Harvard-based policy consortium calls on Congress, US Department of Agriculture to help drive expansion of FFP and other WSR initiatives in agriculture:
"By incentivizing the growth of WSR [Worker-driven Social Responsibility] initiatives and focusing attention at the “top” of the supply chain — specifically, by preferentially providing the many forms of financial support government provides to those farms that join WSR programs — Congress can advance the twin aims of ending working exploitation and supporting the diversity and vibrancy of the farming sector."
... And on US Department of Labor to collaborate with FFP in protecting farmworkers' rights to maximize efficiency, impact of limited law enforcement resources:
"Support for proven worker-driven enforcement mechanisms, like the complaint hotline and investigation and enforcement process established in CIW’s Fair Food Program, could reduce the need for DOL scrutiny among producers participating in such WSR programs and thus extend DOL’s capacity to strategically target its investigations..."
Today, we bring you yet another high-level endorsement of the Fair Food Program and its Worker-driven Social Responsibility model -- this time from the world of public policy, and from one of the country's top law schools!
Just last week, a consortium of eight law schools across the United States – anchored at the Harvard Law School's Food Law and Policy Clinic – released an in-depth report with key policy recommendations in advance of the much-anticipated 2023 Farm Bill. The June report, the first of five forthcoming this summer, is focused on farmworkers and explicitly endorses the Fair Food Program and the Worker-driven Social Responsibility (WSR) model.
Throughout the report, researchers praise the "proven" model and its groundbreaking mechanisms for the enforcement of fundamental -- but long-ignored -- labor rights in the fields, and go on to echo the recommendations that CIW itself has made for policy improvements in Congress, the Department of Labor (DOL), and US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The report's recognition of the FFP's unique effectiveness comes on the heels of strong praise from federal law enforcement officials from the DOL and Customs and Border Protection following the recent wave of modern-day slavery prosecutions in US agriculture.
The thoroughgoing report includes several concrete, practical suggestions for leveraging the federal government's market power and existing resources to expand the FFP and other WSR initiatives in the agricultural industry and to better protect US farmworkers from longstanding labor abuses.
We highlight some of these recommendations over on the CIW website this morning, and be sure to read the full report here!
