Holding signs with slogans like “We Want Justice,” a crowd of about 500 people, including about 25 UF students, marched this weekend from Tampa to Lakeland in support of better wages and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers.
The Farmworker Freedom March, which took place Friday through Sunday, was an effort led by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to demand Publix Super Markets Inc. join a partnership among farmworkers, Florida tomato growers and eight other food corporations to end farm labor abuse.
The CIW, a group that lobbies food corporations to improve the wages and working conditions for workers in Immokalee, has been pressuring Publix to sign a worker contract since 2007.
The agreement would require the company to only sell tomatoes picked at places where a worker code of conduct exists and would give workers a penny-per-pound increase in their wages, said CIW member Gerardo Reyes.
“People are going to keep questioning [Publix] if they refuse to work with the CIW,” Reyes said. “It doesn’t make sense. With the refusal, they are helping to perpetrate the abuses.”
When the marchers arrived at the Publix headquarters in Lakeland, they were met by company representatives and some counter-protesters.
Dwaine Stevens, a spokesman for Publix, said in an e-mail that the march revolved around a dispute between suppliers and their employees and does not involve Publix.
“We seek to serve as a role model to other companies and suppliers on how to maintain a great place to work,” Stevens wrote. “Each store carries more than 35,000 different products. Tomatoes are a small part of the product mix.”
Stevens wrote that the price of tomatoes is set by the grower or packer, not Publix.
He attributed the problems in the tomato industry to a lack of laws enforcing minimum wages and safe working conditions.
Other companies, including UF’s food provider, Aramark, have signed an agreement with the CIW, said Richard Blake, a UF sophomore and a Student/Farmworker Alliance member.
“Aramark dragged their feet, but at least they were willing to meet with us,” Blake said. “Publix seems to be a little different.”
UF political science junior Diana Moreno, who is also a member of the UF Student/Farmworker Alliance, said she marched in support not only of tomato pickers but also of a human rights campaign.
“I think people really need to realize who is at the bottom of the food industry chain, which is farmworkers,” Moreno said. “A lot of the food that we eat comes from [tomato pickers], but they don’t see a lot of the profits that Publix does.”
From here on out, Moreno said, the CIW’s campaign will only escalate.
“We’re probably going to send letters and maybe start boycott campaigns to pressure Publix,” she said. “The CIW is going to build a coalition throughout the southeastern part of the U.S.”
