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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
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Tomatoes Bring Fair-Trade Movement Stateside

Meager pay, slavery conditions for pickers prompt boycott threat

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(Newser) – With tomato pickers earning 45 cents per 32-pound bucket—the same wage as 30 years ago—fair-labor coalitions have long staged protests and boycotts. Now one of the country's biggest food-services companies is taking up the cause, the Washington Post reports. Bon Appetit says that if growers don't agree to fair labor practices, the company won't buy their tomatoes.

Growers "can do the right thing, and our 5 million pounds of business can go to them. Or they can let the tomatoes rot in the fields," said Bon Appetit's CEO. Five million pounds is a fraction of Florida's crop, but the move is part of a growing trend of considering labor practices as important as growing conditions. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers secured a 1-cent-per-pound wage increase in 2007, but that money never reached 90% of workers.

A worker picks bushels of tomatoes in the fields at the Island Tomato Growers farm June 12, 2008 in Johns Island, South Carolina.
A worker picks bushels of tomatoes in the fields at the Island Tomato Growers farm June 12, 2008 in Johns Island, South Carolina.   (Getty Images)
John Steffy watches as his sprinkling system washes away the foot long ice from his
John Steffy watches as his sprinkling system washes away the foot long ice from his "stand up and pick" tomato and strawberry fields, early Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009 near Indiantown, Fla.   (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)
Tomato growers were given an extra penny per pound in 2007, but that money hasn't made it to the pickers as intended.
Tomato growers were given an extra penny per pound in 2007, but that money hasn't made it to the pickers as intended.   (Getty Images)
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It's not perfect, and neither of us thinks it is. But it is a great first cut at building a relationship between farmworkers and their employers based on a genuine appreciation for the value of farmworkers' labor - Lucas Benitez of the CIW

In the long term, how can something be sustainable if it doesn't include the welfare of those who produce it? - Walter Robb, co-President of Whole Foods

If no [grower] steps up, then I have to respond to my customers and not serve tomatoes. We'll tell them, 'The reason you're not getting tomatoes is because of the situation in South Florida. - Fedele Bauccio, Bon Appetit's chief executive

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justme
Apr 29, 09 7:06 PM CDT
Citizens' groups and unions pushing for reform. That's the way things should be done. Not another government program. Good for them. Reply
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migrant workers • minimum wage • labor • tomatoes • fair trade • growers • day laborers • Bon Appetit Management

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