Years Of Pressure To Raise Farm Worker Wages Pays Off For Coalition of Immokalee Workers

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/Channels/Story.aspx?ID=1312682

11/16/2010

Years of pressures on company’s using tomatoes from Florida Tomato Growers Exchange has finally bore fruit for the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. The Florida Tomato Growers has signed an agreement that will provide tomato pickers one penny more for every pound of tomatoes picked. The deal will also improve working conditions for the workers and allows the coalition to provide training for workers in the field. The campaign started with the Coalition putting pressure on Yum Brands, which owns brands such as Taco Bell and KFC. Once Yum signed onto a pledge to pay workers more per pound the workers targeted other fast food companies such as McDonald’s. The agreement with the exchange is historic because even with the buyers agreeing to the higher wage the growers were reluctant to give in.