Bold Group of Farm Workers Challenges the Fast-Food Industry
16 September 2005
When the modern-day David of Florida's farm workers—the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW)—won an agreement this year with fast-food Goliath Taco Bell after a tireless four-year campaign, they didn’t stop there. With Oxfam's help, they are taking on other giants in the fast-food industry.
Through a super-size campaign, CIW aims to persuade companies like McDonald's, Burger King and Subway-the biggest players in the market-to accept the principles established with Taco Bell, which included increased wages, higher labor standards, and a commitment to supporting labor reform legislation. Taco Bell, which had long denied responsibility for terrible working conditions and below poverty-level wages at the farms that supply its tomatoes, ultimately met all of CIW's demands as a result of the first-ever farmworker campaign against a major fast-food company.
"To make equal rights for farmworkers truly universal, other leaders of the fast-food industry must join us on this path toward social responsibility," explains Lucas Benitez, CIW's Co-Director and the 2003 Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Human Rights Award Laureate.
The fast-food industry as a whole purchases a tremendous volume of fruits and vegetables-particularly lettuce, tomatoes, apples, and pickled cucumbers-allowing it to exert a powerful downward pressure on wages and working conditions at the farms that grow its produce.
A partner in Oxfam America's Make Trade Fair campaign, CIW advocates for the tomato pickers of Immokalee, Florida. The organization was born in 1993 when a small group of young migrant workers began holding meetings in the back of a local church.
In just over ten years, CIW has become a powerful advocate for farmworker rights, one capable of reaching an agreement with Taco Bell that will help alleviate poverty among thousands.
"We are very optimistic that CIW will successfully encourage more fast-food industry leaders to start paying a just price for produce," said Minor Sinclair, Director of Oxfam's US Regional Office. "This campaign could not be more important: It's about asserting the rights of exploited workers and bringing fairness back into the marketplace."
