Fair Food Nation Breaks Up With Wendy’s!

As the Workers’ Voice Tour fast approaches, the Fair Food Nation has been taking every opportunity to remind Wendy’s that there’s still time to join the Fair Food Program before dozens of farmworkers and thousands of allies arrive on the corporation's many doorsteps, from NYC to Columbus, OH to Palm Beach, FL.

Three years since initial Valentine’s Day actions around the country urged the burger giant to join the Fair Food Program, this year, scores of supporters of farmworker justice took to video on Valentine’s Day with a simple message: Wendy’s, we’re breaking up!

We put out word of a Valentine’s Day Video Challenge, and we were astounded not only by the sheer number of submissions that poured in, but by their wit and creativity. From adorable children to gorgeous singing to impassioned soliloquies, the videos’ zeal and zingers are absolutely not to be missed! 

We’ve rounded up some of the most memorable videos, so do yourself a favor and check them out! You can head to the Student/Farmworker Alliance Facebook page for all the fabulous entries. And don’t forget to register for the Workers' Voice Tour, or email organize@allianceforfairfood.org to start or join a caravan!

Recently released and available for download, the 2015 Fair Food Program Annual Report!

The 2015 Fair Food Program (FFP) Annual Report has been published and is available for download! Issued by the Fair Food Standards Council, the yearly assessment of the state of the Program is the best source for metadata analysis and conclusions on the implementation of the Fair Food Program in effect in Florida’s tomato fields. It thoroughly evaluates each Program requirement, from direct hiring to proper timekeeping, with quantitative and qualitative assessments of accomplishments and the challenges that lie ahead, and thoroughly explains the process for the FFP’s enforcement mechanism, its nascent expansion into new crops and states, and expectations for future growth.

For those interested in understanding how the Fair Food Program functions in practice, this is the single best annual resource. Here’s a brief window into its reporting:

Since 2011, the Fair Food Program has brought about many far-reaching reforms across the Florida tomato industry. In the span of just four years:

• CIW has educated nearly 35,000 workers at 400 face-to-face sessions, and reached 150,000 workers with written and video materials, on their rights within the Program;
• Workers have brought forth over 1,100 complaints under the Code of Conduct, resulting in the resolution of abuses ranging from sexual harassment and verbal abuse to systemic wage violations, demonstrating workers’ trust that reported problems will be investigated and corrected;
• FFSC has issued nearly 120 comprehensive reports and corrective action plans – based on 12,000 worker interviews during audits ranging from two days to two weeks and all operational, management and financial systems reviews – in order to assess and improve Participating Growers’ implementation of the Code of Conduct; and
• Participating Buyers have paid nearly $20 million in Fair Food Premiums to improve workers' wages.

Charts like this illuminate the efficacy of the complaint resolution system, which, as shown here, resolved 100% of filed complaints in 2015, most in less than two weeks.

The report includes illustrations of impact of every element of the Code of Conduct, which often explain even more than the numbers. 

Isabel, a 30 year old farmworker in Florida, told an investigative reporter: “Before, we would hear about a contractor or supervisor who would take women to a private place, to the edge of the field, and we understood that sexual assault was what was happening,” she said. “Now, we aren’t hearing these stories in the same way we used to.”

You can download or share the Annual Report here.

This report demonstrates that the agreements that have been won through years of community organizing in Immokalee, and then years of farmworkers and consumers campaigning side by side in the Campaign for Fair Food, are transforming the tomato industry in Florida and beyond for tens of thousands of workers. Take a look, and join us for the next big step in the Campaign to expand and strengthen these human rights advances: the 2016 Workers' Voice Tour!

Call to Action: Break up with Wendy's during Valentine's Day Weekend, Feb. 12-14!

For over three years, thousands of farmworkers and allies – people of faith, students, young people, food justice advocates, and community members – across the country have given Wendy’s one too many chances to make things right. Over this time, we’ve united to demand that the fast food holdout do its part to strengthen and expand the never-before-seen rights farmworkers are protecting in the fields today. 

Last Valentine’s Day, the Fair Food Nation bombarded Wendy’s with Fair Food messages, making it known that the flashy new image Wendy’s is cultivating won’t work to distract conscious, change-ready consumers from the reality that lies behind what the company wishes to portray: old-fashioned exploitation, and a failure to take responsibility for the abuse of farmworkers in its supply chain. Soon after, at the 2015 Concert and Parade for Fair Food, student allies declared a national student boycott of Wendy’s. Since then, hundreds of students have been fighting Wendy’s frosty heart with frozen wallets. 

Most recently, in November, Wendy’s released a glossy – and empty – Supplier Code of Conduct. We see this for what it is: an attempt to sway customers by brushing over real, verifiable Worker-driven Social Responsibility, and substituting it with a flimsy set of aspirational standards without any effective enforcement mechanisms. 

And so, as the kickoff to the CIW’s Workers’ Voice Tour nears on March 2, the Student/Farmworker Alliance is inviting allies across the #FairFoodNation to, once again, remind Wendy’s that consumers are kissing goodbye to the retailer's empty promises until they join the Fair Food Program! 

This Valentine’s Day Weekend, take action alongside Fair Food allies from coast to coast by submitting short videos to Wendy’s on social media! Be sure to include your name, where you’re joining from and why you’re breaking up with Wendy’s this V-Day. Upload your 30-second video to Facebook or Instagram, or send it over to organize@allianceforfairfood.org. Don’t forget to tag @Wendys, @sfalliance, and @alliance4ff! 

Happy Valentine’s Day Weekend of Action!

-The Immokalee Crew

Call-in Day: Tell Wendy’s Chairman, Nelson Peltz, to respect farmworkers' rights!

On Wednesday, January 27, join the Fair Food Nation for a call-in day to the offices of Nelson Peltz, Wendy’s Chairman and major shareholder, to let him know it is past time that he bring the final fast-food holdout to join the Fair Food Program! In addition to being Wendy’s Chairman, Peltz is the CEO of Trian Partners investment firm, the restaurant's largest shareholder. Combined, Trian and Peltz hold close to a quarter of Wendy's shares, exerting considerable sway in the company’s decision-making. 

Peltz has rejected farmworkers’ and consumers’ calls to bring Wendy’s to join the Fair Food Program even after a three-year consumer campaign, a burgeoning student boycott, over 200 faxes sent directly to Peltz from T’ruah rabbis and a march to Trian's offices in New York City this past November. This March 3rd, hundreds of farmworkers from Immokalee and their consumer allies will march on Trian offices again for the first action of the CIW’s Workers’ Voice Tour! With the kickoff just weeks away, let’s remind Peltz that the calls for justice will not stop until Wendy’s has joined the Fair Food Program. 

Below are the call-in details and a suggested script for your call on January 27th. After you’ve called, please email organize@allianceforfairfood to let us know how it went!

Call-in Details: (212)-451-3000
Script:
Hi, my name is __________and I would like to leave a message for Nelson Peltz. 

As an ally of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, I want to remind Mr. Peltz that it is time to take responsibility for farmworkers’ human rights in Wendy’s supply chain, and bring them to join the Fair Food Program.

After a three-year long campaign and several attempts to reach Mr. Peltz, we want to let him know that we will continue until Wendy’s joins the Fair Food Program. This March, CIW will be embarking on the Workers’ Voice Tour to let Wendy’s know that they must respect workers’ voices -- and the first stop will be a march outside of your New York City offices. 

Thank you for relaying this message.

Wendy’s empty supplier code of conduct pales in comparison to worker-designed Fair Food Program!

Even in the face of growing worker-led movements calling for justice, corporations increasingly deny their responsibility to human rights — or, sometimes more common, promote a conscious image while rejecting the key to any realization of human rights: the voices of workers themselves. The most recent and notable example of this empty, corporate-driven social responsibility appeared in late November with Wendy’s — the infamous Fair Food holdout — releasing an enforcement-free supplier code of conduct only days after thousands took action nationwide to call on the corporation to join the Fair Food Program.
 
The CIW’s Fair Food Program has achieved unparalleled and far-reaching transformation in the agricultural industry, ensuring human rights and improved pay for tens of thousands of workers. Contrary to corporate-driven social responsibility programs, designed only to bolster and defend corporate PR, the Fair Food Program has the essential elements of worker participation, robust enforcement mechanisms, and market consequences for failure to comply. The Fair Food Program is designed by workers to defend and protect their own rights. 

Farmworkers know that nothing less than their own model of human rights protection will ensure justice, which is why they are rejecting Wendy’s newly-released supplier code of conduct. Wendy’s new code states that it “expects” suppliers to comply with the code, but does not strictly “require” anything. The code has no worker participation in its design or implementation, and has no meaningful enforcement mechanisms. In the face of Wendy’s refusal of farmworkers’ vision for justice in the fields, this March 2-12, the CIW will embark on the Workers’ Voice Tour — sending a clear message that farmworkers and consumers together will not allow Wendy’s to continue to do business while rejecting workers’ voices.

Be sure to save the date for the Workers’ Voice Tour, and for a full debunking of Wendy’s new empty code of conduct, head over to the CIW website!

SPRING ACTION ANNOUNCED: Workers’ Voice Tour, March 2-12, will bring a clear message to Wendy’s!

This March 2 to 12, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers will tour the country in a cascade of powerful action with thousands of consumers to bring Wendy’s into the Fair Food Program. Sweeping from north to south, the 2016 Workers’ Voice Tour, La Voz del Trabajador: Gira 2016,  will call on the final fast food holdout to hear and respect the voices of farmworkers.

It has been three years since the CIW first called on Wendy’s to join the Fair Food Program. In that time, farmworkers have educated thousands of their fellow workers about the new rights they have under the Program, from access to shade and water, to increased pay, to freedom from sexual harassment and forced labor. All of these rights are being enforced by workers themselves, who now have the right to speak up about abuse on the job through a 24-hour hotline. And since the beginning of the Wendy’s campaign, several corporations have joined the Program, bringing the count to 14 buyers that are paying the penny per pound and only buying from farms that uphold farmworkers’ human rights.

Yet Wendy’s continues to ignore workers’ voices, denying their responsibility to the human rights of farmworkers in their supply chain. They recently released their own Supplier Code of Conduct — but one that does nothing more than gently suggest that suppliers adhere to ideals that sound suspiciously like those of the Fair Food Program. With no enforcement mechanisms, the code lacks the crucial ingredient for transparent and verifiable change: the voice of workers. And until Wendy’s respects the voice of workers, the CIW will bring their message to Wendy’s loud and clear.

The Workers’ voice Tour will kick off at the New York City offices of Nelson Peltz, the chairman of the board of Wendy’s and Wendy’s largest investor, in a giant action on March 3. With no response to date to the hundreds of rabbis who sent him personal letters and the hundred-person march to his offices in November, the CIW is making good on their autumn promise to one of the most powerful men in business: “We are going to keep struggling, keep moving forward, and we are not going to stop until Nelson Peltz comes to Immokalee, to where workers are working every day, and brings Wendy’s to the table!” The tour will then make its way to Wendy’s headquarter town of Columbus, Ohio, on March 6 for a major mobilization of Fair Food allies in Ohio and from across the Northeast and Midwest at Ohio State University, where students first launched the national student boycott. The tour will then head to Louisville, KY and Gainesville, FL, also major strongholds in the student boycott. The tour will culminate with a march of hundreds in Palm Beach, Florida, where Mr. Peltz has his winter estate.

For decades, thousands of farmworkers have raised their voices to demand respect and dignity, making themselves heard through marches, pickets, letters, work stoppages, and hunger strikes. Consumers have long come alongside the CIW with their own voices, taking the CIW’s lead to amplify the call for justice in our communities and speaking to corporations about their connection to the workers who make their profits possible. With this tour, we will continue to do just that: Even as Wendy’s seeks to cut out farmworkers’ voices through their empty Codes and inexcusable inaction, farmworkers and consumers will make themselves heard until Wendy's becomes part of an industry that respects, hears — and gives rightful, dignified place — to workers’ voices.  

To join up with the tour and organize your communities to do the same, contact us at organize (at) allianceforfairfood.org. Head over to the CIW site for more details!

Fair Food Nation to USF Board of Trustees: Publix can't set up shop on campus without committing to farmworker justice!

For over six years, thousands of farmworkers, consumer allies, and Fair Food supporters across the country have made an unwavering call to Publix – sending letters, making calls, biking, fasting and marching to the company's doorstep – to demand justice for the tens of thousands of farmworkers who make their profits possible. However, the Florida-based grocer has stubbornly refused to make a commitment to human rights for farmworkers in its supply chain. 

In October, University of South Florida students and community members received word that plans are underway for the construction of a Publix store at the USF Tampa campus. After months of discussion and deliberation, the proposal to grant Publix a property lease on campus comes to a vote before the USF Board of Trustees this Friday, January 15. Standing with farmworkers, USF students and members of Tampa Bay Fair Food are organizing locally and putting out the call to the rest of the Fair Food Nation to join them in sending a clear message to the USF Board of Trustees: Publix can't set up shop on our campus until they respect farmworkers' human rights! 

Join us for this call to action by signing and sharing this online letter that will be sent to the USF Board of Trustees and administrators. 

As a university, USF states that it strives to promote civic culture and build sustainable communities. Entering into business with Publix, a grocer that has shamefully turned its back on basic human rights for farmworkers for years, is inconsistent with USF's stated values as an institution that is accountable not just to students and alumni, but also to its surrounding community.

Take part in this vital moment in the campaign by signing and sharing the letter to the USF Board of Trustees by Friday, urging them to turn down Publix's proposal to build a supermarket on campus until they join the Fair Food Program.

-The Immokalee Crew

Hundreds call for justice in “Uniting for Fair Food” National Day of Action!

For many, the Thanksgiving holiday is a time to give thanks for the abundance in their lives. But what happens when the people who make that abundance possible, the thousands of farmworkers who harvest our daily fruits and vegetables, are left out of the picture? In their relentless 20-year struggle, the CIW has been working to eradicate decades of farmworker exploitation and powerlessness, and pave a path for change rooted in dignity and respect. 

Today, the Fair Food Program is well into its fifth season of implementation, and farmworkers at the head of the table, with the commitment of 14 multi-billion dollar food retailers, are eliminating longstanding abuses in the U.S. agricultural industry. 

Unfortunately, despite the transformational changes that farmworkers are experiencing today, there still exist retailers who consider it enough to give charity, and negate their responsibility to uphold the justice for which farmworkers and allies are calling. Publix, one of the country’s largest private supermarkets, and Wendy’s, the final fast food holdout, continue turning a blind eye to the success of the Fair Food Program and the existence of the “New Day” of human rights that is dawning in the fields of Florida and beyond. 

This year marks a milestone in charity for Publix Supermarkets. With Publix’s charity arm projected to donate $1.5 million to a dozen food distribution centers across the Southeast, Publix is delving deep into its money-lined pockets to give a little extra this holiday season. But what does charity mean when it is not followed by justice? What does charity mean when, for over six years, the “friendly neighborhood grocer” refuses to even have a conversation with the farmworkers who are also their neighbors? 

The same questions can be posed for Wendy’s, the only one of the country’s largest fast food corporations who has refused to participate in the Fair Food Program. Time and time again, the Fair Food Nation has made it loud and clear to Wendy’s that their inaction is unacceptable. And students and youth have kept up the heat on Wendy’s even as temperatures have dropped, with the burgeoning national student boycott of Wendy’s and ongoing Boot the Braids campaigns to end campus contracts with Wendy’s. 

And so on Nov. 21, hundreds of farmworkers, people of faith, community organizations, students and others across the country – from Miami to Jacksonville to Columbus – held true to their word in “Uniting for Fair Food” to amplify the urgent call for justice to Publix and Wendy’s. On marches, pickets, letter delegations, and social media, the Fair Food movement made it clear that it will only continue to grow until Publix and Wendy’s join the 14 corporations that are now part of the solution to farmworker abuse in this country’s agricultural industry. 

The Fair Food Nation showed up. Now, Publix and Wendy’s, it’s your move.

MIAMI: 
The community of Miami showed up in full force, as scores of students from Barry University, St. Thomas University, Broward College and Florida Atlantic University, the Dream Defenders, WeCount!, and Miami community members united with dozens of CIW members. Farmworkers and allies gathered with ponchos to brave the rain in one hand and Fair Food art in the other, ready for action! The two-mile, 150-person strong march took off with a jolt of energy. First up was the Wendy’s restaurant along famous Calle Ocho. Though the Wendy’s manager refused to accept the letter from the delegation, the march continued on as animated as ever. As the march reached Publix, the delegation was approached by both a Publix representative and a manager who stood in silence as each member of the delegation took turns explaining why they were uniting with farmworkers to call on Publix to join the Fair Food Program. During the reportback at José Martí Park, farmworkers, community members and students spoke their truth, reiterating that there is no excuse for Wendy’s and Publix’s rejection of the Fair Food Program. CIW’s Silvia Perez ended the action with a resolute reminder to both Publix and Wendy’s: “We aren’t going to get tired. We are going to keep going with our struggle. It’s when our voices are together and loud that we are able to create strength and achieve this.” 

ORLANDO:
In Orlando, nearly 100 Fair Food allies from the University Unitarian Universalist Society, the First Unitarian Church of Orlando, the Youth and Young Adult network of the National Farmworker Ministry, Park Lake Presbyterian Church, Timber Creek High School – and even from the Southeastern University Student/Farmworker Alliance chapter, based in Publix’s headquarter town of Lakeland, Florida — joined together for a lively picket and letter delivery to the manager of Publix on Lake Eola. As nearly all present had participated in prior CIW protests and were well aware of Publix’s six-year denial of human rights for farmworkers, the protest was infused with an air of steadfast commitment. Given their experience with Publix’s rebuff, the delegation who spoke with the manager was surprised by his personal expressions of applause for the CIW’s work and his final remark: “It really seems like support for this is growing.” 

JACKSONVILLE:
The powerful relationship between River City Science Academy, the community of Jacksonville and farmworkers in Immokalee strengthened more than ever as over 50 middle and high school students took to the streets for a three-mile march on Publix and Wendy’s. In a lively and energetic march, despite the afternoon drizzle, chants and songs echoed throughout the streets of Jacksonville as students chanted, “No rain, nor wind, will stop us, we will win!” After the march, students gathered near the Wendy’s restaurant for the final reportback from the delegations, where many spoke of their renewed dedication to the Campaign for Fair Food. In the words of one of the River City high school seniors to both Wendy’s and Publix: “We are strong, and we will not be intimidated.”

COLUMBUS: 
In the Buckeye State, Fair Food allies in Columbus– people of faith, students and community members – gathered outside of a recently-opened Wendy’s near the Ohio State University campus.  Right before the weekend’s football game, the sidewalk was crowded with fans and potential Wendy’s customers, who instead got to hear about how Wendy’s and Ohio State have refused to take a stand against farmworker exploitation, so long as the university continues to do business with Wendy’s. The ever-committed group proclaimed “OH - IO - exploitation has got to go!” as they picketed outside Wendy’s and encouraged students to join the growing boycott. The manager refused to accept the delegation’s letter or even engage in a dialogue. 

TAMPA:
Members of Tampa Bay Fair Food, United Methodist Women, Tampa Food Not Bombs, students from the University of South Florida and Hillsborough Community College gathered for an energetic picket at Publix on the highly-trafficked Fowler Avenue. The CIW’s Leo Perez and Tampa allies led letter delegations to speak with representatives from Publix and Wendy’s, connecting their experiences to their commitment to Fair Food. Despite continuously empty responses from both Publix and Wendy’s, farmworkers and their allies remain committed to the struggle for dignity, respect, and long-awaited justice. On this note, the Tampa contingent of the Fair Food Nation united their voices for a final round of chants: “We’ll be back! We’ll be back!"  

PROVIDENCE:
As the consumer movement and national student boycott of Wendy’s grows by the day, members of the Central Falls worker-led organization Fuerza Laboral and the Brown Student Labor Alliance came together to amplify the call for Fair Food in Providence, RI.  Despite the cold, over 20 dedicated workers and students marched and chanted in support of Wendy’s joining the proven solution to farmworker exploitation.  Fuerza and SLA, who are calling for justice for workers throughout Rhode Island and throughout the food system, and students at Brown, who are demanding racial justice on their campuses and in their communities, joined in this day of action to send Wendy’s a clear message: You must take responsibility and join an enforceable, farmworker-designed Program that is systematically transforming working conditions in the fields for the first time in the history of the industry.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA:
At the University of Florida, yet another Boot the Braids school, CHISPAS members took to social media to show support and spread the word of their ever-increasing efforts to Unite for Fair Food. SFAers set up tables at the Plaza of the Americas, a heavily-trafficked part of campus, as students stopped by to take pictures with signs, sporting their willingness to boycott Wendy's until they join the Fair Food Program. Students also used this opportunity to build relationships among on-campus organizations that are continuing to join the fight for Fair Food. After yet another successful Wendy's action, CHISPAS is gearing up for more actions on campus as the spring semester approaches.

CALL TO ACTION: "Uniting for Fair Food" National Day of Action on Nov. 21!

After two decades of farmworker-led struggle, the promise of a New Day of justice for farmworkers in the tomato fields of Florida and beyond has finally taken hold.  With 14 food retailers now part of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program, we are seeing incredible changes — from a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment and modern-day slavery, to access to shade, water, and bathrooms, to a real voice on the job — made real not only in Florida, but across state-lines. Just a few months ago, the CIW traveled up and down the eastern seaboard of the United States — Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey — carrying out worker-to-worker education sessions about these new rights for the first time ever with thousands of workers beyond Florida. Since the inaugural season of the Fair Food Program four years ago, workers have been reporting the immense differences between farms on which the Program is implemented and those on which it is not, where the historic abuses of the agricultural industry towards farmworkers continue to persist. Each such report underlines the deep urgency of the reinforcement and expansion of the Program, which will only be possible through more retailers joining — yet, corporations like Wendy’s and Publix continue to utterly deny their responsibility to farmworkers.  

During a time of year when many share in acts of guidance, mutuality and charity, the CIW is asking the Fair Food Nation to come together and share in acts of justice. On Saturday, November 21st allies across the country are “Uniting for Fair Food” in a National Day of Action to call on Wendy’s and Publix to move beyond charity and to commit to the human rights of farmworkers and their families. 

The Fair Food Nation is already deep in the planning stages: cities, Fair Food groups — from Miami to Nashville and everyone in between — and students at Barry University, St. Thomas University, and University of Michigan (to name just a few!) are gearing up to show Publix and Wendy’s that they must recognize their responsibility to the farmworkers who make their profits possible and ensure that the food they provide is harvested in just conditions. 

As Publix works vigorously to open more stores beyond the Florida border, it cannot continue to expand its market across the Southeast without also expanding its commitment to dignity and fair working conditions for farmworkers. The expansion of Publix’s market will continue to contribute to the expansion of poverty and exploitation of farmworkers until Publix takes up its responsibility to the farmworkers within its supply chain. 

For over two years, Wendy’s has continued to be the fast-food holdout of the industry. While they promote that they value a “commitment to quality,” they must also value a commitment to the human rights of farmworkers. Wendy’s benefits from the labor of farmworkers and is accountable to ensure that the “quality” behind their burgers is redefined to include a quality of life for farmworkers and their families.

As food retailers that pride themselves in the charity work they do, both Wendy’s and Publix must listen to the call coming directly from the farmworkers in their supply chain, in whose poverty they are complicit: Rather than charity, what farmworkers are calling on Wendy’s and Publix to do is justice. It’s justice that is allowing farmworkers to finally see changes in sub-poverty wages and in the exploitation that once dominated the agriculture industry, changes in an industry that once forced workers to depend on charity for survival. And so it’s justice that farmworkers, students, people of faith and community groups are uniting around this November 21: together, we have held firmly to the belief that we must work together in order to see these changes fully realized, and together we continue to take action.

On November 21st, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Alliance for Fair Food is inviting the Fair Food Nation to show Wendy’s and Publix how justice is truly created. Pickets, marches, manager letter delegations, and community celebrations will be happening all across the country, and we invite you to join in on making this day of action an even stronger call for justice. 

If you have any questions or if you would like to plan an action contact us at organize[at]allianceforfairfood[dot]org.

See you in the streets, 

The Immokalee Crew

North Carolina Publix Truth Tour kicks off in Asheville!

The CIW's NC Publix Truth Tour is now underway, and the Immokalee crew's first stop in Asheville was a great success! After four days of learning about the abuses traditionally faced by farmworkers in the agriculture and the proven solution that is eradicating those abuses in the fields today, the Western North Carolina community came together with farmworkers to send a unified message to Publix: "If you want to expand into our community, you must expand your commitment to human rights!"

With the CIW's Fair Food Program now expanding to states outside of Florida, including North Carolina, the time is more pressing than ever for Publix to join the CIW at the table and use their tremendous market power to strengthen and further expand farmworkers' human rights.

Don't miss the Truth Tour crew's first-hand report from the mountainous roads of the Tarheel State: 

Last week, the North Carolina Publix Truth Tour had an incredible first stop in Asheville, where community members warmly welcomed the tour crew into their classrooms, congregations and communities — and then joined us at Publix for the first protest of the tour! 

Our days in this friendly mountain town were packed with efforts to connect with allies and then take action together.  Students at University of North Carolina Asheville and Warren Wilson College were moved by the CIW’s message, and then brought together their own plans to join the Sunday picket.  CIW was also welcomed to services at Beth Israel Congregation, who connected with the Fair Food delegation through T’ruah, the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights.  Asheville FM Community Radio helped spread the word further about CIW’s visit to town and the upcoming protest, interviewing the CIW’s Santiago Perez about the incredible changes the Fair Food Program has brought to the agricultural industry as well as the campaign to bring Publix on board, especially as they seek to expand their stores in North Carolina.

We also brought the story of the Fair Food Program and Publix’s refusal to join to fellow workers in the Western North Carolina area, many of whom follow the tomato harvest north from Florida during the summer.  CIW’s Lupe Gonzalo and Santiago Perez were interviewed on the airwaves of JM Pro, a radio and video production viewed by hundreds in the Western North Carolina worker community.  They shared the exciting news not only of the burgeoning Publix campaign in Asheville and across the state, but also of the new expansion of the Fair Food Program into North Carolina, which began this past summer as CIW traveled to farms up the east coast, talking to thousands more workers about their new rights. 

On Thursday evening, workers, students and other community members were brought together for a screening of the award-winning documentary “Food Chains” at the local Carolina Cinema. The screening and talkback was well-attended by locals, and even a group who drove an hour from the farmworker community in neighboring Sylva, with the Vecinos Farmworker Health Program, to hear from the CIW.  They were excited not only to join CIW's Campaign for Fair Food going forward, but also to share more information about the Fair Food Program’s expansion with the farmworkers in the state of North Carolina. 

The Asheville tour stop culminated in a spirited picket at Publix that could not be dampened even by the afternoon rain!  Inspired by the “Food Chains” screening and the many presentations of the previous days, dozens of community members, students, professors, local business owners turned out -- and were even joined by several members of Nashville Fair Food, who couldn't be kept away when they heard CIW would be visiting their neighbor state. 

Rain-soaked but exuberant, North Carolinians and the CIW drove home the same message NC has been sending to Publix since the grocer's first forays into the state: as Publix seeks to expand their consumer base in North Carolina communities, consumers are demanding that the supermarket also expand their commitment to human rights. 

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Ashevillians have made this resolute call to Publix.  In fact, even before the Asheville Publix store opened this last spring, scores of North Carolinians protested alongside farmworkers at the construction site during CIW’s 2014 Now is the Time Tour, then picketed at the opening in May, and have made their message known in the local press time and time again.

This time around, while the picket started up, a delegation led by CIW's Lupe Gonzalo sought to enter the store (and of course, were denied entry) to deliver the letter signed by community members, inviting Publix once again to become part of the proven solution to farmworker poverty and powerlessness. After Lupe urged the manager to pass the community's letter onto his higher-ups, a member of Beth Israel spoke proudly of the rich history of Jewish support in the Campaign for Fair Food.  She shared that as a longtime Asheville resident and person of faith, Publix’s refusal to join the Fair Food Program — already supported by Publix's Asheville competitor up the road, Walmart — is unconscionable, and she looks forward to the day soon where she and her congregation can celebrate Publix coming to the table with the CIW.  A student from Warren Wilson closed the delegation, sharing her dismay upon learning about Publix’s position and resolve to continue organizing with her community to continue to amplify this call.  

The CIW wrapped up the picket by sharing with the participants the call for a National Day of Action on Nov. 21.  As Lupe informed the crowd, this is the weekend before Thanksgiving, and Publix will surely be promoting its family-friendly image and charity efforts, and yet will continue to refuse to respect the farmworkers who make the food on their shelves — and profits in their pockets — possible.

The Truth Tour crew took off with promises to return to Asheville soon – made to both the dozens of allies who have shown their unwavering support for the Campaign and to the local Publix management – and with much excitement for what is waiting ahead in the Triangle Area and Charlotte! 

Follow along as the CIW and AFF continue spreading truth and consciousness to North Carolina consumers about Publix's staunch refusal to take part in the changes that are transforming the lives of tens of thousands of farmworkers and their families in Florida and beyond – and stay tuned for the final Truth Tour report next week!