November 22, 2010
Written by Jeff Woodard

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange (FTGE) have reached a ground breaking agreement to work together to advance human rights for farm workers laboring in Florida's tomato fields.

The pact, reached Nov. 15, will extend the Coalition'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 more than 90 percent of the Florida tomato industry.

"As we approach the season of giving thanks, we are ever mindful of those who work in the fields of our country to harvest food that is served in restaurants and in our homes," says the Rev. Geoffrey A. Black, UCC General Minister and President. "In light of that, it is with special pleasure that the UCC congratulates the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Florida Tomato Growers Association on this historic agreement."

Participating FTGE members have agreed to pass through a penny-per-pound increase from participating purchasers and cooperate with a financial audit of the penny-per-pound funds. They also adopted a Fair Food Code of Conduct, which will be fully implemented by next season.

The UCC first supported the Coalition by endorsing a boycott of Taco Bell at its General Synod 23 in 2001. The boycott ended four years later at General Synod 25 after Taco Bell agreed to pay a penny a pound more for tomatoes from Immokalee farmers.

"The Florida Conference is overjoyed at the agreement reached between the Coalition and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange," says Kent Siladi, Florida Conference minister. "The Fair Food Principles established by the Coalition include the all-important ‘penny per pound' increase as well as an increase in farm workers' rights."

In a statement released through the TFGE, participating farmers said, "Our industry is and always has been strongly committed to supporting real, long-term and comprehensive solutions that improve the lives of all farm workers and their families. That's why we've agreed to work with the Coalition in establishing new standards of verifiable social accountability for the tomato industry as a whole."

The breakthrough comes after 15 years of often contentious relations between the growers' association and the Coalition, whose workers labor under "harsh, adverse conditions, both in terms of labor and wages," says Edith Rasell, minister for economic justice in the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries.

"Over the years, the Coalition has put pressure on fast-food chains to add the penny per pound." Now that the growers have agreed to that provision, the focus turns to retailers, says Rasell. "It's still a problem with retailers being asked to add the penny per pound. They've been asked, but they're not doing it."

Siladi is optimistic that the agreement is a harbinger of things to come at the UCC's General Synod – the theme, "Imagine What's Possible" – in Tampa, Fla., next July.

"As we prepare to host General Synod, our fundraising initiative includes a mission component that will primarily be directed to the Coalition," says Saladi. "Imagine what's possible for the farm workers here in Florida with this critical agreement."

The Coalition is a community-based farmworker organization headquartered in Immokalee, Florida, with over 4,000 members. The CIW seeks modern working conditions for farmworkers and promotes their fair treatment in accordance with national and international human rights standards.

For more information on the Coalition and its work, please log on to http://www.ciw-online.org/.

United Church of Christ News Service