Coalition of Immokalee Workers

This participatory, multimedia, English/Spanish session will explore the history and organizing methods of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, paying particular attention to our popular-education-based community organizing techniques and our Campaign for Fair Food, including recent developments in the CIW-led nationwide movement to hold Publix, Kroger, and other leading supermarket chains accountable for the sweatshop wages and working conditions in their tomato supply chains. Over the past 15 years, through campaigns like the Taco Bell Boycott and our anti-slavery work, Immokalee has evolved from being one of the poorest, most politically powerless communities in the country to become today a new and important public presence with forceful, committed leadership directly from the base of our community -- young, immigrant workers forging a future of livable wages and modern labor relations in Florida's fields. The CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food represents the best systemic hope for eliminating modern-day slavery in Florida’s tomato fields by raising the harvesting wage floor and institutionalizing a voice for farm workers. The campaign has won unprecedented support for fundamental farm labor reforms from retail food industry leaders such as McDonald's, Burger King, Whole Foods and Aramark with the goal of enlisting the market power of those companies to demand more humane labor standards from their Florida tomato suppliers. We're currently spearheading an intense struggle against Florida-based supermarket chain Publix, which is one of the top-10 largest private corporations in the U.S.

This participatory, multimedia, English/Spanish session will explore the history and organizing methods of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, paying particular attention to our popular-education-based community organizing techniques and our Campaign for Fair Food, including recent developments in the CIW-led nationwide movement to hold Publix, Kroger, and other leading supermarket chains accountable for the sweatshop wages and working conditions in their tomato supply chains. Over the past 15 years, through campaigns like the Taco Bell Boycott and our anti-slavery work, Immokalee has evolved from being one of the poorest, most politically powerless communities in the country to become today a new and important public presence with forceful, committed leadership directly from the base of our community -- young, immigrant workers forging a future of livable wages and modern labor relations in Florida's fields. The CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food represents the best systemic hope for eliminating modern-day slavery in Florida’s tomato fields by raising the harvesting wage floor and institutionalizing a voice for farm workers. The campaign has won unprecedented support for fundamental farm labor reforms from retail food industry leaders such as McDonald's, Burger King, Whole Foods and Aramark with the goal of enlisting the market power of those companies to demand more humane labor standards from their Florida tomato suppliers. We're currently spearheading an intense struggle against Florida-based supermarket chain Publix, which is one of the top-10 largest private corporations in the U.S.