Posted May 27, 2016
Labor, farmworkers, politics
There is a long history of injustice regarding farmworkers in the USA. Economic slavery is not a topic we like to confront. For years, the Coalition of the Immokalee Workers in south Florida have pushed for a penny more, for protection from Big Ag chemical poisons and pesticides, for better health care. Rarely mentioned in corporate interest media, the Coalition is slowly making hard-fought gains via the Fair Food Program, 'a partnership among farmers, farmworkers, and retail food companies...' The Wendy's boycott is part of that effort.
-- SCPA Editor
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“Wendy’s has turned its back on successful efforts in Florida to protect workers’ basic human rights and has moved its supply chain to Mexico where human rights abuses are rampant…”
May 27, 2016
Joining the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as well as T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, the United Church of Christ has, once again, taken a stand alongside farmworkers and formally endorsed the Wendy’s boycott. In a sweeping resolution, the UCC, which represents over 1 million worshippers in the United States, affirmed the just cause of farmworkers fighting for dignity in the fields, and condemned Wendy’s for its stubborn refusal to support those efforts. …
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1.4 million reasons why Publix should join the Fair Food Program
May 19, 2016
Top Publix tomato supplier fined $1.4 million by Department of Labor, ordered to pay $150,000 in back wages;
DOL: “Red Diamond Farms and its owner willfully disobeyed federal labor laws and exploited vulnerable, low-wage workers. These actions are unacceptable.”
The Publix connection…
Despite its record of significant labor rights violations, Red Diamond is, in the words of the DOL press release, a “vegetable supplier to major grocery chains,” among them prominent Fair Food Program deniers Kroger, Safeway, Meijer’s, and — last but not least — Publix.
http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2016/05/1-4-million-reasons/
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What's this all about?
The Fair Food Program
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ (CIW) Fair Food Program is a unique partnership among farmers, farmworkers, and retail food companies that ensures humane wages and working conditions for the workers who pick fruits and vegetables on participating farms. It harnesses the power of consumer demand to give farmworkers a voice in the decisions that affect their lives, and to eliminate the longstanding abuses that have plagued agriculture for generations.
http://www.fairfoodprogram.org/
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Compiled by Team SCPA