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The Immokalee, Florida farmworkers who have captured international attention for their decades of successful organizing against starvation wages, debt bondage, and slavery, racked up another human rights victory on Wednesday when Ahold USA agreed to become the first major grocer in the United States to join the organization’s Fair Food Program.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers hailed the development as an important win for the worker-led program that has already forced 13 of the country’s biggest food retailers--from McDonald’s to Whole Foods to Walmart--to enter into legally-binding agreements to respect workers’ rights.
With roughly 780 stores in 14 states, Ahold is the parent company of well-known chains, including Stop & Shop. Under the Fair Food Program, the grocer will be required to meet the following conditions, as quoted from a CIW statement:
The Fair Food program was born from more than 20 years of organizing led by majority Mexico, Guatemala, and Haiti born migrant farmworkers, who have together struggled to overcome harrowing conditions of human bondage, sexual assault, and subsistence poverty.
A testament to the CIW’s growing momentum, the Fair Food program includes numerous proactive provisions, like protecting workers’ rights to organize and educate each other, that prompted the Washington Post to call the model “one of the great human rights success stories of our day.”
Gerardo Reyes Chavez, a farmworker, organizer, and member of the CIW, told Common Dreams: “We are really happy that Ahold USA came on board. It’s a very important moment in the campaign for fair food because it sends a powerful message to other corporations that haven’t signed.”
“We have an active campaign in the supermarket industry and are focusing our call on urging Publix and Kroger Super Market to join, as well as Wendy’s,” Chavez continued. “We feel that if we continue with the campaign for fair food in all the country, we are going to be seeing dramatic changes in the lives of workers, not just in Florida or the East Coast, but in building a different reality for all workers.”
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The Immokalee, Florida farmworkers who have captured international attention for their decades of successful organizing against starvation wages, debt bondage, and slavery, racked up another human rights victory on Wednesday when Ahold USA agreed to become the first major grocer in the United States to join the organization’s Fair Food Program.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers hailed the development as an important win for the worker-led program that has already forced 13 of the country’s biggest food retailers--from McDonald’s to Whole Foods to Walmart--to enter into legally-binding agreements to respect workers’ rights.
With roughly 780 stores in 14 states, Ahold is the parent company of well-known chains, including Stop & Shop. Under the Fair Food Program, the grocer will be required to meet the following conditions, as quoted from a CIW statement:
The Fair Food program was born from more than 20 years of organizing led by majority Mexico, Guatemala, and Haiti born migrant farmworkers, who have together struggled to overcome harrowing conditions of human bondage, sexual assault, and subsistence poverty.
A testament to the CIW’s growing momentum, the Fair Food program includes numerous proactive provisions, like protecting workers’ rights to organize and educate each other, that prompted the Washington Post to call the model “one of the great human rights success stories of our day.”
Gerardo Reyes Chavez, a farmworker, organizer, and member of the CIW, told Common Dreams: “We are really happy that Ahold USA came on board. It’s a very important moment in the campaign for fair food because it sends a powerful message to other corporations that haven’t signed.”
“We have an active campaign in the supermarket industry and are focusing our call on urging Publix and Kroger Super Market to join, as well as Wendy’s,” Chavez continued. “We feel that if we continue with the campaign for fair food in all the country, we are going to be seeing dramatic changes in the lives of workers, not just in Florida or the East Coast, but in building a different reality for all workers.”
The Immokalee, Florida farmworkers who have captured international attention for their decades of successful organizing against starvation wages, debt bondage, and slavery, racked up another human rights victory on Wednesday when Ahold USA agreed to become the first major grocer in the United States to join the organization’s Fair Food Program.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers hailed the development as an important win for the worker-led program that has already forced 13 of the country’s biggest food retailers--from McDonald’s to Whole Foods to Walmart--to enter into legally-binding agreements to respect workers’ rights.
With roughly 780 stores in 14 states, Ahold is the parent company of well-known chains, including Stop & Shop. Under the Fair Food Program, the grocer will be required to meet the following conditions, as quoted from a CIW statement:
The Fair Food program was born from more than 20 years of organizing led by majority Mexico, Guatemala, and Haiti born migrant farmworkers, who have together struggled to overcome harrowing conditions of human bondage, sexual assault, and subsistence poverty.
A testament to the CIW’s growing momentum, the Fair Food program includes numerous proactive provisions, like protecting workers’ rights to organize and educate each other, that prompted the Washington Post to call the model “one of the great human rights success stories of our day.”
Gerardo Reyes Chavez, a farmworker, organizer, and member of the CIW, told Common Dreams: “We are really happy that Ahold USA came on board. It’s a very important moment in the campaign for fair food because it sends a powerful message to other corporations that haven’t signed.”
“We have an active campaign in the supermarket industry and are focusing our call on urging Publix and Kroger Super Market to join, as well as Wendy’s,” Chavez continued. “We feel that if we continue with the campaign for fair food in all the country, we are going to be seeing dramatic changes in the lives of workers, not just in Florida or the East Coast, but in building a different reality for all workers.”