CIW’s Fair Food Program combines the Fair Food Code of Conduct — a set of labor standards developed in a collaboration among farm workers, tomato growers, and the food industry leaders who purchase Florida tomatoes — with a small price premium to help improve tomato pickers’ wages. The goal of the Fair Food Program is to promote the development of a sustainable Florida tomato industry that advances both the human rights of farm workers and the long-term interests of Florida tomato growers.

“We are truly happy today to welcome Trader Joe’s aboard the Fair Food Program,” said Gerardo Reyes of the CIW. “Trader Joe’s is cherished by its customers for a number of reasons, but high on that list is the company’s commitment to ethical purchasing practices. With this agreement, Trader Joe’s reaffirms that commitment and sends a strong — and timely — message of support to the Florida growers who are choosing to do the right thing, investing in improved labor standards, despite the challenges of a difficult marketplace and tough economic times.”

Important Notice from CIW: The CIW thanks the tens of thousands of Fair Food activists around the country who helped make this tremendous step forward possible, especially those who had planned actions in over 40 cities this coming weekend. Naturally, in light of today’s great news, the CIW is calling off the actions planned for the new Trader Joe’s store in Naples. Similarly, we ask that all other actions planned for this weekend be cancelled, and that organizers and consumers who were planning to attend instead take a moment to congratulate Trader Joe’s for having joined the Fair Food Program.

Onward to Publix, and the rest of the supermarket industry…

For more new, visit http://www.ciw-online.org/

Darigold allowed representatives inside to deliver the petition, but, once again, they did not send out a representative to talk with the workers. The crowd responded by holding a press conference outside with a megaphone to be sure Darigold heard the workers message about the conditions at Ruby Ridge.

Former Ruby Ridge worker, Jose Juan Zamora told the crowd, “At this company, the work is very hard. They want us to do work in eight hours, but it’s impossible. It’s very hard work, and they didn’t give us breaks or decent water. The water they gave us was the dirty water from where the cows drink.”

Lynne Dobson , the Secretary-Treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council said, “When we drink our milk, we like to think that happy cows are on farms where the sun is shining, and people are working for some hours a day, working hard, but then treated right. That’s not what’s happening at Ruby Ridge. The workers didn’t have breaks. They’re not given their right to organize, which is a fundamental human right. This is wrong. The Washington State Labor Council and our 460,000 members urge Darigold to do the right thing. Be good corporate citizens. Call on Ruby Ridge to stop these practices, to treat their workers well, and to move forward. Let’s not have this milk go sour.”

The Ruby Ridge workers thank everyone who signed the petition and ask that you continue supporting their campaign for UFW representation and better working conditions.  Keep updated on the workers’ escalating campaign.

We hope that these interviews will help us look forward to the future of our involvement with the farm worker movement and also inspire others to join us!

Click here to see “The Costs and Joys of Discipleship”: Forty Years of the National Farm Worker Ministry.

Michael Szpak (AFL-CIO), Rick Goodman & Carol Blythe-Goodman (Alliance of Baptists), David Wildman (Executive Secretary, Human Rights & Racial Justice, Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church), John Hill (Director for Economic and Environmental Justice, General Board of Church & Society of the United Methodist Church), Virginia Nesmith (NFWM Exec Director), Ryan Nilsen (NC NFWM staff), David Anderson (Pullen Memorial Baptist Church)

On October 7^th,  NFWM led a delegation of religious leaders to North Carolina to visit farm worker labor camps there with staff of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee(FLOC).  Members of the National Council of Churches Justice and Advocacy Commission and representatives of the United Methodist Church and the Alliance of Baptists saw for themselves the deplorable housing conditions that North Carolina farm workers must return to each day.

The delegation met with workers from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras in crowded bedrooms or standing outside. There is no place to receive visitors in the camps these workers call “home” for months or years. Several workers said they hadn’t seen their families in over five years.

These same conditions have been reported by MSNBC, which went to North Carolina to follow up on the report recently released by Oxfam America & FLOC, “State of Fear: Human Rights Abuses in North Carolina’s Tobacco Industry.” (see article in our News section and find a link there to the report.)

To read and view MSNBC’s reporting, click here, “Migrants’ woes: bed bugs, foul toilets, illness.”

Labor Camp Photos by David Anderson

Photo of a tobacco worker featured in Oxfams "A State of Fear" report.

“A company’s responsibility to respect [human rights] applies across its business activities and through its relationship with third parties connected with those activities—such as business partners, entities in its value chain, and other non-state actors and state agents.” – James Ruggie, UN special representative

On September 18, 2011, Oxfam America and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) released the full report, A State of Fear. The report documents the conditions in the fields and camps for farm workers in North Carolina. It reveals serious violations of basic, internationally recognized rights to just and favorable work conditions, health and safety protections, and adequate housing.

The Oxfam Report: A State of Fear (pdf, 1.22 MB) includes an in-depth examination of the tobacco supply chain and first-person testimony of more than 100 tobacco workers in eastern North Carolina.

Click on the link above to read the report. And to read about the report launch event at FLOC’s Dudley, NC office, read Oxfam’s Irit Tamir’s blog.

OCIC members in action.

Michael Conroy

The Orange County Interfaith Committee to Aid Farm Workers (OCIC) will hold its 47th annual fundraising event for NFWM this coming Sunday, September 18th at St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, CA. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Michael Conroy, author of Branded! How the Certification Revolution is Transforming Global Corporations.

The event begins at 5:00 pm with socializing and silent auction browsing, followed by dinner at 6:00pm and the program at 7:00pm.  For more details see the most recent OCIC Newsletter (pdf, 866.49 kB).

Also in OCIC’s newsletter are reports on OCIC’s support in California of various farm worker campaigns and a tribute to Jeanne Giordano (1918-2011), co-founder of the Orange County Interfaith Committee to Aid Farm Workers.

Thanks to Barbara Johnson & Suzanne Darweesh for submitted their newsletter.

Olgha Sierra Sandman speaking at a NFWM rally outside Burger King headquarters in 2008

The National Farm Worker Ministry (NFWM) is 90 years young! We celebrate the many years of hard and faithful service, the unchanging spirit of solidarity and advocacy. From 1920 to the present time there is a long unbroken line of religious men and women who have devoted their lives to be present with the men and women who harvest the food that sustains all of us.

The first 50 years, it was known as The National Migrant Ministry and functioned as a related movement of the Home Missions of the National Council of Churches. I was one of the hundreds of young seminary and college students who worked for two summers in the early fifties. The workers coming for the harvest to Illinois were mainly families from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Illinois grew a great variety of fruits and vegetables and the Ministry had over 20 projects where the staff welcomed dozens of volunteers, mainly from the local Church Women United groups. We directed day care, tutorial classes, sports clubs, sewing classes, translation and transportation to doctors, recreation and social evenings and Vacation Bible Schools for the children. The churches collected books and toys and food and clothing when needed. The migrant families appreciated the Ministry with glad hearts. CWU collected S&H food stamps enough to get a jeep for our work!

Drastic changes took place in the sixties, the Federal and State governments instituted programs for Migrant Education and Migrant Health which were better funded than ours. The face of agriculture changed from an emphasis of growing fruits and vegetables to growing soy beans and corn. The number of migrants decreased considerable in the State.

In the late 60s Cesar Chavez began to organize farm workers in CA and the staff from the Ministry got involved in supporting him. By 1970, the faith community gather to consider discontinuing the Migrant Ministry as it was and to transform itself into a Ministry of solidarity and advocacy to the organizing of farm workers struggling for justice, respect and dignity. The name was changed to National Farm Worker Ministry.

From 1974 to my retirement in 1992 I served as the Director of The Illinois Farm Worker Ministry. We established local worker directed projects in Princeville, Hoopeston and Onarga where the workers, harvesting and packing asparagus or three bean salad, requested land from their employers and organized community gardens to grow tomatoes, chilis and onions for their tables. They organized to have a public telephone installed in their camp. We helped them publishing a weekly newsletter and worked hard with support from CWU and the faith community in passing the Field Sanitation Law in Illinois.

The Illinois Ministry was discontinued by the Illinois Conference of Churches but we continue building support for the National Farm Worker Ministry. NFWM relates closely to the United Farm Workers to FLOC started by Baldemar Velasquez, to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida and to PCUN Oregon’s Farmworker Union operating in Oregon.

All of these workers organizations are doing the courageous work of changing agriculture to a more just system for those who plant, tend and harvest our food.

Help us celebrate NFWM’s Birthday by sending a donation and send it with a small note identifying yourself as a Church Women United in Illinois although you don’t have to be a CWU member to donate. Mail your contribution to 438 N Skinker Blvd., St Louis, MO.

Click here to donate securely online!

Bert Perry as marshall at the UCC CIW march July 2011

Over a decade ago the Coalition of Immokalee Workers called upon the Florida office of the National Farm Worker Ministry to accompany them to a meeting with the Governor’s office in Tallahassee. We have journeyed with the CIW since that time. NFWM was a founder in Religious Leaders Concerned which is now Interfaith Action. This journey has taken our staff and supporters on a bus tour from Florida to Irvine, CA to the Taco Bell headquarters. We have been with the CIW in trips to Burger King Headquarters in Miami, to McDonald’s in Chicago, and to other offices of these companies. We worked on the logistics for a walk from Ft. Myers to Orlando, and other walks and marches within the state. Our Youth and Young Adult Network has been extremely active in their support, organizing actions, meetings and convocations on the issue.

The most recent campaign for fair wages and workplace protections is asking Publix Supermarkets in Florida to pay the extra penny, as many other fast food restaurants, supermarkets, and even growers have agreed to do. In July, the United Church of Christ General Synod met in Tampa and NFWM helped organize and accompanied workers on a short march from the Convention Center to a nearby Publix. Over 400 people participated, chanting and carrying signs in support of the tomato workers in Publix supply chain.

Conference Minister Kent Siladi, Rev. Jim Boler (also a founder of RLC), Bert Perry and worker representatives met with the store manager. His basic response was “no comment.” He did acknowledge that he was aware of the issue.

NFWM will continue to support the CIW in the Publix Campaign and at other stores throughout the nation. The agreements signed to this point have affected thousands of workers here and as they travel north.

Thank you to all who travel with us on this path to justice!

Ryan Nilsen, NFWM intern through Duke Divinity School

In our evening outreach to farm workers over the past few weeks, Octavio and I have ended up being able to have quite a few conversations with farm owners as well as farm workers. We don’t really seek them out (as most of them already speak English quite well), but we’ve found that many workers live in trailers or old houses near a field behind the farmer’s house. Because of this, we often have to drive basically right down someone’s driveway and past their home in order to get to the worker housing hidden back somewhere removed from the road. As we drive by the house, an older white man or couple will typically approach us wondering what we’re up to or looking for. When these types of encounters have occurred, I’ve been really grateful to discover that most of the farmers we have interacted with have been really nice people. Even if a little hesitant at first, they are usually interested in talking for a few minutes about the growing season or the English class that we are organizing and even helpful in pointing us toward the workers’ housing. Many are small farmers employing only a few workers who, based on my read of their accents and knowledge of this part of the state, probably come from families who have been in the area for quite a while.

Despite that the conversation about farm worker rights can at times begin to sound somewhat anti-farmer because of the horror stories that we hear about substandard housing and working conditions, it makes sense to me that many small farmers would be sympathetic to the struggles of their workers. Several of my closest friends, largely because of their convictions about how messed up our conventional food system has gotten, want to be small farmers themselves and are working hard to figure out how to make that economically feasible. I hear from them all the time about how U.S. agricultural policy makes it very difficult for small farmers to continue to exist and make any sort of profits these days.  As Charlie Thompson (a onetime small-scale produce farmer in North Carolina himself) describes in the second chapter of the book The Human Cost of Food, the major changes in our agricultural system over the last roughly half century can be characterized by two major trends: “the depopulation of small farmers and the consequent use of temporary workers who have replaced their labor contributions on the now larger farms but who do not control any of the market as small farmers once did” (56). (I highly recommend this book if you are interested in understanding the more human-oriented consequences of our current food system. It’s been helping me out a lot.) Though certainly in varying degrees, small farmers and farm workers in our country both are victims of often the same violent economic forces outside of their direct control and agricultural policy that simply does not have their interests in mind. It seems natural to me that small farmers would recognize in their labor force another group of people who are oppressed by agribusiness and our economic system and be as supportive of them as possible.

Nonetheless, not everyone seems to feel this way. Even our attempts to share information about an English class have been met with suspicion and even resistance at a few of the farms we have visited. Last week, one farmer in particular very sternly refused to let us see the workers after their work hours had ended. Without us even saying anything about housing, he jumped into an elaborate defense about how great their housing conditions were – apparently with AC, hardwood floors, and well-kept lawns. The conversation was tense for some reason that wasn’t immediate to us and that we couldn’t easily identify. Having people from the outside even come in to visit the workers in their homes appeared to be a threat to him. When we returned a few days later to meet with several workers during their lunch break, one

informed us that if we were with the union, el Patrón had said we weren’t allowed to be there. Since we weren’t representing the union,

we stayed and talked with several groups of workers about the English classes. A few of them expressed quite a bit of interest and signed up.

I don’t know what history this farmer had that made him so fearful, but this experience did remind me that, while many farmers may be nice and even sympathize with the struggles of farm workers, the wellbeing of those workers simply cannot be under the whim and control of individual farmers. These farmers are under serious pressure and are pushed by forces out of their control to make everything about the bottom line. A nice farmer is no defense against weak policies that do not protect some of the most important laborers in our economy.