The article in today's New York Times - Business Day section tells it how it was and, Dear Readers, this tale is not pretty but it does have a happy ending.
IMMOKALEE, FLORIDA.
This is the shortened story of how a few brave people (tomato workers) endured appalling work conditions and came up with a programme that may change the lives of thousands of other people who work in the horticultural industry.
Sexual harassment, picking tomatoes in 95 degree heat without rest breaks, being screamed at to fill your 32lb. buckets faster, this was the daily lot of the tomato workers in Florida.
A series of prosecutions has highlighted modern day slavery in the area. One case in 2008 involved traffickers convicted of beating workers, stealing their wages and locking them in trucks.
But a few tenacious (and extremely brave) of the workers forged partnerships in recent years with the giant restaurant companies to improve the conditions in the fields.
And by signing up with the giants, McDonald's and Yum Brands (owner of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC), they pressured the growers of 90% of Florida's tomatoes into increasing the wages and setting strict boundaries and standards. The companies have pledged to drop any suppliers that violate the standards.
So far the agreements are limited to just Florida tomato fields but considering Florida produces 90% of the country's winter tomatoes, this is NO mean feat!
The ramifications of this go much further than just Florida and tomatoes and it is the Walmart chain which may well be the influential connection.
The chain has agreed to extend the programmes standards and monitoring system out to its' other tomato suppliers in Georgia, South Carolina and other eastern seaboard states.
The thing that Walmart officials say they also hope to apply these standards to the apple orchards in Michigan, Washington and to the strawberry fields in many other states.
(Johnny Appleseed would be happy to hear this).
"This is the best workplace monitoring system I've seen in the US" said Janice R. Fine, a Labour Relations Professor at Rutgers. "It can certainly be a model for agriculture across the US. If anyone is going to lead the way and teach people how it's done, it's them".
It took a four year boycott of Taco Bell to get its parent company, Yum Brands, to pay the extra amount thereby helping to significantly increase the workers' wages.
The coalition sponsored a march in 2007 to Burger King's headquarters in Miami pushing them to join.
Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Chipotle and Subway have signed and joined. Walmarts signed and came 'on board' in January of this year. The Fair Food Program's standards go far beyond what the State or Federal laws require.
The article is one that I strongly recommend you all to read and there would be no better time to do this whilst eating a delicious BLT Sandwich.
For although I am not discounting the pig element in it, this Fair Food Program should most certainly be adopted by the American Lettuce Growers Association.
Oh, and before I finish, I must, of course, tell you how much the extra amount is that has made this extraordinary difference to these tomato pickers.
A penny a pound.. think on that.. Dear Readers.
GeeGee Parrot.
April 27th, 2014.
IMMOKALEE, FLORIDA.
This is the shortened story of how a few brave people (tomato workers) endured appalling work conditions and came up with a programme that may change the lives of thousands of other people who work in the horticultural industry.
Sexual harassment, picking tomatoes in 95 degree heat without rest breaks, being screamed at to fill your 32lb. buckets faster, this was the daily lot of the tomato workers in Florida.
A series of prosecutions has highlighted modern day slavery in the area. One case in 2008 involved traffickers convicted of beating workers, stealing their wages and locking them in trucks.
But a few tenacious (and extremely brave) of the workers forged partnerships in recent years with the giant restaurant companies to improve the conditions in the fields.
And by signing up with the giants, McDonald's and Yum Brands (owner of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC), they pressured the growers of 90% of Florida's tomatoes into increasing the wages and setting strict boundaries and standards. The companies have pledged to drop any suppliers that violate the standards.
So far the agreements are limited to just Florida tomato fields but considering Florida produces 90% of the country's winter tomatoes, this is NO mean feat!
The ramifications of this go much further than just Florida and tomatoes and it is the Walmart chain which may well be the influential connection.
The chain has agreed to extend the programmes standards and monitoring system out to its' other tomato suppliers in Georgia, South Carolina and other eastern seaboard states.
The thing that Walmart officials say they also hope to apply these standards to the apple orchards in Michigan, Washington and to the strawberry fields in many other states.
(Johnny Appleseed would be happy to hear this).
"This is the best workplace monitoring system I've seen in the US" said Janice R. Fine, a Labour Relations Professor at Rutgers. "It can certainly be a model for agriculture across the US. If anyone is going to lead the way and teach people how it's done, it's them".
It took a four year boycott of Taco Bell to get its parent company, Yum Brands, to pay the extra amount thereby helping to significantly increase the workers' wages.
The coalition sponsored a march in 2007 to Burger King's headquarters in Miami pushing them to join.
Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Chipotle and Subway have signed and joined. Walmarts signed and came 'on board' in January of this year. The Fair Food Program's standards go far beyond what the State or Federal laws require.
The article is one that I strongly recommend you all to read and there would be no better time to do this whilst eating a delicious BLT Sandwich.
For although I am not discounting the pig element in it, this Fair Food Program should most certainly be adopted by the American Lettuce Growers Association.
Oh, and before I finish, I must, of course, tell you how much the extra amount is that has made this extraordinary difference to these tomato pickers.
A penny a pound.. think on that.. Dear Readers.
GeeGee Parrot.
April 27th, 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment