Wait a minute... That's not a fast-food restaurant!...

The Northeast Fair Food Tour continues in the wake of the Subway agreement and stops on the way north for a quick "shot across the bow" of the supermarket industry in North Carolina (right)... Plus, coverage of the Subway agreement in Mexico, a statement from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on the agreement, and more!

10/4/08: The Northeast Fair Food Tour crew made sure to underscore the new message of the tour with a visit -- along with some longtime allies from Chapel Hill, NC -- to a local grocery chain to drop off the latest Alliance for Fair Food letter. The crew then continued north and landed in Washington, DC, today. Check back soon for the first report from the tour, where the identity of the first supermarket chain to receive a visit from the Campaign for Fair Food will be revealed, along with news from the DC stop!

Also, the Rev. Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), issued a statement praising the CIW and Subway for the recent agreement and challenging the remainder of the retail food industry to now follow suit. Here's an excerpt:

"As the largest purchaser of tomatoes in the fast-food industry, Subway's decision sends an unmistakable message to the rest of the retail food industry and to Florida growers: The industry can and must ensure human rights for farmworkers...

... Will the rest of the restaurant and grocery industry now step forward to become part of this momentous advance for human rights? The answer is not only up to the companies but to those of us who are conscious consumers as well." Read the letter in its entirety here

Finally, news of the Subway agreement traveled far and wide, and was covered by Mexico's leading daily, La Jornada. Check it out here: "Vence organizacion de jornaleros migrantes a la cadena Subway".

Oh, and, lest we give the impression that we've forgotten about the rest of the fast-food industry with the new focus on the supermarkets, here's a short video from October that's worth a second look about some unfinished business in Denver. Enjoy...

Miami, FL, 12/2/08: Gerardo Reyes (seated, right) of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and Jan Risi (also seated), President and CEO of Subway's Miami-based purchasing arm, the Independent Purchasing Cooperative, commemorate the signing of the CIW's newest agreement with a fast-food industry leader to improve wages and working conditions in Florida's tomato fields.

SUBWAY SIGNS!...

December 2, 2008: Subway, the third largest fast-food chain in the world and the biggest fast-food buyer of Florida tomatoes, reached an agreement today with the CIW to help improve wages and working conditions for the workers who pick their tomatoes!

What they're saying about the Subway agreement:

• "This agreement between Subway and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is yet another blow to the scourge of slavery that continues to exist in the tomato fields of Florida," Senator Bernie Sanders said in a statement. "Subway is to be congratulated for moving to ensure that none of its products are harvested by slave or near-slave labor. Sadly, too many other companies continue to tolerate this travesty."
  
  
• “Subway strongly supports the farmworkers’ rights and has entered in an agreement with the (Coalition of Immokalee Workers) to pay the additional 1 cent per pound for tomatoes grown in the Immokalee region of Florida,” Subway spokesman Les Winograd said.
  
  
• "Today, the fast-food industry has spoken with one voice,” said Gerardo Reyes of the CIW. “With this agreement, the four largest restaurant companies in the world have now joined their voices to the growing call for a more modern, more humane agricultural industry in Florida." (read the joint press release in its entirety)
  
  
• But Sherri Daye Scott, who edits QSR, a North Carolina-based food-service industry magazine, noted consumers spoke first - by supporting the coalition's petition drives, protests and boycotts.

"Until the college students and then the consumers got involved, it was not that big a deal," Scott said.

Will fair food become an industry watchword?

"It could," Scott said. "I haven't heard any rumblings yet beyond the tomato pickers yet, but it could gain traction. Look at food safety - five, 10 years ago, you didn't hear much about it; now it's everywhere. The same thing could happen with transparency in the food supply chain."

• "Subway's agreement could yield as much money as all the other deals combined. That's because Subway is the largest user of tomatoes and has 24,000 stores in the United States. Burger King's agreement is expected to yield about $250,000 for workers, numbers relatively comparable to the Taco Bell and McDonald's agreement." (Miami Herald)

Meanwhile, the Northeast Fair Food Tour continues, spreading the news of the Subway agreement and meeting with allies to discuss plans for the road ahead in the Campaign for Fair Food, including a growing focus on the other leading buyers of Florida tomatoes, the supermarket and foodservice industries.

Click here for a revised list of planned public events on the tour

CIW throws Thanksgiving day bash in Immokalee!...

11/28/08: The CIW's Radio Conciencia (right) went mobile to headline the community gathering, taking advantage of the day off in the fields to have a little fun.

Click here for pictures from the party!

New editorial reminds us: "Thanksgiving is a holiday built around food... but rarely do we honor the hands that feed us."

11/24/08: A well-timed op/ed -- published as consumers across the country begin gearing-up for Thanksgiving -- takes a hard look at conditions in the fields where the fruits and vegetables for our holiday feasts are grown and picked. After touching on the exploitation of workers in Immokalee, the editorial concludes:

"... Immokalee is an extreme example, but it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth when you realize the high costs that some people are paying so that we can have cheap food. Most of us do not take the time to wonder why our food costs so little. Instead, we notice how expensive organic or locally grown produce is in comparison.

For agriculture to be sustainable, it must provide a living for those who work our land. Let's honor the hands that feed us by restoring the dignity of fair wages to farmers and farmworkers."

Read the editorial in its entirety here.

Sustainable food blog Grist.org asks CIW for "elevator pitch" to President-elect Obama on farmworker justice!... CIW joins Eric Schlosser, Michael Pollan, Anna Lappé, and more leaders in sustainable food and agriculture in "advising" the new president on how to address the inequities of our food industry.

11/12/08: Don't miss the exciting and inspiring series "Going Up!" on Grist.org for some of the best ideas on what might be next in our country's efforts to humanize and modernize our food industry. Grist asked the CIW for a contribution to the series, which you can read here below:

"Dear President Obama:

We know you’re a busy man, so we’ll get right to the point: Come to Immokalee.

Your victory has allowed us to dream again. Our dream is for a US food industry founded on respect for human rights, not exploitation of human beings.

That’s why it’s so important for you to come to Immokalee, the town that, in many ways, has come to symbolize the struggle of millions of our nation’s farmworkers to survive in the face of grinding poverty, degrading working conditions, and constant human rights violations – the town that one federal prosecutor called “ground zero for modern-day slavery.” Indeed, the most recent Department of Justice prosecution for slavery helped free workers who were forced to pick tomatoes against their will, chained and locked inside u-haul trucks, and beaten by farm labor bosses – right here in Immokalee.

We know you’ve got a lot on your plate. The economic crisis, two wars, climate change… the brutal and unending exploitation of farmworkers, no matter how terrible, just doesn’t rise to the level of the innumerable crises you’ve inherited. We understand that.

But we ask you: Where else could so little of your time have such a great impact? With one brief visit you would bring more attention to the disgraceful treatment of our country’s farmworkers than all the Harvest of Shame exposés, slavery prosecutions, Congressional hearings, and US Presidents since Lincoln combined. With our Campaign for Fair Food, we could turn that attention into action and end generations of farm labor abuse once and for all.

All we need is the right champion, someone who truly cares about the working poor, someone who represents hope to Americans who have been marginalized for far too long, someone like you. And we can do it with just a couple hours of your time." See all the contributions by clicking here

Now, do we think such a thing might ever come to pass? Probably not, but as we say, a community can dream...

And it's not totally without precedent. Governor Jeb Bush came down to Immokalee and met with CIW leaders during his campaign, following the month-long hunger strike by six of our members in 1998, and one of his first acts as Governor-elect was to help expand on wage gains we had won earlier that year.

Much, much more remains to be done, of course -- as evidenced by the six slavery operations brought to justice since Governor Bush took office (the latest of which came on Governor Crist's watch, of course...) -- but who better to help us do it than President Obama? Food for thought...

2008 "CHIPOCRISY TOUR" A HUGE SUCCESS!...

Click on the video above for the youtube version, or click here for a cleaner, quicktime streaming video  

10/28/08: Check out the new video above with exclusive footage from the recently completed tour, and click on the following links for:

• All the daily updates from the road
  
  
• The CIW response to Chipotle's 11th hour announcement on the campaign
  
  
• And a hard-hitting human rights white paper from the Alliance for Fair Food entitled "Challenging the Chipocrisy"!

Whole Foods, CIW agree to "work in partnership to help improve wages and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers"!...

Update #1: What they are saying about the Whole Foods agreement: The CIW's latest agreement has provoked a good deal of commentary around the country, from Congress to the Presbyterian Church. Here's a sampling of the sentiment:

Eric Schlosser, author Fast-Food Nation: "Sustainable agriculture is impossible without justice for farmworkers. Whole Foods deserves great credit for recognizing this fact."

For more from Eric on the question of sustainable and fair food, click here for a great short video interview shot for the environmental blog grist.com during last week's Slow Food Nation gathering in San Francisco.

And click here for a good story from grist on the agreement.

US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT): "I am delighted Whole Foods has joined the effort to make sure tomato pickers receive a fair wage for their very difficult work. It is especially exciting that Whole Foods is the first grocery store chain to come on board, which opens the door for other major chains to do the same."

Regarding the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange's (FTGE) continuing opposition to the CIW's agreements and decision to stand in the way of efforts by large tomato buyers to fund the long-overdue raise for the Florida workers who pick their tomatoes, Sen. Sanders said he was planning to address the FTGE's resistance with the help of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"This whole country will see that what the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange is doing - how they are behaving - is an outrage," he said.

RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights: "It is our hope that other retail food companies -- companies like Chipotle, who shares Whole Foods' commitment to sustainable food but has yet to make that commitment real when it comes to farm labor, and companies like Subway and Walmart, who buy such large quantities of tomatoes that their responsibility for the exploitation of farmworkers surpasses that of most retail leaders -- follow these powerful examples of social responsibility,” said Monika Kalra Varma, Director of RFK Center. “With their participation, the CIW and its allies will truly be able to transform the industry to bring an end to modern-day slavery and human rights violations in our agricultural fields." Read the RFK Center statment in its entirety here.

The Rev. Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): "On behalf of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) I want to commend the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and Whole Foods Market on their agreement to improve wages and working conditions for farmworkers in the Florida tomato fields. By voluntarily stepping forward, Whole Foods Market has signaled that “the time is now” for members of the grocery industry to join in forging a more just and sustainable food system together with the farmworkers..."

"...As the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) lauds this agreement, we take this opportunity to call on the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange to repent; to cease obstructing the penny wage increase from getting to the farmworkers and to become a part of this historic movement for a more just and humane food system. Major corporations in the retail food industry are prepared to do their part, consumers are urging this change and justice for farmworkers is generations overdue. What is missing is the commitment of the leadership of the tomato industry." Read the PC(U.S.A) statement in its entirety here.

Click here to read the joint CIW/Whole Foods press release announcing the agreement and see the news stories that covered the announcement!