The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), one of ATEST's 12 member organizations, has persuaded Trader Joe's supermarket chain to join its Fair Food Program. Trader Joe's will join nine other large food retailers in paying growers a small price premium for the tomatoes purchased from Florida. The premium is then passed on as a monetary bonus to the workers who pick those tomatoes. In addition, Trader Joe's has agreed to buy only from growers who comply with the CIW's Fair Food Code of Conduct. The Fair Food Code of Conduct affords workers a broad range of workplace benefits beyond those required by law, including the Fair Food bonus, a complaint resolution process triggered by the workers, on-the-farm and on-the-clock worker to worker education about their rights under the Code, and health and safety committees that give workers a structured way to influence their work environment.

The CIW's Fair Food Program directly addresses the abject poverty and gross power imbalance in agricultural work that have led to numerous cases of modern-day slavery. The participation of Florida's tomato growers and each addtional food retailer in the Fair Food Program promises a new day in agriculture, one in which slavery is a thing of the past.

For the CIW announcement of this latest victory in its Campaign for Fair Food, click read more.