Friedman School students Yamilet Perez Aragon and Emma Morris talk about their recent visit with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, led by Assistant Professor Jess Sparks.
Visiting Immokalee: A Lesson in Worker-Driven Social Responsibility
Yamilet Perez Aragon, a second-year student studying Agriculture, Food and Environment, and Emma Morris, a first-year student in the Food and Nutrition Policies and Programs track, recently spent three days with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) learning about farm worker labor rights, corporate social responsibility initiatives led by farm workers, and the campaign for fair food in US agriculture.
For over 20 years, the CIW has pioneered and exemplified Worker-Driven Social Responsibility- based organizing, developing a “worker-led, market-enforced approach to the protection of human rights in corporate supply chains.” CIW’s ground-breaking establishment of The Fair Food Program in 2011 has had far reaching impacts on farm workers, growers, and retailers in Florida and beyond. Central to the Program are Fair Food Agreements, wherein participating growers and buyers - like Walmart, Whole Foods Market, Aramark, Subway, and McDonald's — enter a legally binding arrangement to implement the worker-developed and worker-enforced Code of Conduct.
Jess Sparks, an assistant professor in the Division of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Friedman School, is currently partnering with CIW to collaborate on a worker-driven social responsibility pilot in UK fishing with UK partners Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). Sparks offered the students the opportunity to accompany her while she met with CIW and UK research partners.
Yamilet and Emma spoke with the Friedman School Communications team about their experience.
Emma Morris: I first heard about the opportunity to travel to Immokalee from Jess Sparks, who spoke to my Fundamentals of US Agriculture class taught by Nicole Blackstone. We had been discussing labor and the factors that encourage immigrant and temporary migrant work in the US food system. I had been shocked by the lack of protections given to workers in the food system, who do not have the right to strike, collectively bargain, or earn overtime pay. This is especially precarious for farm work, which relies disproportionately on recently immigrated, temporary migrant, or undocumented individuals and is by nature intense and high-risk work. Jess explained that the Immokalee trip would be an opportunity to learn about a social protection program that was created by farm workers themselves and has been successful in fighting against labor abuses and establishing fair working conditions on farms across the US.
Yamilet Perez Aragon: My Agriculture Science and Policy II professor Tim Griffin invited Jess Sparks for a guest lecture where she encouraged us to apply to this opportunity. I was interested because at the time, I had been working on a semester project for another class, Parke Wilde’s Determinants of U.S. Food Policy, that was very relevant to the focus of the trip. For my term paper, I was writing about the gaps in agricultural guest worker programs in the U.S. and how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can fill them to improve immigrant farmworker conditions.
I thought the trip might offer insight in a way that research in literature and data alone could not. I was excited to talk to real people who are most affected by these federal labor programs and private sustainability initiatives.
Visiting Immokalee: A Lesson in Worker-Driven Social Responsibility
Yamilet: During the first day, we were introduced to the team at the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and learned about the work they do to support agricultural workers. They serve as a community information center, a safe place, and an advocate for workers’ rights. We learned about their history and the hard work involved in creating the organization we see today. There have been many challenges, and they continue to face obstacles, but their success is evident in their growth and in the impact they are making on the U.S. food system.
On a tour of their Modern-Day Slavery Museum, we heard first-hand from some of the people involved in the discovery and prosecution of some of the biggest modern-day slavery cases in the United States. Seeing the physical locations of where some of the human rights abuses have occurred was one of the most impactful parts of this experience. It left a big impression on me to see how such horrible things can happen and remain hidden for years while we consume the products of their suffering.
This trip gave me insight into the ways and importance of incorporating social considerations into food system improvement efforts. I do research on food system sustainability, and I think a big part of this is recognizing worker rights and wellbeing as fundamental to sustainable agriculture and food production.
Yamilet: The second day, we went to one of the farms in the Fair Food Program (FFP) and watched a worker-led education session where a group of workers all participated in an interactive lesson about their rights. In programs like these, it's important to have trust from the people you are serving, so empowering the workers in their own language and in ways they can understand strengthens the connection. Sessions like these are also really important as many workers on H2A visas migrate throughout the U.S. following the farming seasons. The seasonality of this work means a farm may have a new group of workers every year and the program on this farm starts from zero again. CIW comes back regularly to ensure every new group is informed of the labor rights they have on this farm that they might not have on other non-FFP farms.
Emma: Because the FFP has proven to be such a successful model for both farm workers and food buyers, the CIW has begun advising groups in other sectors of the food system to develop their own worker-driven social responsibility programs. We shared our time in Immokalee with a group from India and another group from the UK who were working with the CIW on fair food initiatives within Indian sugarcane production and the UK fishing industry. This diverse mix of people and backgrounds gave our trip a collaborative and dynamic feel, and our meetings covered everything from establishing written contracts to using food or song as mobilization strategies among workers.
Yamilet: On the final day, we witnessed the Fair Food Standards Council (FFSC) conduct audits on a farm. FFSC goes around to every farm participating in the program and talks to workers and makes sure farms are operating as they agreed to. From what I’ve learned in some of my AFE classes, this is not very commonplace. Not just anyone can come and enter a farm’s property, investigate its operations, and hold the farm accountable. It was really incredible to witness on-farm audits with worker engagement on such large-scale commercial operations as this one. It’s something that we have talked about hypothetically in my program but that I didn’t think I’d get to see for myself on this trip.
Change is Needed: Reflections and Takeaways
We need to do more for our farmworkers. Improving conditions for workers can be also beneficial for managers and companies.
Yamilet: As I looked out into the field and saw workers comfortably talking to the program auditors, I felt a lot of hope for what our future could be in a world that values the indispensable contribution of farmworkers to feeding our planet. Right now, in the rest of the U.S. outside FFP, we overlook the hard sacrifice that farmworkers put in from sunrise to sunset. Without them, there would be no food on our table. They are the foundation that ensures we get to eat every day, and we need to protect them. It is great to see more attention shifting to sustainability in our food systems, but it seems much of it has remained limited to environmental concerns or a climate focus. We need to maintain a holistic approach to sustainability and give more priority to the people at the most critical stage of our food supply.
Emma: The owner of the farm that hosted us in Immokalee shared that productivity increased after the Fair Food Program was implemented, and his economic prospects improved through greater production and more reliable sales to food companies. The economic argument for social protection programs is undeniable and can be an invaluable way to gain buy-in from managers resistant to change.
Workers need to be at the forefront to make our food systems sustainable. Protecting the rights of people to organize and advocate for themselves not only improves working conditions but also forms and strengthens communities.
Yamilet: CIW was developed by and for workers to protect themselves. Their mission is driven, guided, and supported by the workers. It came from their recognition that “No one is coming to save me.” We have failed farmworkers. Worker-driven social responsibility offers the best model that centers them as we fix the injustices in our food chain together.
Emma: In Immokalee, the CIW functions like a community center in addition to a place of work. Its physical office building and the people it employs create spaces for local meetings, neighborhood parties, low-cost groceries, and a radio station providing relevant information and multilingual music. Our visit really showed me what a force coalition building can be at creating community and supporting better livelihoods.
We need both top down and bottom-up work to improve the food system. We as consumers have the power to improve farmworker conditions.
Emma: The CIW and FFP are incredible models for worker-driven improvements to labor conditions in the food system. These programs seem to be doing as best they can to protect and give voice to workers. However, they operate within a broader structure that still discriminates against those who are vulnerable and fails to provide good opportunities. Improvements are still needed at the policy level to support good housing, better access to healthy food, healthcare, and daycare, as well as effective pathways to citizenship for undocumented and or migrant workers seeking to stay in the US. These types of changes would help make the food system less exploitative and more humane.
Yamilet: As someone really interested in policy, I was a little doubtful at first of the private sector’s ability to do good for farmworkers on its own. Especially because farmworkers’ place so far up the supply chain has sat them away from the center of companies and consumers’ attention. However, after learning about how CIW built this movement from the ground up and used the power of community – I believe we can keep it going. Competition and public image are great tools to pressure companies into enacting more ethical practices.
You can learn more about how you can make a difference by embarking on an education journey with the Friedman School. Our specializations are designed to get to the crux of critical issues and how they impact our world. Start your journey by contacting nutritionadmissions@tufts.edu. We’re here to help you on your way!