Best of 2011: A Penny for Your Thoughts... About Tomatoes

BRADENTON -- If for the last 30 years you have been working for the same salary with no insurance, no benefits, no sick leave or vacations; no right to organize and no overtime, then you probably pick tomatoes in Florida for a living. It's also likely that you live in poverty.

The CIW (Coalition of Immokalee Workers) is a group advocating for tomato picker's rights. They are trying to raise the sub-poverty annual wages pickers have been living under for decades. CIW also takes issue with the labor laws and health and safety violation, workers claim they are forced to work with. And what are the terms that keep the workers and farmers at their current stalemate? One penny a pound. 

In 2001 CIW organized a boycott of Taco Bell, calling on their company to take responsibility for the impoverished conditions and wages of the workers that supplied their company's tomatoes. Students/Farmworkers Alliance and assorted religious groups put pressure on Taco Bell and their parent company,Yum! Brands Inc., who also owns Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silvers and A&W. CIW's request was to support the penny a pound increase and enforce a code of conduct that would monitor the conditions workers were forced to live with. In 2005, Yum! agreed to join the program. 

A year later, McDonalds brokered a deal with CIW. Previous to these agreements, workers were only making 45 cents for every 32 pound bucket of tomatoes. This agreement takes the pay per bucket to 77 cents. In 2008, Burger King announced it too would agree to support the "Penny a Pound" measure, as did Whole Foods Market.

In the struggle to raise their wages above the poverty line, workers have run into some stern opposition. The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange (FTGE) disagreed with the deal CIW made with McDonalds and Yum! brand, arguing that it wasn't their place to negotiate, because neither company grows tomatoes. In 2010, after much debate, both sides finally came to an agreement and FTGE cooperated with CIW's request. 

This means all of the 30,000 workers in the tomato-harvesting industry that pick for FTGE, are getting fair wages, not just the 4,000 represented by CIW. 

As CIW nears the finish line on their "Campaign for Fair Food," they have yet to convince some holdouts, including four major grocery chains: Publix. Kroger, Trader Joe's and Ahold USA. CIW, who represents those who pick over a third of all of the tomatoes grown in the U.S., are going after the $550 billion grocery store industry. 

Trader Joe's says it is insisting that their suppliers maintain fair compensation and responded with a public statement, but they refuse to insist their suppliers sign CIW's Fair Food agreement. 

Publix has responded with indifference, stating it's not their place to get involved. From Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice - Kimberly Hunter reported: Publix CEO, Ed Crenshaw, has repeatedly refused to meet with CIW. She said Publix spokesperson Dwaine Stevens argued, "If there are some atrocities going on, it's not our business." A rather harsh statement coming from someone who speaks for the largest private company in Florida -- statement adverse to the company founder George Jenkins' motto: "never let making a profit stand in the way of doing the right thing." Profits don't seem to be a problem for the well endowed grocery chain. They just posted a $382.4 million profit for this year's second quarter. 

Ahold, the $40 billion Dutch supermarket chain, flat out refused to endorse CIW's Fair Food program. With a series of letters and public statements defending their stance, Ahold states they will not commit to CIW's benchmark standards, nor will it pay the penny-per-pound price premium it requires. Ahold asserts it will continue to pay a fair market price for its Florida tomatoes.

The Kroger Company - the nations second largest supermarket chain, with $76 billion in sales annually, says it has no intention of committing to any penny-a-pound program. 

According to CIW's website, ”The penny-per-pound premium is, in fact, built into the final price, on the invoice, for the majority of retailers participating in the Fair Food program.The retailers simply pay for their tomatoes, as they always have, only now with a small premium, similar to any fair trade product. The accounting and distribution of the penny-per-pound funds are handled downstream in the supply chain. The workers are paid by the growers, in the form of a bonus in each check.“

It's hard to imagine making the same wages we were 30 years ago. USA today reported Fortune 500 CEO's wages were up 27% from just a year ago. I am sure if asked, everyone of them would tell you they're worth it. It has become a trend to keep raising the ceiling for CEO compensation and often it is made by lowering the floor on the poor. What it appears they don't understand is that if those on the floor quit buying things, quit spending everything they have to just stay alive, everything at the top will surely collapse. Luxury goods alone cannot keep the economy afloat. It seems the jury is still out on trickle-down, but it has always been in on trickle-up. The rich will tell you that, they aren't all getting rich off the wealthy, most wealth is a collective from the masses. 

The poor, more than any other economic class in terms of percentage of resources, return nearly every penny they make back to their community. Rent, transportation, food, clothes, electric, phone and entertainment consume everything they make, every week they make it. The taxes, Social Security and Medicare that's taken out of their check, little if any will ever come back to them. 

Business owners in communities with a large population of farmworkers truly prosper from fair wage programs. Suppliers that furnish the goods that go to those businesses are that much more successful. Those living in poverty consistently have more health problems that can often be traced back to poor nutrition and result in high public healthcare cost. Not seeing the significant and prudent rewards guaranteeing a fair wage presents, companies may be handicapping much of our own future. 

In researching this story, I was unable to find the upside to keeping any group or any worker at the same minimum wage for 30 or more years - or even someone willing to argue it.