Coalition of Immokalee Workers
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The Issue
Much of the food we eat has been grown, picked, processed, or packaged by workers in sub-standard conditions (think: poverty wages, occupational hazards, violence, and sexual assault). Sometimes these workers are even subject to forced labor, a form of human trafficking or modern slavery.
Farmworkers (the people involved in planting, cultivating, and harvesting our food) are among the most vulnerable work populations in the U.S. According to the last National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS):
The average individual farmworker income is $17,500 - $19,999 and the average family income is $20,000- $24,499.
33% of farmworker families live below the poverty line.
Almost 80% of farmworkers are foreign-born, and an estimated 60% are undocumented.
Food retailers — fast food companies, foodservice operators (like those on college campuses), and supermarket chains — are able to use their significant purchasing power to demand discounts from suppliers. Suppliers then squeeze growers who, in turn, reduce costs by exploiting farmworkers.
Yet, many food retailers claim that they are not responsible for the human rights abuses within their supply chains.
CIW set out to change that.
Who is CIW
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) is a worker-based human rights organization rooted in farmworker community organizing.
It began in 1993 when a small group of tomato farmworkers in Immokalee, Florida, the tomato capital of the U.S., began meeting weekly to discuss how to better their community and their lives. They organized to end the human rights abuses that had plagued Florida’s fields for centuries.
The group formalized as CIW in 1996 with a vision for a more just agricultural industry in which farmworkers would be safe from forced labor and sexual assault, be paid fairly for their hard work, have a seat at the industry table, and have a real voice in the decisions that shape their lives.
Today, Immokalee has evolved from one of the poorest, most politically powerless communities in the country to the home of an internationally recognized human rights organization with a global model for forging a future of livable wages and modern labor relations in Florida’s fields and beyond.
What CIW does
CIW works at both the individual and systems levels to transform our exploitative food system and create fair and dignified work for farmworkers.
Anti-Slavery Campaign
Forced labor, a form of modern slavery also known as human trafficking, occurs when people are forced to work against their will under the use or threat of punishment. Historically, the U.S.’s agricultural industry has been rife with reports of workers having wages stolen and enduring violence and threats if they try to leave the job. Farmworkers who are undocumented are especially vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, and forced labor.
CIW’s Anti-Slavery Campaign has uncovered, investigated, and helped to prosecute numerous multi-state farm slavery operations across the Southeastern U.S. Over 1,200 workers held against their will have been liberated as a result.
Fair Food Program
Developed by and for farmworkers, CIW’s Fair Food Program, and the worker-led social responsibility model it pioneered, is a first-of-its-kind effort to ensure food retailers take responsibility for and prevent abuse and exploitation within their supply chains.
Here’s how it works:
Farmworkers develop standards for better wages and working conditions that growers must abide by, known as the Fair Food Code of Conduct.
Consumers are educated on the labor conditions behind the food they eat and join a national consumer network in solidarity with farmworkers.
Through the collective efforts of farmworkers and consumers (think: fasts, marches, petitions, boycotts) CIW secures legally binding agreements with participating food retailers at the top of the supply chain. Under the agreements, food retailers agree to only buy from growers who adhere to the Fair Food Code of Conduct, cease purchases from growers who don’t, and pay a premium for the produce picked that is passed on to farmworkers as a pay bonus.
The Fair Food Standards Council, a third-party monitor, runs a 24/7 complaint hotline and conducts regular audits and complaints investigations to ensure compliance with the Code.
Ongoing worker-to-worker education, leadership development, and know-your-rights trainings are conducted on the farm and on the clock - and through CIW’s low-power FM radio station, Radio Conciencia, which broadcasts in multiple languages. Previously powerless workers protect and enforce their rights without fear of retaliation.
So far, CIW has negotiated Fair Food Agreements with fourteen multi-billion dollar food retailers, including the four largest fast-food companies (Burger King, McDonald’s, Subway, and Yum Brands), the three largest foodservice providers (Aramark, Compass Group, and Sodexo), and major supermarket chains (Giant, Stop&Shop, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, and Whole Foods).
As a result, tens of thousands of farmworkers have been able to:
Escape exploitative conditions.
Take collective action to demand change.
Serve as real-time monitors to identify and expose abuse, exploitation, and violations of the Fair Food Code of Conduct without fear of retaliation.
Improve wages and working conditions.
Worker-driven Social Responsibility Network (WSRN)
CIW helped to create the WSRN in 2015 to promote its worker-driven social responsibility model in other supply chains around the country and the world. The model has been adapted to fight worker exploitation in dairy farms in Vermont, the construction industry in the Twin Cities, the U.S entertainment industry, and apparel sweatshops in Bangladesh and Lesotho.
Why we love CIW
Worker-driven
Since its inception, CIW has lifted up the voices and vision of farmworkers to create a more just and equitable food system. CIW’s model ensures that the experts - the workers themselves - are at the forefront of defining the problem and have the power to enforce the solution.
Organizations that take this approach — and who are able to shift power to those most impacted — are often more successful at creating concrete and lasting change. They are also more likely to avoid unintended consequences because they can more clearly envision how policies and programs will play out in real life.
Living their values
At CIW, the majority of staff are former farmworkers. Staff salaries are based on farmworker salaries and are horizontal (someone who has worked at CIW for 30 years earns the same as someone who started a week ago). Additionally, all CIW board members have spent time working in the fields - and most were, or still are, farmworkers.
Creates individual and systems-level change
CIW is able to simultaneously improve the lives of individual farmworkers and dismantle widespread systems of exploitation and abuse by targeting companies at the top of the supply chain instead of direct employers (unlike traditional collective bargaining which targets direct employers). This shifts supply chain power dynamics, allowing workers to set and enforce standards across the entire industry.
Consumer-powered
Successful consumer activism listens to what people with lived experience and those most affected by the issue are calling for and takes actions in solidarity with them. By fostering a national consumer network in alliance with farmworkers, CIW is able to pressure top food retailers to implement legally binding, worker-driven solutions. Learn more about how you can harness your consumer power for good.
Brings to light labor trafficking in the U.S.
Most awareness-raising on human trafficking focuses on sex trafficking. Many people in the U.S. are unaware that forced labor occurs within our borders or that low-wage agricultural workers — whether guestworkers on H2 visas, U.S. citizens, or undocumented workers — are particularly vulnerable to this form of modern slavery.
By shining a light on this issue, CIW not only helps raise awareness among the general public, it also allows farmworkers to recognize and name what’s happening to them. When farmworkers are able to name their experience, they are more likely to escape, seek justice, and prosecute perpetrators. And on Fair Food Program farms, the abuse is eliminated by preventing it from occurring in the first place.
How you can help CIW
Learn more
Visit CIW-Online.org
Take Action
CIW and its allies are focused on food system retailers who remain uncommitted to the Fair Food Program. Join the Campain for Fair Food and take action to pressure Publix and Wendy’s to sign Fair Food Code of Conduct Agreements.
Donate
Support CIW to protect the human rights of farmworkers.
Amplify
Share this post and let your friends know why you care.
Follow
@CIWonFB on Facebook, @ciw on Twitter, and @immokalee.workers on Instagram
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Originally published July 20, 2021.
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