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Montrose Daily Press: "The [Fair Food Program] provides workers with a means of making complaints, which has led to people speaking out against abuses..."
CIW's Leo Perez: "The basis of this program is that workers have the information and the tools they need to actually implement and apply their rights in the place of work."
From its humble roots in the tomato fields of Florida, the Fair Food Program has grown to cover a dozen crops in ten states and three countries, and we are proud to share the news that the FFP now covers sweet corn in Colorado!
Our growing work in Colorado was featured in an in-depth report [[link removed]] by the Colorado Sun last month, and most recently the Montrose Daily Pres s published a great new story that details the CIW's roots as a farmworker-led community organization that arose out of a human rights crisis in Florida's fields and that founded the Fair Food Program, a uniquely successful, Presidential-medal winning program that today guarantees the human rights of farmworkers on farms across the nation. We are including an excerpt of the story for you to read and share with friends -- enjoy and stay tuned for more updates on the FFP's expansion in Colorado and beyond!
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Food and fundamental fairness: Farmworker coalition visits Western Slope [[link removed]]
Katharhynn Heidelberg – Aug 11, 2023
A Florida-based coalition that protects farmworkers from exploitation and abuse is drumming up interest on the Western Slope as its fight for fair food spreads.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers grew out of the tomato fields of southwestern Florida and has steadily gained traction since its inception in the 1990s. The CIW educates and advocates for fieldworkers, so they can know their rights and also have someplace to turn for help.
Since the formation of its Campaign for Fair Food in 2001, the coalition has also taken workers’ rights to the top of the supply chain, by getting major buyers like McDonald’s and Whole Foods to only purchase from growers that have adopted the Fair Food Code of Conduct.
Rancho Durazno in Palisade was the first Colorado enterprise to adopt the Fair Food Program standards. Earlier this month, CIW representatives came to Tuxedo Corn Co. in Olathe to speak with workers and company growers about the program. The visits follow trips to the area last year to conduct key worker-to-worker education at farms and learn the lay of the land, said Lupe Gonzalo, a CIW staff member who formerly worked in Florida’s tomato fields.
“Something that we know immediately from all of the expansion that we’ve done is that no matter where you go, there are still issues that farmworkers face and problems that they face,” she said during an Aug. 1 interview with the Daily Press, through an interpreter, also from CIW. “We hope the Fair Food Program will be yet another resource for workers here to be able to protect their own rights and also to help be part of the enforcement mechanism.”
Gonzalo said state laws are important, but it is critical to make sure everyone on the ground has the information and that those laws can be enforced.
“We hope that the program can be a vehicle for workers to learn about those things and know who to refer to or call if they have questions or issues,” she said.
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Coalition of Immokalee Workers
110 S 2nd St
Immokalee, FL 34142
United States
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