Each October brings cool weather, the World Series and 20,000 migrant workers flocking to the farms of Immokalee, Fla., to find jobs during the height of the agricultural season.
Immokalee is a labor reserve for migrant workers where tomato farmers earn an average of $10,000 a year for 10-hour days, according to the 2008 USDA National Agricultural Workers Survey.
Students demonstrated Friday afternoon outside of Chipotle Mexican Grill on West University Avenue to lobby for fair wages and human rights of Immokalee workers, including an additional penny per pound of tomatoes picked.
The demonstration was held by UF student group Coalition of Hispanics Integrating Spanish Speakers Through Advocacy and Service, or CHISPAS, and included members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Student/Farmworker Alliance.
"It doesn't make any sense," said Grey Torrico, president of CHISPAS, about Chipotle. "They are pro-animal rights but lack a response to the workers' rights. A penny per pound is not that much; we're just asking to sit down with Chipotle and do what's right."
Chipotle employees would not comment, but Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold said Wednesday that the restaurant would agree to pay an additional penny per pound for tomatoes bought in Florida.
Protesters stood on the sidewalk Friday with an orange sign that said "Integrity?". They handed out over 150 fliers to people passing by and asked them to sign a petition.
"It happens in a lot of other countries," Torrico said to a passerby who brought up unfair conditions in Kosovo. "But we have to start somewhere."
Since 1978, wages have been stagnant, said Melody Gonzalez, co-coordinator of the Student/Farmworker Alliance.
Florida tomato pickers earn an average of $0.45 for every 32 pounds of tomatoes, according to the SFA and the CIW. To earn $50, a worker has to pick 4,000 pounds of tomatoes, or 125 buckets.
"When there's a lot of tomatoes out there, maybe, if you're a fast picker … you could pick that many," Gonzalez said. "But there's days when there are not many tomatoes in the field, it's raining and you have to stop midday. Then you're not able to earn $50 every day."
According to the 2008 USDA Economic Research Service report, more than one million hired farmworkers are employed in U.S. agriculture.
Housing conditions of farmworkers are historically substandard due to poor sanitation, proximity of pesticides and overcrowding, according to the report.
"I grew up hearing the stories," Gonzalez said. "I live in a community where the poverty is so overwhelming, it gives you the courage to say that the industry has to change."
SFA is a nationwide network of students working with farmworkers to eliminate poor conditions and recent slavery in the fields, Gonzalez said. SFA works in tangent with CIW, an organization of Haitian, Latino and Mayan Indian farmworkers for economic change and human rights for workers.
"We plant that seed of consciousness," she said.
In late September, CIW members, farmworkers and SFA members began the Chipocrisy Tour, a series of rallies around the country to educate people about Immokalee worker conditions.
CIW has also put pressure on corporations like Burger King, McDonald's and most recently, Whole Foods, with agreements that ensure higher wages and better conditions in fields.
