Interfaith Action educates and animates people of faith to partner with the CIW in its efforts to improve wages in the fields, and put an end to modern-day slavery in the agricultural industry.
"We believe that with God’s help, Publix’s isolation and hesitation can be transformed into communication and cooperation with the CIW."
Visit the Faith Moves Mountains campaign page today to get involved!
A Harvest Like None Before: The Interfaith Action Fall Newsletter
As the CIW's accords with 90% of Florida tomato farms take root, there is truly a new dawn breaking in the Sunshine State's fields! This season the CIW will be training 30,000 workers throughout Florida on their new rights contained in the Code of Conduct and the penny/pound premium paid out by participating retailers.
Yet, Publix--the omnipresent grocery chain and largest corporation in Florida--continues to reject the CIW's Fair Food agreements, accords that lift wages and enact broad new rights.
Read about these landmark agreements and the current ongoings of the Campaign for Fair Food in our
Fall Harvest 2011 Newsletter!
Farmworkers call on Publix to Respect their Human Rights and Support the Code of Conduct
The CIW honored International Human Rights Day with a major picket outside the just-opened Publix in Miami, calling on the grocery giant to support the new rights farmworkers are seeing in the fields this season.
Over 100 supporters joined with the farmworkers to present Publix with a Declaration of Farmworker Rights--new rights guaranteed by the Code of Conduct that nine corporations are currently supporting through a Fair Food Agreement.
But Publix refused to allow the farmworkers to deliver the declaration to the store manager, sending out another PR representative to turn the delegation away.
Interfaith Religious Leaders Welcome Publix Grand Opening in Miami With a Pray-in
At the grand opening of the new Publix store in Miami an interfaith group of clergy held a pray-in to express their frustration with Florida's supermarket giant because, in their words, "Publix has been refusing to dialogue, so all that's left is for us to pray."
Four religious leaders -- two Christian pastors, a Jewish Cantor, and a Quaker-- stood in a prayer circle over the tomatoes and lead prayers and song in English, Spanish and Hebrew at the packed grand opening.
National religious leaders and farmworker families deliver powerful Thanksgiving messages to Supermarkets
National religious leaders issued a Thanksgiving call for Trader Joe's, Publix, Ahold, and Kroger to "help bring about a harvest that is both abundant and just." Read the letter to Trader Joe's, signed by Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and many other religious leaders here.
Also, after a long day's work just before Thanksgiving, a delegation of Immokalee women and children traveled to a Publix in Naples to deliver a letter one of them had written to Publix. As the country celebrates the bounty of the harvest they help to grow and pick, they implored Publix to be part of the solution to sub-poverty wages and abuses mothers routinely face in the fields.
Gainesville Clergy Pray for Publix in the Millhopper Store
On October 24th, fifteen Gainesville clergy of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths held a prayer service at the Millhopper Publix in Gainesville, FL Sunday. They prayed that the supermarket chain would “Do the right thing,” asking for divine guidance for Publix executives to move their hearts and end their stonewall refusal to sit down with the men and women who pick their tomatoes.
During the pray-in, the delegation delivered a letter to Publix signed on behalf of 31 Gainesville clergy members.
March and Rally for Farmworker Justice at Trader Joe's Headquarters!
On October 21, Trader Joe's headquarters was met with a 400-person march and rally for farmworker justice. Thirty religious leaders led the call with farmworkers for the national retailer to live up to its image of an ethical corporation.
During the event, the clergy delegation attempted to meet with Trader Joe's representatives and deliver several letters, one signed by eighty-six Southern California religious leaders. When TJ's representative's refused to speak with the delegation, religious leaders peacefully taped their letters to the TJ's door—only to have an employee rip them down and crumple them up.
Calling on us to respect the human dignity of all our brothers and sisters, Los Angeles Bishop Gabino Zavala urges Trader Joe's to sign the Fair Food Agreements. Click Here to read his letter!
Drawing upon the deep legacy of slavery in Jewish history, over 100 Rabbis across the country sign an open letter to Trader Joe's asking the company to work with the CIW and become part of the solution to uprooting modern-day slavery in Florida's fields.
Supermarket Week of Action Calendar: Find an event near you!
People of faith and CIW supporters around the country are going to their local supermarkets and taking a stand for human rights in Florida's fields.
Find out if there will be an action near you! Or deliver a letter or organize an event asking Trader Joe's, Publix, Stop and Shop, Giant, or Kroger to join in the Fair Food Agreements!
Click here for a photo report from the Rabbis For Human Rights visit.
A delegation of farmworkers and faith-based supporters bicycled over 200 miles to Lakeland to personally invite Publix CEO Ed Crenshaw to visit Immokalee to learn about the reality facing farmworkers. Though communities of faith held in their prayers a softening of heart for Mr. Crenshaw, CIW members were turned away at Publix headquarters. Click here for the photo report!
Read more about the World Communion of Reformed Churches visit to Immokalee and their call for Publix to join in improving wages and conditions for tomato pickers.
Archbishop Thomas Wenski Praises Coalition of Immokalee Workers and Pacific Tomato Growers
Statement by Lucas Benitez of the CIW at the Joint Press Conference
July 2010-- The indictment was unsealed in a case involving dozens of Haitian guestworkers brought as agricultural guestworkers who worked picking green beans in Alachua County, Florida. Click here for more details on these cases.
Join in calling on Publix or a supermarket near you to ensure justice for farmworkers
IA's Brigitte Gynther wins 2009 Cardinal Bernardin Award!
Religious Leaders Across the Country Ask that Trader Joe's Sign Fair Food Agreements
Click here to read the Rabbis' letter!
Oct. 16th-24th National Week of Action
Rabbis For Human Rights Pray in Naples Publix
Gearing up for the Jewish High Holidays, a delegation from Rabbis for Human Rights-North America traveled to Immokalee to join with the Campaign for Fair Food and put their faith into action by holding a powerful pray-in in the produce aisle of the Naples Publix!
Pilgrimage to Publix: Cycling to Crenshaw
Check out a video of the journey!
World Communion of Reformed Churches delegation visits Immokalee
Click here for a photo report from the World Communion of Reformed Churches visit.
CBS Evening News: "Harvest of Shame Revisited"
Fifty years after legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow's Harvest of Shame, CBS returned to Immokalee to report on conditions in the fields and found hope in the changes taking place through the Campaign for Fair Food. Watch the November 24, 2010 broadcast from CBS Evening News here:
Pacific Tomato Growers, Coalition of Immokalee Workers Sign Landmark Agreement for Social Responsibility in Florida Tomato Fields
Pacific Tomato Growers, one of the country's oldest and largest tomato producers, and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) have signed an innovative agreement that sets new standards for social responsibility and accountability in Florida's tomato industry. Religous Leader Statement on the Occasion of the Groundbreaking Agreement between CIW and Pacific
Watch the video above and then send an e-mail to either Publix, Kroger, Ahold (Stop & Shop and Giant), or Trader Joe's asking them to work with the CIW to improve wages and conditions for tomato pickers.
Modern-Day Slavery Museum
The Modern-Day Slavery Museum is a replica of a produce truck in which farmworkers were locked in a 2008 federal slavery prosecution that tells the story of 6 federally prosecuted slavery cases in Florida's fields, involving over 1,000 workers. Click here for more details about the museum.
Two new indictments in forced labor cases involving farmworkers
September 2010-- Six people were indicted for conspiracy to commit forced labor in what the FBI called "the largest human trafficking case ever charged in U.S. history." The case involved workers brought from Thailand on the federal agricultural guestworker visa; they worked on farms in 13 states, including Hawaii, Washington, Florida, Ohio, and Kentucky.
Photo by Cindy Skop, Lakeland Ledger.U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis Visits Immokalee!
Photo gallery from the Immokalee tomato fields: Click here to see new photos that portray life for Florida tomato pickers.
