December 6, 2009: Walk and Rally for Farmworker Justice

Join farmworkers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and their families in calling on Publix to ensure fair wages and human rights for those who pick its tomatoes.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Gather at 2:30pm in front of the Publix at Southgate Plaza, 2515 S. Florida Ave, Lakeland, FL – home to Publix Headquarters

Walk begins at 3:30pm - the walk is 2.2 miles total and there will be alternative transportation if you cannot walk

Following the walk, there will be a rally and vigil in Kryger Park, 100-198 S. Massachusetts Ave, Lakeland, FL

If you are interested in participating in the Dec. 6th event and would like to know more, or if you are interested in car-pooling or transportation from around the state, contact us at info@interfaithact.org.

Background
Most Florida tomato pickers earn 40-50 cents per 32-lb bucket of tomatoes, a rate that has not risen significantly since 1978. They toil long hours without overtime pay or benefits. In extreme conditions, workers are held against their will in modern-day slavery rings. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a Florida farmworker organization, has uncovered and assisted the Department of Justice in prosecuting six slavery rings, freeing over 1,000 workers. Most recently, in December 2008, farm labor supervisors were sentenced for beating, chaining, and enslaving tomato pickers who worked on some of Florida's major tomato farms.

There is hope for an end to the harvest of shame in Florida’s fields: the CIW-- with the support of people around the country-- has reached precedent-setting agreements with Yum Brands (owner of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC), McDonald's, Burger King, Whole Foods, Subway, Compass Group, and Bon Appetit to improve wages and conditions for tomato pickers. These agreements include the first real wage increase for farmworkers in 30 years, a code of conduct against abuses--with zero tolerance for slavery, and farmworker participation in monitoring improved conditions. To date, three Florida growers have committed to implement these fair food agreements.

Yet Publix, whose sales in the first half of 2009 topped $12 billion, refuses to pay just one more penny per pound to improve wages for tomato pickers and work with the CIW to implement a code of conduct against slavery and abuses. This is despite the fact that Publix continues to purchase from the farms where the victims in the most recent slavery case-- who were locked in trucks, beaten, and chained-- were taken to work.

For more on what you can do to call on Publix to choose the path of justice for farmworkers, click here.