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Since 1993, Latino, Mayan Indian, and Haitian immigrant workers in the Immokalee region of Florida have been struggling for their rights through their grassroots organization, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). Among the most exploited workers in the US, the Immokalee farmworkers labor in slave-labor conditions, and in 2008, two employers of Immokalee farmworkers were sentenced to federal prison for their role in enslavement of workers and human trafficking. Immokalee farmworkers suffer dire poverty, many earning less than the mininum wage (which is in turn far below the "living wage" required for subsistence).
The CIW and its companion organization, the Student Farmworker Alliance, have launched successful nationwide campaigns against such fast food giants as Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Subway, succeeding in getting these chains to enter “Fair Food” agreements to improve the lives of Florida tomato pickers. But so far the Kroger grocery chain has not followed the lead of these other corporations; please join with us in asking Kroger to support fair food!
Don't live in or near Lexington? You may still sign this petition to support the campaign. A group of concerned college students and other community members will be hand-delivering this petition, along with over 100 hand-signed letters, to Lexington, Kentucky's Euclid Avenue Kroger grocery store, on Thursday, December 9, and possibly again at a later date. One of the highest grossing Kroger stores, per square foot, in the nation, the Euclid Avenue Kroger is frequented by many students and other local residents. We are asking the local management to pass on our concerns to the national office of Kroger.
Fair Wages and Dignified Working Conditions for Florida Farmworkers
Dear Kroger Manager:
As a customer of a Kroger-owned supermarket, I am writing to urge The Kroger Company to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), an internationally recognized farmworker organization, to address the sub-poverty wages and abuses faced by the farmworkers who pick your tomatoes.
The human rights crisis in Florida’s fields is urgent. Tomato harvesters are still paid by the piece. The average piece rate today is 50 cents for every 32 lbs. of tomatoes they pick, a rate that has remained virtually unchanged since 1980. As a result of that stagnation, a worker today must pick more than 2.25 TONS of tomatoes to earn minimum wage in a typical 10-hour workday – nearly twice the amount a worker had to pick to earn minimum wage thirty years ago, when the rate was 40 cents per bucket. Farmworkers’ grinding poverty leaves them vulnerable to the most exploitative employers, often resulting in appalling labor rights abuses, up to and including modern-day slavery. Indeed, there have been nine federal slavery prosecutions in Florida’s fields in the past dozen years alone.
Last December, two farm employers from Immokalee, Florida, were sentenced to 12 years each in federal prison for what US Attorney Doug Malloy called “slavery, plain and simple.” As stated in the U.S. Department of Justice press release on the conviction, the farm bosses “pled guilty to beating, threatening, restraining, and locking workers in trucks to force them to work as agricultural laborers. They were accused of paying the workers minimal wages and driving the workers into debt, while simultaneously threatening physical harm if the workers left their employment before their debtshad been repaid." As a major purchaser of Florida tomatoes, it is imperative that Kroger work with the CIW to ensure that farmworkers are never again held against their will, beaten, and deprived of their pay.
Fortunately, there is a clear path toward ensuring fair wages and conditions for those who pick Kroger’s tomatoes. Yum Brands, McDonald’s, Burger King, Whole Foods, Subway, Bon Appétit Management Co., Compass Group, Aramark and Sodexo are all working with the CIW to directly improve tomato pickers’ wages and enforce a code of conduct against abuses in their tomato supply chains.
I urge The Kroger Co., one of the largest retail food companies in the country, to ensure fair wages and dignity for the farmworkers who pick its tomatoes by working with the CIW to:
• Pay an additional penny per pound for tomatoes purchased to directly increase the wages of
tomato pickers;
• Implement an enforceable code of conduct to ensure safe and fair working conditions for
farmworkers, including zero tolerance for modern-day slavery;
• Ensure a voice for farmworkers in monitoring improvements and reporting abuses.
I look forward to Kroger living up to its reputation as a good neighbor by working with the CIW to ensure humane wages and working conditions for the people who harvest its tomatoes. Your company’s leadership is necessary if we are to end this human rights crisis once and for all.
Thank you,
[Your name]