiday Wish: Let’s Change the Lives of America’s Farmworkers”. Here’s an excerpt:
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“I’ve got more-than-adequate food and shelter. And I also have a great job. As the vice president of strategy for Bon Appetit Management Company — a food service provider committed to a sustainable future for us all — I get to work on issues that are important to me and to make changes that I think are meaningful. But one of those issues still needs addressing, and I can’t do it alone. And despite our spending power of over $75 million a year for produce, my company can’t do it alone, either. Which brings me to my holiday wish: that by the end of this column, you will be moved to action and help make real, lasting change in the lives of the people who harvest this country’s food. Or at least think about the real cost of that seemingly cheap winter tomato from Florida.” read more |
Greenawalt goes on to describe her experience with the Program, from when she first stepped out into the heat of a Florida tomato field to the changes her company has helped to build as the Fair Food Program spreads across the industry. She closes with a humble but unflinching summons for those supermarkets, like Publix, that continue to turn their backs on farmworkers:
| “This is just a start. But as I discovered after standing in those tomato fields, it’s hard to un-learn things. Grocers and other large food buyers who take this first step will have their eyes opened, as I did, and will only go forward, not backward.” read more |
From the faith community, long-time supporter Rev. Libby Shannon highlights one of the most scandalous moves from Publix this past fall in Sojourners magazine, when Sarasota clergyman Rev. Clay Thomas was ejected from Publix for wearing a CIW t-shirt:
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“Over Labor Day weekend, the CIW had just finished a peaceful picket on the sidewalk in front of Publix and Rev. Thomas — taking a break from sermon writing — stopped by to greet CIW members and convey his support before heading to the deli to buy a sandwich. Instead, he was served a yearlong ban from the store. Publix’s labor relations manager Mark Codd had three police officers called to document the supermarket’s issuance of the trespass warning and to escort Rev. Thomas from the store. {…] Throughout the holiday season we will gather at tables to enjoy the company of those we love and the food of our hearts. I encourage you to take a moment and give thanks for those hands who struggle day in and day out in Florida’s fields to produce the meal before you. Ask yourselves and those gathered if that meal would taste just a little bit better if it were harvested with integrity and justice and then write a letter to Publix CEO Ed Crenshaw asking him to do the right thing and join us in the Fair Food Program.” read more |
Finally, one last holiday wish comes via Twitter, from the Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel (who recently highlighted the Coalition’s much-celebrated video, “A Tale of Two Holidays” in the Huffington Post):
These encouraging words — from the highest reaches of the food industry to the grassroots faith community — call on us to consider the hands that pick our food this holiday season. Let us continue that reflection into the New Year, when we can convert that consciousness into commitment in the streets for the March for Rights, Respect and Fair Food — and create lasting change in the Florida tomato industry.