Fair Food Austin

"Do the Right Thing" Report-Back

2011-04-04T10:26:00.001-05:00

Students and youth join thousands of farmworkers and their families plus Fair Food allies for huge, joyful and resounding marches and rallies at Publix stores in Tampa, FL

March 10, 2011 — Fair Food activists from across the Tampa Bay area, Gainesville, Miami, Lakeland, Pensacola, Jacksonville, Naples and Fort Myers, Orlando, Atlanta, Nashville, Kansas, Denver, New York City and points between gathered in Tampa last weekend for the culmination of the CIW's "Do the Right Thing" Tour.

Together, through Friday's plantones and Saturday's 1,500-people strong marches, rally and pageant, our voices and energy joined and amplified the message from the CIW to Publix (and to the rest of the retail food industry that has yet to step up and support for the Campaign for Fair Food):

It's not a question of whether we will win, but when.
And when we do win, we will not only free workers from oppressive conditions
in the fields, but we will also free Publix from the impossible burden
of supporting and justifying that oppression...

Check out the below video and press reports and the riveting daily reports from the CIW to get a flavor of the excitement and energy from the Do the Right Thing Tour and actions.

Stay tuned as the Campaign for Fair Food focusing on Publix, Ahold USA,
Trader Joe's and Kroger continues!!

"Farmworkers target Tampa Publix stores in protests," Associated Press, 3/5/11

"We are all farmworkers," The Atlantic, 3/2/11

"Farmworkers to pressure Stop & Shop," Boston Globe, 2/26/11

"Farmworkers plan rally at Tampa Publix stores," Ft. Myers News-Press, 3/3/11

"Immokalee farmworkers target Tampa Publix stores in protests," Naples Daily News, 3/6/11

"Students head to Boston, rally for tomato pickers," Brown Herald, 2/28/11

"War of words breaks out in advance of farmworker protest on Saturday," Creative Loafing, 3/4/11

"Fighting for pennies: Tomato protesters battle supermarkets," The Atlantic, 3/2/11

"Immokalee group plans Publix protest this Saturday in Tampa," Naples Daily News, 3/2/11

"Publix customers pledge boycotts until chain stops exploiting farmworkers," Change.org, 3/2/11

"Immokalee workers launch 5-city protest," Democracy Now!, 3/1/11

Help Bring Austin's Fair Foodistas to Tampa!

2011-02-14T20:17:00.001-06:00

Hey out there to all our allies and supporters,

We at Fair Food Austin are writing today to ask you, our supporters, to think about donating $25 to help students, young people, and low-wage workers from the Austin area attend an upcoming march being called for by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a migrant farmworker organization based in southern Florida.

We're sure you all recall the Boot the Bell Campaign that the CIW won in 2005, where tomato pickers from Florida and their allies, including folks in Austin, boycotted Taco Bell for four years until the company agreed to stop human rights abuses, low wages, and ensure the end of slavery in their tomato supply chain. Since then, the CIW and their allies the Student/Farmworker Alliance have together secured agreements with ten major global corporations (including McDonalds, Aramark and Whole Foods), many of which Austin played a crucial role in bringing to the table. All these agreements work towards ending the poverty wages and abuses endemic to agriculture, and securing more dignity and power for working immigrant families, and have recently been joined and strengthened by agreements with some of the largest tomato growers in Florida! Needless to say, their struggle has had ripple effects, and serves as an influence and model for other organizations, including Workers Defense Project here in Austin.

Despite all the victories, though, there is still work to be done to make sure these changes are reaching the workers who need it most. This March, workers from the CIW are planning one of their biggest actions in years, asking for 2000 their allies to show up in Florida to the doorstep of Publix Grocery (the 3rd largest grocery chain in the US) and demand the same accountability and respect from Publix's CEOs. The CIW has asked Texas allies to help turn out 40 people to thismarch, and here in Austin, we're hoping to bring at least 15 people.

As many of us who have attended large actions know, these spaces can be seriously transformative, especially for young people. You might not be able to leave work, your thesis, dissertation, your organization, or your classes to come with us, but you can help support this movement by donating $10-$25 to send others.

The CIW's struggle is one of the most widely successful of our generation. Some of the most marginalized voices in the US right now are not only demanding respect and dignity, but winning it directly from some of the most powerful CEO's in the world. It may not seem like a lot, but every city bringing 15 people makes the message a whole lot stronger, and your donation along with three other people's makes it possible for one more person to attend.

We are three weeks away and in our final fundraising push, and we only need $500 more to make this happen. Please consider kicking down some money. We know a lot of you give tons of time and resources to this work already, so if $25 is too much, what can you comfortably contribute? $5 or $10? Could you ask someone you know to donate? Everything helps.

Help us make this happen, and help some of Austin's students, youth, and low-wage workers participate in this transformative experience together. To make a donation, email kandace@sfalliance.org. Thanks for thinking about it!

In Solidarity,
Fair Food Austin
sfaatx@gmail.com

Message for the Fair Food Movement

2011-02-02T10:19:00.005-06:00

photo by Andrew West, News-Press

Dear compañeras and compañeros, friends, allies, and Fair Food activists across the country,

When our struggle for dignity and respect began in the streets of Immokalee fifteen years ago, we knew it would take a long and arduous journey to realize our dreams. The mentality that reigned for so long in the agricultural industry — typified by one grower who dismissed six of our compañeros on a 30-day hunger strike by scoffing “the tractor doesn't tell the farmer how to run his farm” — seemed as solid and unmovable as a great stone wall.

But today, that wall is tumbling down.

Today, as a result of our Campaign for Fair Food, there are amazing changes underway in Immokalee. We say our because this movement belongs to all of us: farmworkers and students, consumers and organizers, fighters and dreamers.

But our journey is far from complete.

As farmworkers, as members of the CIW, and as mothers who want to leave a better world for our children, we make this appeal today on the verge of one of our most important mobilizations ever to all of our allies to do whatever it takes to join us for the upcoming “Do the Right Thing” action in Tampa.

As we work tirelessly in Immokalee on the implementation of the Fair Food Code of Conduct for which we have fought all these years, we ask that you too organize in your community — talk to your friends, hand out flyers, organize fundraisers, coordinate caravans — join us in Boston and Tampa.

We invite you to walk with us as we demand Ahold and Publix join with the CIW and with the Florida tomato industry to ensure human rights and dignity for the men and women whose backbreaking labor makes it possible for these stores to line their shelves with fresh produce and to make record-breaking profits year after year.

The transformation underway in our community has brought us stories of a new climate of respect in the fields; of parents telling us what it's like to walk their own children to schoo l for the first time ever. These and many other changes that were unimaginable just a few months ago are starting to take root today.

But Ahold and Publix continue to stand in the way of more humane conditions in the fields by refusing to participate – instead callously dismissing the abuses we have faced in the fields and refusing to join nine other corporations in paying their fair share and conditioning their tomato purchases on the Fair Food Code of Conduct. Ahold and Publix threaten to blunt and undermine the progress we're making toward the end, finally, of the Harvest of Shame.

If you support the Campaign for Fair Food, if you support our dreams of a better world, you must join us and tell Ahold and Publix it's time to "Do the Right Thing!"

See you in Boston and Tampa!

– Nely and Silvia,
Coalition of Immokalee Workers

"A Landmark Moment"

2010-11-22T12:14:00.005-06:00

Photo by David Albers, Naples Daily News.

On November 16, at a press conference in Immokalee, the CIW and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange signed an agreement to extend the CIW's Fair Food principles – including a strict code of conduct, a cooperative complaint resolution system, a participatory health and safety program, and a worker-to-worker education process – to over 90% of the Florida tomato industry. You can see the press release from the event here.

In the words of the CIW's Lucas Benitez:

The timing of today's announcement couldn't be more appropriate. Not only is Thanksgiving, our annual celebration of the harvest, just around the corner, but so is the 50th anniversary of the 'Harvest of Shame,' the landmark expose of 20th century poverty and degradation in Florida's fields.

Today, 50 years later, hope, not shame, is on the horizon.

With that hope – and with the hard work and solid plan of action included in this agreement – we will make the concrete changes that will allow us to build a stronger, more sustainable Florida tomato industry for the 21st century.

The agreement with the FTGE follows last month's breakthrough agreements with Pacific Tomato Growers and Six L's and paves the way for the virtual industry-wide implementation of the Fair Food program next season (2011-2012).

In the meantime, the onus is now clearly on supermarket chains such as Publix, Kroger, Giant, Stop & Shop, Wal-Mart, and Trader Joe's to step up and support these higher standards with their significant purchasing power. And if the past is any guide, it will ultimately be the organized voice of conscious consumers – taking action alongside Immokalee's farmworkers – that propels these changes. Click here to send an email to the CEOs of these supermarkets demanding Fair Food now!

And for a great analysis of this agreement, check out, "CIW Wrests Historic Agreement from Tomato Growers Group" (Labor Notes, 11/18/10).

It's a celebration: Landmark breakthrough in Campaign for Fair Food!

2010-10-22T14:01:00.015-05:00

Jon Esformes (Pacific Tomato Growers) and Lucas Benitez (CIW), Immokalee, FL.

What: Fair Food Victory Celebration!
When: Thursday, November 4th at 7pm
Where: The Parlor (43rd & Guadalupe)

It's been difficult to keep track of all the incredible news flowing from Immokalee lately!

After ten years of high-intensity organizing in the Campaign for Fair Food -- efforts that have brought about precedent-setting agreements with the world's four largest fast-food companies, three largest foodservice providers, and leading natural retailer Whole Foods -- two major Florida tomato growers have finally joined the rising tide of social accountability in the agricultural industry.

Pacific Tomato Growers and Six L's, the oldest and largest growers in the business, respectively, have both agreed to pass on the penny-per-pound and to adopt the Code of Conduct at the heart of the campaign, including a cooperative complaint resolution system, a participatory health and safety program, and a worker-to-worker education process aimed at ensuring that farmworkers themselves are active participants in the social responsibility efforts. These reforms will directly impact thousands of workers as the Florida tomato harvest begins in just a few weeks.

It is clear that much remains to be done. With the exception of Whole Foods, the $550 billion supermarket industry continues to ignore calls to address farmworker exploitation in its supply chain. To maximize the wage increase and improved working conditions for farmworkers, it is necessary that all buyers of Florida tomatoes participate in the Fair Food program.

Still, this is a time for celebrating how far we've come. To our Austin friends old and new -- from the Taco Bell Boycott to the Farmworker Freedom March -- and to everyone who ever signed a postcard or petition, marched, picketed, slept on a church floor, played music, cooked tamales, drove through the night, spread the word to friends and family, or otherwise acted on the belief of a better tomorrow in Florida's fields, these victories belong to all of us.

Please join us to celebrate... even if we haven't seen you in months or years!

"The wall comes tumbling down," The Nation, 10/18/10
"Major grower to join wage plan," Wall Street Journal, 10/14/10
"Victory long time coming for Florida tomato pickers," Editorial, St. Petersburg Times, 10/16/10

"Harvest of Shame" 50th Anniversary Event

2010-10-11T10:38:00.004-05:00

When: Oct. 20th, 6pm
Where: St. Edwards University, Ragsdale Hall 326 C (Mabee Ballroom C)

Legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow's "Harvest of Shame" is among the most famous television documentaries of all time. Richly photographed and arrestingly poignant, this exposé on migrant farmworkers aired on CBS the day after Thanksgiving in 1960. The report resonated deeply for a nation unfamiliar with such brutally honest depictions of living conditions that, as Murrow remarks, "wrong the dignity of man."

Fifty years later, the Campaign for Fair Food is bringing fairer wages and more humane labor conditions to Florida's fields through a historic alliance of farmworkers, consumers, growers, and retail food industry leaders. While the transition to a more just Florida tomato industry is finally underway, much remains to be done to ensure a future of dignity and respect for the workers who plant and pick our nation's fruits and vegetables.

This 75-minute multimedia event will include excerpts from Harvest of Shame, as well as a presentation on the history and evolution of U.S. farm labor relations and present-day organizing efforts by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW).

It's a wrap! CIW, Sodexo reach agreement to improve farmworker wages, working conditions!

2010-08-24T09:35:00.003-05:00

Students celebrate resounding success of "Dine with Dignity" campaign; call on supermarket industry to follow suit!

Yet another chapter in the historic alliance between students and farmworkers has been written today, as Sodexo becomes the fourth leading food service provider (following Bon Appetit Management Co., Compass Group, and Aramark) and ninth corporation overall to heed the demands of the Campaign for Fair Food and partner with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to systematically root out poverty and abuse from Florida's fields.

With this victory, the Student/Farmworker Alliance 's Dine with Dignity campaign -- launched just 16 months ago with the goal of organizing student power to demand the college and university food service industry support principles of Fair Food -- has come to a successful conclusion. Although this chapter has come to a close, we're not done yet!

Read more here!

Eight, and counting...

2010-07-07T14:37:00.005-05:00

DOJ officials announce yet another prosecution for forced labor in Florida fields, eighth since 1997.

According to yesterday's Gainesville Sun: "... dozens of Haitian nationals were the victims of human trafficking... when they were delivered to rural Alachua County and forced to work on area farms."

This latest slavery prosecution underscores the urgent need for broad-based labor reforms in Florida agriculture. Stories of extreme exploitation are so tragically commonplace in Florida's fields that, rather than hear them as a call to action, we run the risk of growing inured to the abuse, each case of forced labor losing a measure of its ability to spark outrage and action.

We cannot let that happen. We must redouble our efforts to make this latest prosecution -- now the eighth since 1997 -- the last prosecution for forced labor in Florida agriculture.

And food industry leaders -- companies like Publix, Ahold, Quiznos, Sodexo, Kroger, and WalMart -- must also, finally, heed this call, recognize once and for all the overwhelming case for change, and commit to work with us to bring about a more modern, more humane agricultural industry in Florida.

US Social Forum Speaker Series: The Students Speak!

2010-05-17T11:58:00.005-05:00

When: Monday, May 17, 7pm
Where: MonkeyWrench Books

A discussion of the new student movement will proceed a dialogue of how to best utilize the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit next month to further the fight for a social justice on and off campus. Those that will be represented include student groups that are seeking to build sustainable social movements linking the campus to the community.

The Social Justice Action Coalition is based out of UT's school of social work and organizes to promote social justice work in and out of the school. Fair Food Austin, who recently won an on-campus campaign against the food service provider Aramark, has worked for years in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. ¡ella pelea! is a group that forefronts the demands of women, queer folks and people of color around the budget cuts at UT. Students Against Sweatshops, a new on-campus group at UT works to promote ethical production of clothing at UT. MEChA is a Xicana/o student collective that promotes culture, history, and resistance to oppression and is currently leading campaigns against the Texas State Board of Education textbook reforms called "Save Our History" and promoting Immigrant Rights at UT in solidarity with the Austin Immigrants Rights Coalition.

Pizza Party with Fair Food Austin!

2010-05-04T16:09:00.015-05:00

When: Sunday, May 9 at 5:30pm
Where: The Parlor, 43rd and Guadalupe

With summer around the corner, please join Fair Food Austin at the Parlor this Sunday as we reflect on this year's accomplishments — including the unforgettable Farmworker Freedom March (above) — and look towards the future. This informal, relaxed gathering is open to anyone who has love for the CIW or social justice in general, so please stop by for some pizza and beverages. Onward!

Two opportunities to stand up for workers' rights in Austin!

2010-04-26T07:51:00.006-05:00

Please join Fair Food Austin this week at these two important events:

1) Saturday 5/1: March for Immigrant Rights, International Workers' Day!

4pm: Assembly at the Capitol
5pm: March to City Hall

The annual May Day march is organized by the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition, of which Fair Food Austin is a proud member. Check out the video of last year's march:

2) Wednesday 4/28: Demand $120,000 in back wages, safe working conditions for Austin construction workers!

4:30pm: Meet at Duncan Park 900 West 9th Street, behind Book People. We will march to Gables Park Plaza and then caravan to 21 Rio (2100 Rio Grande).

Last summer two dozen workers performed plaster work at 21 Rio and Gables Park Plaza luxury condos. These workers were denied overtime pay and not paid for their final weeks of work at the 21 Rio worksite after their three co-workers were killed when a scaffold collapsed. Workers Defense Project (PDL) has attempted to negotiate a fair settlement with contractors and owners of the building. Yet at present date the workers have only been offered $18,805, less then 15% of the total wages they are owed.

Join construction workers, faith leaders, and community members to call on Gables and 21 Rio to sit down and negotiate a full payment to the workers and to ensure fair working conditions on future development sites.

ATX rolls deep at the Farmworker Freedom March!

2010-04-23T14:51:00.010-05:00

Last weekend, nearly two dozen Austin residents — including members of Fair Food Austin, Proyecto Defensa Laboral, Ella Pelea, and Son Armado — made the 2,300-mile round-trip trek to Florida and back to join the Farmworker Freedom March!

The three-day march from Tampa to Lakeland — hometown of Publix Super Markets, Inc., a major buyer of Florida tomatoes and the 9th largest privately held corporation in the US — was organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and attracted over 1,000 participants from 23 states. The weekend culminated in a rain-soaked final march on Sunday afternoon followed by a massive rally and concert. The rally also marked the last stop on a six-week tour of the Florida Modern-Day Slavery Museum.

While Austin has a long and distinguished history of participation in CIW mobilizations, the infectious energy of this remarkable gathering won't soon be forgotten by those in attendance!

Click here for photos, press, and more from the Farmworker Freedom March.

And although the march is over, the struggle continues! Stay tuned for news and announcements on next steps in the Campaign for Fair Food deep in the heart of Texas.

Foodservice giant Aramark signs Fair Food agreement with CIW!

2010-04-01T10:27:00.000-05:00

Student, youth organizing critical in achieving yet another milestone in the Campaign for Fair Food, which now surges forward with all eyes on Sodexo and Publix!

Responding to an escalating campaign waged by students on campuses across the country, Aramark has agreed to work with the CIW to directly improve farmworker wages and working conditions. The agreement — establishing a supplier code of conduct developed and implemented with farmworker participation — comes in the wake of several successful campus campaigns resulting in Student Senate resolutions calling on Aramark to work with the CIW.

Significantly, the agreement comes almost exactly a year to the day since the launch of the Dine with Dignity campaign, five years after the Taco Bell Boycott victory, and just two weeks out from the Farmworker Freedom March on Publix headquarters.

The Dine with Dignity campaign has also helped to usher in groundbreaking agreements between the CIW and Bon Appetit Management Company and Compass Group. With the Aramark agreement, Sodexo now stands isolated as the only major food service provider to not yet join this rising tide of social responsibility.

In Austin, students campaigned for over a year to pressure Aramark to sign this agreement. “From publishing op-eds in the Daily Texan to meeting with administrators, students in Austin let Aramark know that their customers on campus were demanding concrete improvements in the lives of Florida farmworkers,” said Kandace Vallejo, a UT graduate student and member of Fair Food Austin. "Now its time for UT's other foodservice provider, Sodexo, to follow the path blazed by Aramark, Bon Appetit, and Compass Group."

“Victory by victory, we're carving out a new world of fair wages, human rights, and dignity from the shameful history of exploitation in Florida's fields. Now that Aramark has come around, Sodexo doesn't have a leg to stand on. If corporations like Sodexo and Publix are to truly embrace social responsibility and guarantee to consumers that the food on our tables is not the product of human rights abuse, they must step up and follow Aramark and several other industry leaders in agreeing to work with the CIW,” said Meghan Cohorst, Student/Farmworker Alliance.

And it's not too late to make plans to join us in Florida for the three-day Farmworker Freedom March from April 16-18. Contact us today to reserve one of the last available seats in the Fair Food Austin caravan!

Tuesday 3/30: Tamale Dinner Fundraiser + Farmworker Freedom March Preview!

2010-03-15T19:10:00.007-05:00

Please join Fair Food Austin for a delicious tamale dinner fundraiser -- including a report from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' "Modern-Day Slavery Museum" tour and a preview of the upcoming Farmworker Freedom March from Tampa to Lakeland, Florida!

When: Tuesday, March 30, 7pm
Where: MonkeyWrench Books (110 E. North Loop, 78751)

Background: Throughout the month of March, members of the CIW and allies are touring Florida with a "Mobile Modern-day Slavery Museum." The museum is a mobile educational vehicle in the form of a box-truck outfitted as a replica of the trucks involved in the latest slavery prosecution. Its central focus is on the phenomenon of modern-day slavery – its roots, the reasons it persists, and its solutions. The exhibits of the museum were developed in consultation with workers who have escaped from forced labor operations as well as leading academic authorities on slavery and labor history in Florida.

Our multimedia presentation will focus on the contents of the museum, and include an update on the Campaign for Fair Food, which is heating up as we move towards the final month before the biggest action this campaign has seen in years! We will finish the presentation with a discussion about the upcoming mobilization in Florida and the caravan from Austin.

From April 16-18th, farmworkers from Immokalee and their allies will take the movement to eradicate slavery to the streets on a three-day march from Tampa to Lakeland, Florida, home of Publix's corporate headquarters. We will march with the museum in tow and behind a banner calling on Publix to support three fundamental "Farmworker Freedoms":

Freedom from forced labor
Freedom from abuse
Freedom from poverty and degradation

If you would like to find out more information about the caravan to the Farmworker Freedom March, email sfaatx@gmail.com.

Report from Texas Regional Encuentro!

2010-03-11T16:43:00.001-06:00

Student/Farmworker Alliance activists from across the Lone Star State -- including members of Fair Food Austin -- converged in Houston last weekend for the first-ever Texas Encuentro. From all accounts, the two-day gathering provided an excellent forum for strategy, reflection, and relationship-building, and included two separate actions calling on Aramark and Kroger to sign Fair Food agreements with the CIW. Click here for a full photo report!

Daily Texan: "Aramark and the art of the slow no"

2010-02-22T08:50:00.000-06:00

By Estella Cota
Daily Texan Guest Columnist
February 18, 2010

For nearly one year, students and members of the community group Fair Food Austin have petitioned Aramark, the food-service provider of the Texas Union, to reach an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to improve wages and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers. And for nearly one year, Aramark representatives at both the local and national levels have responded with silence, misinformation and delay tactics.

Students at Aramark-serviced campuses from Florida to California report similar experiences.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is a Florida-based farmworker organization at the cutting edge of human rights advocacy and corporate accountability. Since 2005, the CIW has signed “fair food” agreements with fast-food leaders Yum Brands (Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut), McDonald’s, Burger King and Subway. It reached its first supermarket agreement with Whole Foods Market in 2007. And last year, the CIW expanded into the food-service industry by formalizing partnerships with Compass Group and Bon Appetit Management Company.

These accords are being implemented at three Florida farms, including the state’s third largest tomato producer. Tomato harvesters at these farms are receiving fairer wages and are ensured a voice on the job. The farms, in turn, receive a premium price for more fairly produced tomatoes and preferential supplier status from participating retail giants. The campaign represents a win-win-win scenario for workers, growers and retailers alike. It is an innovative, market-based solution to the structural problems of farmworker poverty and powerlessness.

Florida farm labor conditions span a dark spectrum from everyday exploitation to extremes of forced labor. In fact, as the CIW and law enforcement officials testified before a 2008 U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing, the Department of Justice has prosecuted seven modern-day slavery cases in Florida agriculture since 1997. These cases almost certainly represent only the tip of the iceberg and stem from the retrograde labor relations at the heart of the industry.

Aramark’s Texas Union outlets claim not to source tomatoes from the sunshine state (as if labor conditions in Mexico are any better), yet the company as a whole buys a significant volume of Florida tomatoes for dining halls along the eastern seaboard and throughout the Midwest. As documented in a 2004 Oxfam American study, these high-volume, low-cost purchasing policies directly translate into downward pressure on farmworkers’ wages and working conditions. Despite its invisible yet real involvement in the lives of tomato harvesters, Aramark refuses to join the reform movement already underway.

“When we first started this campaign, back during the Taco Bell boycott, we learned a new term: the ‘Slow No,’” said Gerardo Reyes of the CIW. “That’s where corporations string you along with meeting after meeting, trying to maintain the illusion that they’re working toward a solution when, in fact, they’re busy working on a parallel path toward a different deal intended to perpetuate the very problem you’re trying to solve.”

“Whether they admit it or not, we think that’s exactly what Aramark is doing today,” continued Reyes. “They were talking with us, claiming they wanted to work with us, when in fact they’re working with the growers on yet another ‘fox guarding the henhouse’ deal, despite the fact that Florida tomato growers have never been capable of policing themselves. Well, that’s not acceptable, and we’re quite sure it won’t be acceptable to students on the campuses where Aramark does business.”

Aramark could learn a lot from competitor Bon Appetit, the food-service provider at St. Edward’s University in South Austin. Because Bon Appetit signed an agreement with the CIW in April 2009, it is now serving students ethically produced tomatoes whenever possible. Bon Appetit not only respected the farmworkers in its supply chain enough to forge a genuine partnership but also respected the informed opinions of its student customer base. Aramark’s behavior, on the other hand, provides a bitter study in contrast.

Hopefully the Texas Union board and University administrators will remember this when Aramark’s contract comes up for renewal.

Cota is an engineering junior.

Road Trip: Texas Regional Encuentro

2010-02-22T08:49:00.016-06:00

University of Houston, March 6-7

This gathering will bring together approximately 50 students and youth from around Texas to host workshops, strategize and take action around the Campaign for Fair Food.

Contact cristian[at]sfalliance.org to join the Fair Food Austin caravan!

From huge Aramark contracts at the University of Houston and UT-Austin to Sodexo's presence in the Valley, from this spring's three-day march on supermarket chain Publix's headquarters in Florida to local struggles against Kroger right here in Texas, our work as farmworker allies has never been as crucial or as exciting. This critical moment in the campaign is the backdrop for our regional encuentro and highlights how important -- and exciting -- this meeting will be.

Program highlights include:

Skill-building workshops on campus and community organizing;
Strategy sessions around the next year in the Dine with Dignity and Supermarket Campaigns;
Two energetic actions targeting Aramark and Kroger;
Planning for the upcoming Farmworker Freedom March.

See you in Houston!

"For the Love of the Struggle" Benefit Party: Saturday 2/13

2010-02-09T09:52:00.007-06:00

This weekend, Fair Food Austin is having a benefit to support the upcoming Farmworker Freedom March. We've got Mike Avila of Feel Good Muzik rockin' out the dancefloor, plus drinks of all varieties, tamales, a screen printing lab, and, most importantly, a kissing booth!

What: "For the Love of the Struggle"
When: Saturday, February 13, 10pm-2am
Where: 4925 Bull Creek Rd.

$6 gets you in the door and a beer cup.

Road trip: "Farmworker Freedom March!"

2010-01-25T15:20:00.015-06:00

Join us this spring for an intensive campaign of education and action to end modern-day slavery in Florida's fields. In addition to our ongoing local work with the Campaign for Fair Food, we will be organizing a caravan from Austin to Florida to participate in the march. Mark your calendars, and stay tuned for details in the weeks ahead!

Three-day march of farmworkers and allies
April 16-18, from Tampa to Lakeland (home of Publix)
Route details and logistics to be announced soon.

Click here to go to the march website.

"Meet a Community Group": Monday 1/25

2010-01-18T15:06:00.013-06:00

When: Monday, Jan. 25 at 7:30pm
Where: 110 E. North Loop, 78751

MonkeyWrench Books hosts Fair Food Austin as part of its monthly "Meet a Community Group" speaker series. This forum aims to bring together community members with local groups working on various issues in the Austin area. Don't miss this opportunity to learn about the exciting developments in the Campaign for Fair Food as well as what Fair Food Austin has in store for Spring 2010!

Fair Food Austin Benefit Concert: Friday 12/4

2009-11-23T13:37:00.007-06:00

Please join Fair Food Austin for an all-ages benefit concert:

Friday Dec. 4th
Music Gym (815 E. 6th)
$5 suggested donation

11pm Frank Smith
12am Smoking Feathers
After hours w/ DJ Hoodie Allen

Photo Report: Our Sweat is Not Free!

2009-11-20T13:46:00.007-06:00

Yesterday, members of Fair Food Austin took their message about labor conditions in Florida's tomato fields to the student body at the University of Texas at Austin with a powerful skit recreating the brutal facts of a 2007 slavery case in Immokalee, Florida.

Accompanied by the musicians of Son Armado, the performance consisted of an endless cycle of day and night scenes in which farmworkers were forced to harvest tomatoes against their will under a scorching sun only to be robbed of their pay and chained inside a u-haul truck at night. Over the course of the 90-minute performance, hundreds of flyers were distributed outlining the link between farmworker exploitation and the purchasing practices of UT foodservice providers Armark and Sodexo. Students were provided with the telephone numbers of Aramark officials and encouraged to call and voice their support for the Campaign for Fair Food.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers originally performed the theater piece this year on the steps of the Florida Capitol to dramatize the indifference of Florida Governor Charlie Crist to the slavery epidemic in Florida agriculture involving seven federally prosecuted farm labor slavery cases and well over one thousand workers since 1997 alone.

Click here for pictures from yesterday's action!

Fair Food Austin to commemorate 2nd anniversary of Florida slavery case

2009-11-16T13:41:00.014-06:00

What: Popular theater and son jarocho performance
Where: Texas Union patio and West Mall
When: Thursday, November 19, 12:30pm

On Thursday, November 19, members of Fair Food Austin will commemorate the second anniversary of a modern-day slavery case involving over a dozen tomato pickers who were held in debt peonage, forced to work, and chained inside a box truck at night in Immokalee.

On November 18, 2007, three workers escaped from the truck by punching through a ventilation hatch in the ceiling. The ensuing investigation resulted in the successful federal prosecution of three farm employers on slavery charges (“Slave Labour that Shames America,” The Independent, 12/19/07).

Two years after this horrific case came to light, foodservice providers Aramark and Sodexo – both of whom do business with UT-Austin and buy millions of pounds of Florida tomatoes annually – have yet to take meaningful steps to prevent slavery in their tomato supply chains. As we pointed out last month, this is simply unacceptable ("The Texas Union and Slavery," Daily Texan, 10/6/09).

Join us in calling on Aramark and Sodexo to partner with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to eliminate slavery in Florida's fields once and for all.

Daily Texan: "Coalition campaigns against abusive tomato farmers"

2009-10-09T07:15:00.013-05:00

Here's an interesting excerpt from the Daily Texan's coverage of our delegation to Henry Jackson's (Aramark) office in the Texas Union. Yesterday members of Fair Food Austin delivered an open letter calling on Aramark to "establish an agreement with the CIW with all due diligence."

During the meeting in the Union, Vallejo asked Jackson to pass the letter to his supervisor and set up another meeting time. Jackson said that his company asked that he did not have a meeting with the group.

“I don’t make purchasing decisions. [Aramark and the Coalition] are negotiating at a higher level,” Jackson said.

A statement was released from Aramark’s Corporate Communications stating that they have already met with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and sent a letter to their suppliers asking them to investigate the minimum wage and employment practices with the Immokalee tomato workers, and that Aramark does not contract with the growers or the farm workers in the purchasing of tomatoes.”

According to the CIW, however, no negotiations are currently underway. In fact, Aramark has yet to contact the CIW since the launch of the Dine With Dignity campaign six months ago. And in light of the Fair Food agreements between the CIW and seven multibillion-dollar, multinational food retailers, Aramark's excuses arrive dead on arrival in 2009.

Daily Texan op-ed: "The Texas Union and slavery"

2009-10-06T09:00:00.015-05:00

By Kandace Vallejo
Daily Texan Guest Columnist
October 6, 2009

The day after Thanksgiving 1960, millions of Americans tuned into the landmark documentary “Harvest of Shame.” Narrated by Edward Murrow, the legendary pioneer of television news broadcasting, the report provided viewers with vivid portrayals of the degradation experienced daily by migrant farmworkers throughout the U.S. In an iconic soundbite, one produce grower casually explained, “We used to own our slaves. Now we just rent them.”

Very little has changed in 50 years. For example, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders notes that “the norm is a disaster, and the extreme is slavery” for tomato harvesters in Florida. The picking piece rate has remained stagnant since 1980. A worker today must pick and haul roughly two and a half tons of tomatoes to earn minimum wage for a typical 10-hour day.

These wages, combined with the precarious nature of farm labor and virtually nonexistent legal protections, result in workers’ sub-poverty annual earnings and create an environment where abuses as extreme as slavery can flourish.
Slavery. As in seven prosecuted cases involving 15 farm employers and over 1000 workers – native-born and immigrant alike – in the last decade. In the most recent case, a dozen workers escaped from a box truck in Immokalee, Florida where they were being held against their will, beaten, chained and forced to pick tomatoes for little or no pay. After successfully prosecuting their enslavers, U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy acknowledged that the handful of cases that have come to light are “just the tip of the iceberg.”

At the forefront of today’s abolition movement is an award-winning farmworker’s organization, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). Their anti-slavery efforts have been praised by Florida Governor Charlie Crist, FBI Director Robert Mueller, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and leading trafficking experts the world over. The CIW is not only the undisputed leader in uncovering slavery cases in Florida’s fields., it is also advancing a strategic program to eliminate the systemic poverty and powerlessness that lie at the heart of the state’s agricultural industry.

On Sept. 25, the CIW and Compass Group North America announced sweeping changes to improve tomato harvesters’ wages and working conditions. Compass is the first major foodservice provider to join Yum Brands, McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, and Whole Foods Market in partnering with the CIW to address the human rights crisis in Florida’s fields.

These innovative agreements harness the market power of large retailers to improve labor standards in their tomato supply chains.

Yet Aramark – the foodservice provider of the Texas Union – remains on the sidelines. On its Web site, Aramark claims to “conduct business … according to the highest ethical standard.” With news of the Compass agreement, Aramark can no longer claim that it meets the highest ethical standard. If it wishes to retain the goodwill of students and the broader Austin community, Aramark should, with all due diligence, establish an agreement with the CIW to demand those same higher standards of its tomato suppliers. Until that time, Aramark will continue to play an indefensible and unnecessary role in prolonging Florida’s harvest of shame.

Vallejo is a cultural studies in education graduate student and a member of Fair Food Austin.

An open letter to Henry Jackson, Aramark

2009-10-05T10:08:00.007-05:00

Henry Jackson
Director of Dining Services, Aramark
The Texas Union
PO Box 7338
Austin TX 78713
(512) 475-6500

Dear Mr. Jackson:

As concerned students, alumni, and community members, we urge Aramark to follow the recent example set by the Compass Group North America in working with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to eliminate human rights violations in its tomato supply chain.

According to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, “the norm is a disaster, and the extreme is slavery” for tomato harvesters in Florida's fields. The tomato picking piece rate has remained stagnant since 1980. A worker today must pick and haul roughly two and a half tons of tomatoes to earn minimum wage for a typical ten-hour day. These wages – combined with the precarious and seasonal nature of farm labor – result in workers' sub-poverty annual earnings and create an environment where horrific forms of labor abuse flourish.

In the extreme, workers face situations of forced labor. The CIW – a Florida-based worker organization leading the movement to reform the state's farm labor relations – has aided the Department of Justice in the successful prosecution of six modern-day slavery cases involving more than one thousand farmworkers in the past decade. Fifteen farm labor supervisors are currently serving sentences in federal prison as a result of these slavery prosecutions.

On September 25, the CIW and Compass Group North America announced sweeping changes to improve tomato harvesters' wages and working conditions. Compass is the first major foodservice provider to join Yum Brands, McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Whole Foods Market and Bon Appetit Management Company in partnering with the CIW to address the human rights crisis in Florida's fields.

Now we turn to Aramark. Your company claims to “conduct business with the utmost integrity and according to the highest ethical standard… working hard to continuously improve [its] actions.” With news of the Compass agreement, Aramark can no longer claim that it meets the highest ethical standards. We expect that your company will follow suit and establish an agreement with the CIW with all due diligence to demand those same higher standards of its tomato suppliers. Until that time, however, we have no choice but to intensify our educational efforts to inform the campus and community of Aramark's role in prolonging Florida's harvest of shame.

Sincerely,

Members and Supporters of Fair Food Austin

"Greatest victory for farmworkers since Cesar Chavez in the 1970s"

2009-10-01T11:39:00.013-05:00

On September 25, the CIW, Compass Group, and East Coast Growers and Packers announced "sweeping changes to benefit tomato harvesters" at press conference in the nation's capital! Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis (left) attended the event, lending firm support to the Campaign for Fair Food. Click here for the CIW photo report!

"Farmworker Wages to Increase Under Labor Agreement"(Washington Post, 9/25/09)
"Tomato workers win new pay deal" (Ft. Myers News-Press, 9/26/09)
"A Compass for Fair Food" (The Nation, 9/27/09)

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis: "I would like to congratulate the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. For the first time, a major Florida producer, East Coast Growers and Packers, represented here, has implemented the CIW's Fair Food program. This is a huge victory."

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack: "I commend the Compass Group and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers for taking meaningful steps to ensure that these workers are paid a decent wage and are treated fairly. This agreement not only represents an important step forward for tomato workers in Florida, it is an expression of the essential value of farm workers to our agricultural sector as a whole." see the statement here on the USDA website

Senator Bernie Sanders: "Today marks the beginning of the end of the harvest of shame that has existed for far too long in Florida's tomato fields. I applaud the tireless efforts of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers toward improving the wages and working conditions of tomato workers. I also commend the Compass Group for agreeing to this important initiative. The time has come for all tomato growers to participate in the penny per pound program and ensure that no tomato worker lives in abject poverty."

Lucas Benitez of the CIW: "The future of Florida agriculture is contained within this agreement today. It is a future founded on mutual respect and mutual benefit, a future of common purpose among farmworkers, growers, retail food leaders, and consumers. In short, it is a future of social responsibility. We look forward to working with East Coast, Compass, and the other companies that have signed Fair Food agreements to develop the rules and rigorous monitoring systems necessary to make that future a reality this coming season."

Gerardo Reyes of the CIW: "For social responsibility to truly take hold in Florida, growers like East Coast who embrace more humane labor standards must be rewarded by the market. With a strategy for social responsibility and the support of companies like Compass, East Coast -- and the workers whose labor is its lifeblood -- will not only survive, but will thrive well into the 21st century."

Eric Schlosser (author, Fast Food Nation): "There's no question that this is the greatest victory for farmworkers since Cesar Chavez in the 1970s."

Major breakthrough: A grower steps forward!

2009-09-15T11:29:00.020-05:00

On September 10, the CIW announced a game-changing development in its 15-year struggle for worker dignity in Florida's tomato fields:

"With the start of the new season only weeks away, East Coast Growers and Packers -- one of Florida's largest tomato growers -- has agreed to work with the CIW and food industry leaders to implement the CIW'S Fair Food agreements, including the penny-per-pound raise to harvesters, supply chain transparency, and a stringent code of conduct.

The agreements -- six in all, among them the world's four largest restaurant companies and the leading organic grocer -- had been held up for nearly two years by the resistance of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange (FTGE), the powerful industry lobby.

"The past two years have been difficult, as farmworkers in Immokalee and throughout Florida have been stubbornly denied the benefits of the Fair Food agreements thanks to the FTGE," said Lucas Benitez of the CIW. "But we never stopped organizing, and during those two years some of the industry's largest buyers of tomatoes signed on to the agreements, creating an ever larger share of the market committed to purchasing tomatoes only from growers who agree to meet the higher standards called for by the CIW."

"We are extremely pleased that East Coast has shown the courage and the vision to seize on this tremendous opportunity and by so doing help lead the Florida tomato industry toward a fairer, more sustainable future," added Gerardo Reyes, also of the CIW. "We will be working closely with East Coast and our food industry partners in the coming weeks to ensure that we have an effective mechanism in place for passing the penny-per-pound to the workers and a solid plan for monitoring compliance with the code of conduct. There is still much work to be done but, at long last, we are working together, and when we work together -- farmworkers, growers, retailers, and consumers -- we can forge a relationship that will benefit all of us."

With a major grower now committed to implementing the CIW agreements, the Campaign for Fair Food turns to those companies that have remained on the sidelines, companies like Publix and Kroger, Sodexo and Aramark, Wendy's and Quizno's, Costco and WalMart. The familiar excuses for inaction -- "we don't get involved in disputes between our suppliers and their employees," or "but there's no way to get the penny to the workers" -- no longer hold.

The question to those companies now is simple: Will your company support social responsibility? Will your company put its purchasing power behind those in the Florida tomato industry who are willing to do the right thing for their workers, or will you continue to support the growers who stand against progress?

The time for stalling is over. Now, to borrow a phrase, is the season for action."

Friday 5/1: March for Workers' Rights and Just Immigration Reform

2009-04-12T09:05:00.014-05:00

6pm: Texas Capitol, South Steps
7pm: March to City Hall begins

Sponsors: Austin Immigrants Rights Coalition, Grassroots Leadership, PODER, Mamas of Color Rising, Workers Defense Project, Cristo Rey, NICA, Austin Peace & Justice Center, American Friends Service Committee, Paul Parsons, P.C., Immigration Attorney, Inmigrantes Latinos en Accion, MEChA, ALLGO, Alma de Mujer, Resistencia, Austin Voices, ISO, Monkeywrench, Fair Food Austin, El Shaddai Church.

Food Justice Speaker Series: Spring 2009

2009-03-17T09:39:00.010-05:00

People are paying attention to food like never before. These conversations are raising questions about where our food comes from and its impacts on health, the environment, and human rights. This series highlights efforts towards a more fair and sustainable food system in Austin and elsewhere.

April 9: Concentration of Power in the Global Food System
7pm, MonkeyWrench Books (110 E. North Loop)
Discussion on how free trade agreements -- partnerships between governments and corporations -- centralize food production and concentrate market power.

Paul Martin, Siempre Sustainable Network
Carmen Llanes, PODER & Texas Fair Trade Coalition
Eva Hershaw, Photojournalist
Moderator: Sthea Mason, American Friends Service Committee

April 16: Fair Food Across Borders
7pm, MonkeyWrench Books (110 E. North Loop)
Film screening ("Paying the Price") and discussion on migrant agricultural workers in the U.S. and Mexico.

Melody Gonzalez, Chiapas Media Project
Fair Food Austin
Moderator: Cristina Tzintzún, Workers Defense Project

April 30: Building Local Food Systems
7pm, MonkeyWrench Books (110 E. North Loop)
Individuals and organizations in Austin contribute to food access, efficacy and awareness that strengthen our local and sustainable food system.

Andrew Smiley, Sustainable Food Center
Vivian Alston and Steve Young, Urban Roots
Erin Flynn and Skip Connett, Green Gate Farms
Moderator: Marla Camp, Edible Austin

May 7: Environment, Health and Food Safety
7pm, Center for Community Engagement (1009 E. 11th Street)
Explore the impacts of the conventional food system on the environment, health, and food safety.

Curt Ellis, filmmaker, "King Corn"
Charlotte Herzele, University of Texas at Austin
Vicky Wolf, Environmental writer
Moderator: Dianne Papillion, Meals on Wheels and More

Sponsors: American Friends Service Committee, Fair Food Austin, MonkeyWrench Books, Oxfam-UT, PODER, Sustainable Food Center, Texas Fair Trade Coalition, Center for Community Engagement (UT-Austin), Urban Roots, Workers Defense Project

César Chávez March: Saturday 3/28

2009-03-07T16:29:00.004-06:00

March starts at 10am
A. B. Cantu Pan Am Rec Center
2100 E. 3rd Street

Speakers, poetry, music and dance at 11am-1pm
Mexican American Cultural Center
600 River Street

Sponsored by PODER, MACC, Southwest Key, UT MEChA, La Nueva Raza, Grassroots Leadership, ACLU of Central Texas, Resistencia, ATX National Hip Hop Political Convention, El Jardin Alegre, Theater Action Project, Austin Voices, Young Scholars for Justice, Alma de Mujer, St. Edwards Ballet Folklorico, Capoeira da Rua, Urban Roots, Fair Food Austin

ACTION ALERT: Tell Florida Governor Crist to take a stand against slavery!

2009-01-26T11:48:00.003-06:00

If you could help end modern-day slavery in Florida's fields with an email, would you?

Click here to email Governor Crist today!

Those of you who have followed the CIW's work over the years know that the issue of forced labor has been a central focus of our efforts since we began organizing in 1993. So you know that we wouldn't call for an email action campaign on slavery if we didn't truly believe your email could help.

Today, we believe it can, and here's why: In all the years we have been fighting forced labor in Florida's fields, one very important player has remained stubbornly on the sidelines. Despite seven major prosecutions in the past decade, not once has the governor of our state -- the chief executive who wields tremendous public and political influence over the state's agricultural industry -- said a single word to condemn this most egregious human rights violation. Three men have occupied the post in that time and not one has said a word.

Today, with your help, we are going to demand that Governor Charlie Crist take the field in the fight against slavery. In the wake of the governor's spokesman's outrageous comments diminishing the significance of farm labor slavery, the CIW is calling on Gov. Crist to commit the full power of his office to address the plague of modern-day slavery in Florida’s fields. Add your voice to this call today by clicking on the following link, where you can learn more about the petition campaign and send an email or fax to the governor today.

Click here to email Governor Crist today!

Update 3/11: Governor Crist has agreed to meet with the CIW! Read the coverage here.

2008: Five stories that defined a momentous year in the Campaign for Fair Food...

2009-01-07T21:44:00.002-06:00

We've sifted through the past twelve months and have identified what we consider the top five stories from a remarkably eventful year. So, sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy a look back at the highlights of a year that's going to be one hard act to follow!

And then get back up and get ready to do it all again -- 2009 is waiting...

Click here for the top five stories from 2008 in the Campaign for Fair Food!

Breaking: Subway signs with CIW!

2008-12-02T14:04:00.002-06:00

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

Check the CIW website soon for more on this breaking news...

Fair Food Music Fest: Saturday 12/6

2008-11-21T10:35:00.018-06:00

Please join us for a benefit concert for Fair Food Austin:

Saturday Dec. 6th
2-8pm
Music Gym (815 E. 6th)
$5-10 suggested donation

7pm Special guests
6pm Woozyhelmet
5pm The Bubbles
4pm Gio Mo Cua
3pm Diving Captain

All ages. Doors at 2pm. Live Oak beer, food, and refreshments.

Fair Food Friday: Halloween Edition

2008-10-27T11:08:00.011-05:00

In the grand tradition of CIW Halloween protests (the photo on the right is from a 2002 Taco Bell protest in Ft. Myers, FL), join us this Friday 10/31 for a spooky edition of Fair Food Fridays. Costumes encouraged!

When: Friday, 10/31, 6-7pm
Where: Chipotle Free Burrito Give-Away (2230 Guadalupe St.)

And in the meantime, don't miss the recent coverage of the Campaign for Fair Food in the New York Times Sunday Magazine or the video recap (below) of the recent Chipocrisy tour!

Announcing "Fair Food Fridays!"

2008-10-21T15:48:00.006-05:00

On October 19th, members of Fair Food Austin came together to map the future of the Campaign for Fair Food locally. Several exciting projects are now underway, including the launch of Fair Food Fridays -- a recurring weekly event to create consciousness among consumers and maintain pressure on chains such as Chipotle and Subway who still refuse to take steps to improve the wages and working conditions of tomato pickers in their supply chains.

Starting on October 24th, join Fair Food Austin every Friday at noon at the Chipotle across from the University of Texas (2230 Guadalupe St.) for this brief but powerful demonstration of your support for fair food. Wear your CIW and SFA t-shirts if you got 'em; we'll provide flyers.

Also, Fair Food Austin is proud to co-sponsor the UT Palestine Solidarity Committee's free screening of "9 Star Hotel." The film screening and discussion takes place on Thursday, October 30th, at 7PM at UT campus (Burdine 216).

Fair Food Austin Retreat + Fair Trade Forum

2008-10-12T10:42:00.007-05:00

Please join us for two upcoming events on Oct. 18-19:

1. Fair Food Austin Retreat
Help chart the future of the Campaign for Fair Food in ATX -- Everyone's welcome!
Sunday, Oct. 19th, 11am-4pm
1202 Kenwood Avenue, 78704

2. Fighting for a Fair Trade Future: A Community Forum
Check out a panel, keynote speaker, and workshops on the relation of trade to the environment, farmworkers' rights, immigration, and other critical issues.
Saturday, October 18, 2008 1-5PM
Conley-Guerro Activity Center 808 Niles St., Austin, Texas
Free registration at oxfamut.org

2008 "Chipocrisy Tour" to hit Austin: Thursday 10/2

2008-09-23T14:22:00.004-05:00

Thursday, October 2nd, Fair Food Austin is proud to host the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) on their 2008 "Chipocrisy Tour"!...

Campaign Presentation - Noon
CIW recaps latest victories and next steps in the Campaign for Fair Food.
University of Texas (Eastwoods Room, Texas Union)

Chipotle Protest - 1pm
Demand Chipotle live up to its "Food with Integrity" slogan.
Meet at Cesar Chavez statue on UT campus (West Mall)
2230 Guadalupe St.

Whole Foods & Burger King Victory Celebration - 7pm
Join CIW and Austin allies for music, celebration, and a report-back from the 2008 Student/Farmworker Alliance Encuentro.
1604 E. 11th St.

Update (10/6): Don't miss coverage of the CIW's visit to Austin here!

Background: On the heels of a major agreement with Austin-based Whole Foods Market, CIW amplifies its demand for Chipotle to live up to its "Food with Integrity" slogan.

In the grand tradition of CIW "mini-tours" since 2001, the CIW is announcing the 2008 "Chipocrisy Tour," set to begin at the end of this month in Austin, Texas, and make its way to Chipotle Mexican Grill's corporate headquarters in Denver, Colorado in early October. The 2008 tour will head north from Austin through towns like Lawrence, Kansas to Denver and home again to Immokalee for two weeks of of education and action around the true meaning of the term "sustainable agriculture."

Chipotle has staked its claim as the sustainable agriculture leader in the fast-food industry. Its marketing slogan -- "Food with Integrity" -- is unambigious.

Yet the company's definition of "sustainable" is apparently unconcerned with the egregious exploitation of farm labor in Florida's tomato fields. And you don't have to take our word for it. Here's the company's vision of sustainable agriculture as defined by none other than Chipotle's founder and CEO, Steve Ells:

"We decided long ago that we didn't want Chipotle's success to be tied to the exploitation of animals, farmers, or the environment.”

Should farmworkers be included in that definition? We think so, and in the language of this election season, that's a debate we're happy to have. So let the debate begin next week, with the 2008 Chipocrisy Tour, and may the best vision of sustainable agriculture win!

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

2008-09-09T13:21:00.004-05:00

Gerardo Reyes of the CIW: “With this agreement, the Campaign for Fair Food has again broken new ground. This is not only our first agreement in the supermarket industry but, in working with Whole Foods Market, we have the opportunity to really raise the bar to establish and ensure modern day labor standards and conditions in Florida.”

Here's the press release in its entirety.

Many thanks to everyone in Austin who played a role in this excellent development!

We're back - Fair Food Austin resumes meetings

2008-09-08T16:02:00.008-05:00

After a summer respite and another major victory in the Campaign for Fair Food (thank you, Burger King), we're back at it. Come check out the new meeting time and location -- every Thursday at 5:30pm at Parlin 8C (UT-Austin). Fair Food Austin meetings are open to everyone in the Austin area.

More fall events will be announced soon, but in the meantime stay tuned for more exciting campaign developments as well as a report-back from the Austin/Rio Grande Valley delegation attending the 2008 SFA Encuentro in Immokalee, Florida next week!

Burger King campaign comes to end with historic press conference, signing ceremony at US Capitol

2008-05-23T15:54:00.001-05:00

CIW's Lucas Benitez: "The events of the past months have been trying. But we are prepared to move forward, together now with Burger King, toward a future of full respect for the human rights of workers in the Florida tomato fields. Today we are one step closer to building a world where we, as farmworkers, can enjoy a fair wage and humane working conditions in exchange for the hard and essential work we do everyday. We are not there yet, but we are getting there, and this agreement should send a strong message to the rest of the restaurant and supermarket industry: Now is the time to join Yum! Brands, McDonalds, and Burger King in righting the wrongs that have been allowed to linger in Florida’s fields for far too long."

Click here for the press release, media coverage, and agreement details.

BK 'spygate' scandal widens, implicates CEO

2008-05-07T14:07:00.005-05:00

With a powerful new op/ed published in today's New York Times, entitled "Burger With a Side of Spies," award-winning investigative author Eric Schlosser takes the spreading "spygate" scandal to a new level, documenting the fast-food giants efforts to infiltrate the Student/Farmworker Alliance.

This comes just three weeks after a report in the Ft. Myers News-Press broke the story of a multi-faceted "dirty tricks" campaign aimed at discrediting the CIW through an anonymous, bogus blogger campaign of emails and internet postings questioning the CIW's integrity and calling the Immokalee farmworkers' organization the "lowest form of life" and "bloodsuckers," among other things. That smear campaign has since been tied to Burger King Vice President Steven Grover (above right, "Burger King VP puts self on grill; Daughter says dad wrote anti-coalition postings," 4/28/08). Stay tuned for more news in this rapidly developing story!

Three upcoming events: May 1-3

2008-04-17T13:52:00.011-05:00

Please join us at three upcoming events:

1. Immigrant Rights March
Thursday, May 1st, Rally 4:30pm, March 5:30pm
South Steps of the Capitol, 1100 Congress Ave 78701
Take to the streets on May Day to demand dignity for immigrant workers and the right to live without fear of deportations that divide families!

2. Fair Food Celebration
Friday, May 2nd, 7pm
MonkeyWrench Books, 110. E. North Loop 78751
Before summer arrives and workers leave Immokalee for northern harvests, celebrate the end of another year of local Fair Food organizing with music from Son Armado, photographs, refreshments and updates on the Whole Foods and Burger King campaigns -- including a report-back from the national petition delivery in Miami!

3. Guatemala, International Mining, and Community Resistance
Saturday, May 3rd, 7pm
MonkeyWrench Books, 110. E. North Loop
Fausto Valiente Roberto de Leon represents the Pastoral Commission for Peace and Ecology (COPAE), and will speak about community struggles against gold and silver extraction in San Marcos, Guatemala. COPAE works to monitor the health, social, and environmental affects of mining and supports community efforts to exert their right to autonomy against transnational corporations and create locally determined economic alternatives for development.

Exposed: Burger King spying on CIW and SFA!

2008-04-14T11:51:00.005-05:00

"Who would spy on a couple of nonprofit human rights groups? Who would hire a professional infiltrator to sit in on the organizations’ planning sessions? Who would attack them on the Web for their efforts to improve the lives of workers who pick produce for the world’s largest fast food chains? That’s something the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Student/Farmworker Alliance would like to know." Read the full article on this breaking story:

"Tomato pickers feeling spied on," Ft. Myers News-Press (4/12)
"Did Burger King target and spy on tomato pickers rights groups?" Democracy Now! (4/14)

CIW Petition Campaign Heats Up!

2008-03-21T12:43:00.004-05:00

The National Petition Campaign to End Sweatshops & Slavery in the Fields is entering its final month! We need your support to make it a success now more than ever. The petitions will serve as notice that those who sign are “prepared to stop patronizing Burger King now, and other food industry leaders in the future, should they fail to do so.” The campaign comes on the 200th anniversary of the US ban against the importation of slaves, and echoes key strategies of the early abolitionist movement that helped hasten the end of slavery in the 19th century.

Take a moment today to add your name to the growing list of petition signers, and forward the petition on to your family, friends and co-workers so that they may sign as well. With each signature, our message to Burger King -- and other food industry leaders such as Whole Foods -- that they must take responsibility for the human rights crisis in America's fields grows even stronger. Don't miss this creative video petition from the Student/Farmworker Alliance crew in NYC!

Movement for Justice in El Barrio

2008-03-11T11:21:00.006-05:00

Thursday, March 20th, 7pm
The University of Texas at Austin
Calhoun 100

Movement for Justice in El Barrio (MJB) is a grassroots organization from New York City comprised primarily of Mexican immigrants. For the past three years, this 400-member tenant rights organization has successfully staved off the gentrification of East Harlem in New York City. MJB is coming to Austin, Texas to share their successes and discuss their organizing strategies including the new International Campaign in Defense of El Barrio (which SFA recently endorsed). To learn more about MJB, check out this profile for the May/June issue of Left Turn Magazine, "Urban Zapatismo in NYC."

This event is sponsored by the Chicana/o Latina /o Graduate Student Association, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlan en Austin (MEChA), Student/Farmworker Alliance - ATX and others.

CIW, Fair Food Austin Picket Whole Foods Annual Shareholder Meeting

2008-03-10T13:56:00.003-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2008

Contact:
Kate Kelly, (512) 560-5897
Carlos Perez de Alejo, (321) 948-3423

FLORIDA FARMWORKERS, CONSUMERS PICKET WHOLE FOODS ANNUAL SHAREHOLDERS MEETING

Whole Foods Must Partner with Coalition of Immokalee Workers to “Close Gap Between Rhetoric and Reality,” Eliminate Abuse in Florida's Fields

Austin, Texas – On Monday, March 10, members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the Fair Food Austin campaign will picket outside Whole Foods' annual shareholders meeting to encourage the world's leading natural and organic food retailer to take proactive steps to address sweatshop conditions in its tomato supply chain. The conditions in Florida’s tomato fields – which include an antiquated piece rate pay system that results in sub-poverty annual wages, long hours with no right to overtime pay, and no right to organize – fly in the face of the company’s much publicized commitment to buying only from producers who provide fair wages and humane treatment.

The CIW is an award-winning farmworker organization known for its exposure of several modern-day slavery operations in Florida agriculture. The CIW is appealing to major food industry players – including Austin-based retailer Whole Foods Market – to leverage their market influence to demand full respect for the human rights of the workers who pick their tomatoes. Whole Foods is a Fortune 500 company with $6.6 billion in 2007 sales.

Kate Kelly of Fair Food Austin states, “Last year, Whole Foods announced the Whole Trade Guarantee for products it purchases from overseas, claiming to 'help combat poverty' through 'better wages and working conditions for workers.' These principles should be extended to all workers in Whole Foods' produce supply chain.” Ms. Kelly continues, “Specifically, Whole Foods should partner with the CIW to improve wages and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers.”

Carlos Perez de Alejo of Fair Food Austin adds, “If Whole Foods is to be the company it claims to be, it must live up to its words and partner with the CIW to help end the exploitation of Florida's farmworkers. Whole Foods must close the gap between its rhetoric and reality.”

Background: Florida’s farmworkers – including the workers who pick tomatoes for retailers such as Whole Foods – face sweatshop conditions every day in the fields, including: sub-poverty wages (tomato pickers earn roughly $10,000/year, according to the USDOL); no raise in nearly 30 years (pickers are paid virtually the same per bucket piece rate today as in 1980 - at the going rate, workers must pick more than 2.5 TONS of tomatoes just to earn minimum wage for a typical 10-hr day); and the denial of fundamental labor rights (no right to overtime pay nor right to organize).

In the most extreme cases, workers face actual conditions of modern-day slavery. Federal civil rights officials have prosecuted six slavery operations – involving over 1,000 workers – in Florida's fields since 1997.

In an interview with The Nation following his January 2008 visit to farmworkers in Immokalee, Florida, US Senator Bernie Sanders stated, “I think those are workers who are more ruthlessly exploited and treated with more contempt than any group of workers that I've ever seen and I suspect exist in the US." He added, "The norm is a disaster, and the extreme is slavery."

In 2005, the CIW resolved a four-year, nationwide boycott against Taco Bell when the fast-food leader and its parent company, Yum Brands, agreed to pay a premium for its tomatoes to directly improve workers' sub-poverty wages and to work with the CIW to address the labor abuses endemic to Florida agriculture. In 2007, after a two-year campaign, the CIW reached a similar agreement with McDonald's, the largest fast-food chain in the world.

The CIW's groundbreaking work has been recognized by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Human Rights Center, Anti-Slavery International, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Business Ethics Network, among others. The CIW received support from the Editorial Board of the Austin American-Statesman, “Penny pinchers won't let tomato pickers have it their way,” (1/11/08) and has received extensive national and international media coverage since 2001.

3/10: Action at Whole Foods Shareholder Meeting

2008-02-26T21:18:00.027-06:00

Monday, March 10th, 8am
Hilton Austin
500 East 4th Street, 78701

CIW: "Today we are tired, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., of 'relying on the good will and understanding of those who profit by exploiting us.'"

Campaign Background: One year ago, the CIW sent a letter to Whole Foods requesting dialogue around solutions to the human rights crisis in Florida's fields. Whole Foods flatly ignored this request, later claiming to the Austin-American Statesman they never received the certified letter. On February 11, 2008, a delegation of CIW and Austin community members re-delivered the letter to Whole Foods corporate headquarters.

With $6.6 billion in 2007 sales, Whole Foods is the world's leading natural and organic food retailer. It stakes its brand and reputation on an image of social responsibility. Through its Whole Trade guarantee, for example, it proudly markets fair trade purchasing programs for products from overseas, claiming to "help combat poverty" through "better wages and working conditions for workers." Yet farmworkers suffer unconscionable wages and working conditions here in the United States, including:

sub-poverty wages (tomato pickers earn roughly $10,000/year, according to the US Department of Labor);
no raise in nearly 30 years (pickers are paid virtually the same per bucket piece rate today as in 1980 – at the going rate, workers must pick more than 2.5 TONS of tomatoes just to earn minimum wage for a typical 10-hr day);
and the denial of fundamental labor rights (no right to overtime pay nor right to organize).

In the most extreme cases, workers face actual conditions of modern-day slavery. The CIW has helped federal civil rights officials to prosecute six slavery operations – involving over one thousand workers – in Florida's fields since 1997.

One year is too long to wait. Please join us on March 10th to take this message to Whole Foods' shareholders from around the country.

Community Meeting + Whole Foods Action

2008-02-19T17:33:00.013-06:00

Thanks to everyone who supported the CIW's recent visit to Austin. By all accounts, the weekend was a great success as members of CIW and SFA took the Campaign to Fair Food to thousands of consumers throughout the Texas capital. The Austin Chronicle, among others, is taking notice: "Fighting for Fair Food" (2/08/08).

From educational events to a high-energy Burger King protest to a visit to Whole Foods headquarters, the tour foreshadowed great things to come in the weeks and months ahead, including:

1. Community Meeting & Strategy Discussion
Join us for a community meeting regarding Whole Foods and upcoming actions in the Fair Food Austin campaign.
Sunday, March 2nd, 6 p.m.
Friends Meeting of Austin
3707 E. Martin Luther King Jr. St., 78721

2. Whole Foods Shareholder Meeting - Save the Date!
Join CIW and allies for education and action outside Whole Foods' annual shareholder meeting.
Monday, March 10th, 8am
Hilton Austin
500 East 4th Street, 78701

Photo Report: Waiting on Whole Foods

2008-02-17T13:09:00.010-06:00

Don't miss the CIW's firsthand photo report of last weekend's whirlwind Austin tour! In this report, you'll find highlights of the Burger King protest plus Monday's human rights delegation to Whole Foods headquarters, where CIW and Austin Fair Food activists were warned against trying to "back Whole Foods into a corner!"

Multimedia: CIW Weekend Tour

2008-02-11T12:16:00.014-06:00

As part of the CIW Weekend Tour, nearly 100 people marched on Saturday from the MLK Jr. statue at the University of Texas to the nearby Burger King. Participants hailed from Austin, the Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and as far away as Lawrence, Kansas! Follow the links below for some excellent snapshots of the weekend:

The Daily Texan was on hand to cover Saturday's colorful, music-filled protest, "Group protests Burger King labor policy" (2/11/08). They also produced this great video:

CIW, Fair Food Austin Deliver Message to Whole Foods Headquaters

2008-02-11T08:07:00.003-06:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2008

Contact:
Kate Kelly, (512) 560-5897
Carlos Perez de Alejo, (321) 948-3423

FLORIDA FARMWORKERS, AUSTIN CONSUMERS DELIVER MESSAGE TO WHOLE FOODS HEADQUARTERS

Coalition of Immokalee Workers brings Campaign for Fair Food to Austin, presses Whole Foods for fair wages, transparency in tomato supply chain

Austin, Texas – On Monday, February 11, a delegation from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the Fair Food Austin campaign will visit Whole Foods headquarters to encourage the world's leading natural and organic food retailer to take proactive measures to address sweatshop conditions in its tomato supply chain.

The CIW is an award-winning farmworker organization known for its exposure of several modern-day slavery operations in Florida agriculture. The CIW's Campaign for Fair Food appeals to major food industry players – including fast-food giant Burger King and Austin-based retailer Whole Foods – to leverage their market influence to demand full respect for the human rights of the workers who pick their tomatoes.

Kate Kelly of Fair Food Austin states, “Last year, Whole Foods announced strict new criteria for products it purchases from the developing world. If Whole Foods can use its influence to improve wages and working conditions for workers abroad, it can do the same for tomato pickers in Florida.” Ms. Kelly continues, “As a good faith effort, Whole Foods should establish transparency in its tomato supply chain. In an industry plagued by one forced labor case after another, transparency is essential if Whole Foods wishes to guarantee its consumers slavery-free products.”

Carlos Perez de Alejo of Fair Food Austin adds, “A company such as Whole Foods that publicly commits itself to socially responsible purchasing practices should jump at the chance to partner with the CIW, a proven organization with a sustainable model for change in Florida's fields. This is a valuable opportunity for Whole Foods to enhance its reputation while doing the right thing.”

Background: Florida’s farmworkers – including the workers who pick tomatoes for fast-food giants such as Burger King and retailers such as Whole Foods – face sweatshop conditions every day in the fields, including: sub-poverty wages (tomato pickers earn roughly $10,000/year, according to the USDOL); no raise in nearly 30 years (pickers are paid virtually the same per bucket piece rate today as in 1980 - at the going rate, workers must pick more than 2.5 TONS of tomatoes just to earn minimum wage for a typical 10-hr day); and the denial of fundamental labor rights (no right to overtime pay nor right to organize).

In the most extreme cases, workers face actual conditions of modern-day slavery. The CIW has helped federal civil rights officials to prosecute five slavery operations – involving over 1,000 workers – in Florida's fields since 1997.

In 2005, the CIW resolved a four-year, nationwide boycott against Taco Bell when the fast-food leader and its parent company, Yum Brands, agreed to pay a premium for its tomatoes to directly improve workers' sub-poverty wages and work with the CIW to address the labor abuses endemic to Florida agriculture. In 2007, after a two-year campaign, the CIW reached a similar agreement with McDonald's, the largest fast-food chain in the world.

For these efforts, the CIW received support from the Editorial Board of the Austin American-Statesman, “Penny pinchers won't let tomato pickers have it their way,” (1/11/08). This is the CIW's first visit to Austin since 2005.

CIW Weekend Tour

2008-02-01T05:06:00.002-06:00

Join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) in Austin, Texas from February 7-10, 2008.

1. Keynote Address at 28th Annual Student Conference on Latin America
Thursday, Feb. 7th, 7pm
Thompson Conference Center 1.110, University of Texas
2405 Robert Dedman Dr.
(southwest corner of Dean Keeton and Red River)

2. Photography Exhibit & Fundraiser
Join CIW and documentary photographer Alan Pogue for a special exhibit on Florida farmworkers.
Friday, Feb. 8th, 7pm
1604 E. 11th St.
$10 suggested donation (no one turned away for lack of funds)

3. Campaign Workshop & Art-making
Join CIW and allies for a campaign workshop and art-making for the afternoon protest.
Saturday, Feb. 9th, 11am
Rhizome Collective
300 Allen St.
Lunch provided by Food Not Bombs

4. Burger King Protest
Hit the streets with CIW and allies - Serfs up, Kings down!
Saturday, Feb. 9th, 3pm
March begins at MLK statue on UT campus (East Mall) and ends at Burger
King (2700 Guadalupe St.)

5. Fair Food Dinner
Join CIW and community, faith, labor, and youth allies for dinner, music, and a campaign presentation.
Sunday, Feb. 10th, 5pm
Friends Meeting of Austin
3707 E. Martin Luther King Jr. St.
Dinner provided. Please RSVP sfaatx [at] gmail.com

Statesman Rips Burger King, Whole Foods

2008-01-11T04:57:00.011-06:00

Don't miss the new editorial from the Austin American-Statesman: "Penny pinchers won't let tomato pickers have it their way" (1/11/08).

In response, this letter, "Tomato pickers plight" (1/21/08), notes the shortcomings in Whole Foods' treatment of tomato pickers.