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Coalition of Immokalee Workers

TODAY'S NEWS Author Miriam Pawel: “The strongest model for farmworkers today is in Florida, where the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has achieved major gains – not through state law but through years of patient, creative organizing that produced a framework to improve wages and working conditi...

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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
April 5, 2024 at 2:32 PM

MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving gives $2 million to fuel expansion of Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program

"We thank her very much for having received [the grant], which gives us the opportunity to expand."Lupe Gonzalo, farmworker and CIW staff member: “Continuing to expand is quite urgent. It’s quite important because only this path of the Fair Food Program has made a difference for thousands of workers…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
April 2, 2024 at 3:17 PM

New US Dept of Labor Report: Worker-driven Social Responsibility gives critical voice to workers, deepens democracy

"With the FFP, the CIW combines its participatory practice with a supply chain strategy. " US Dept of Labor Report: “The FFP has raised compensation, reduced health and safety risks, and eliminated forced labor, child labor, and gender-based violence for approximately 30,000 workers at 20 employers …
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
March 29, 2024 at 2:55 PM

Breaking: CIW to join with Spanish farmworkers in exploration of Worker-driven Social Responsibility in Spanish Produce Industry

“When worker organizations lead the creation, design and implementation of solutions, the results are truly transformative." Lucas Benitez, CIW co-founder: “As workers ourselves – the men and women who built this new model and experienced this remarkable change – we are excited to continue the dialo…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
March 27, 2024 at 6:51 PM

“Food, Inc. 2,” the major new documentary featuring the CIW and the Fair Food Program, is coming to a city near you!

The story of the CIW’s struggle is brilliantly told by the CIW’s own Gerardo Reyes Chavez... The much-anticipated sequel to the Oscar-nominated 2008 documentary “Food, Inc.” will hold a nationwide "sneak preview" at 100 theaters across the US on April 9th, ahead of its national theatrical and digita…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
March 22, 2024 at 2:38 PM

Civil Eats: the Fair Food Program offers the strongest, legally-binding protocols to protect workers when politicians fall short

“We see this as the blueprint for workers in other realities..." Gerardo Reyes Chávez, CIW, in Civil Eats: “[Farmworkers in the FFP] don’t feel pressure to keep working under conditions that are placing their lives and their health at risk. And that’s fundamentally different from what happens outsi…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
March 19, 2024 at 2:38 PM

Media round-up of the Farmworker Freedom Festival’s Day 3 Pilgrimage of Hope

“It was an emotional thing to see and to participate in, as each worker put their bandana on this offering.” Lupe Gonzalo, CIW: “We wanted as workers to leave the place where we live and the place where we work, and come here to the place Nelson Peltz lives, to show him our faces as humans, and in…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
March 13, 2024 at 5:29 PM

Day 3 of the Farmworker Freedom Festival in Palm Beach: Hope comes home...

"With these bandanas, we are creating a circle of hope.” Check out the must-see video from Day 3! CIW’s Nely Rodriguez (VIDEO): “The bandana doesn’t only represent protection, but for many women it also represents sexual harassment, abuse, and violence, and those same bandanas hold for many of us ou…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
March 11, 2024 at 7:17 PM

Day 2 of Farmworker Freedom Festival: Consciousness + CULTURE = Change!

"Humanity is first. And as long as we can believe and understand that part, we’ll be together for the long haul." Longtime member of CIW family and artist/activist extraordinaire, Olmeca, after receiving first-ever CIW Artist of Conscience Award: “CIW doesn’t just see the long-road, CIW is the lon…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
March 9, 2024 at 12:55 PM

Farmworker Freedom Festival lands in the heart of Palm Beach with message of “Esperanza” for Fair Food future!

“As farmworkers, it is important to celebrate how far we have come thanks to the Fair Food Program," Day One of Farmworker Freedom Festival a big hit in the streets of historic Palm Beach.  Miami Herald: “Her name is Esperanza, or hope, because we hope for a better world,” said Lupe Gonzalo, a lead…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
March 6, 2024 at 4:04 PM

4 Ways to support the upcoming Farmworker Freedom Festival!

Immokalee is buzzing with preparations for this festival, but we can’t do it alone. 1) COME TO THE FESTIVAL! If you’re in Florida, register today to join farmworkers and their allies for three days of celebrating farmworkers’ human rights and the Fair Food Program 2) DONATE: If you’re unable to par…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
February 28, 2024 at 3:21 PM

Release: First-ever Farmworker Freedom Festival to celebrate human rights gains of the Fair Food Program, call on corporate holdout Wendy’s to join

"As farmworkers, it is important to celebrate how far we have come thanks to the Fair Food Program..." A 3-day celebration of farmworker culture and fundamental human rights featuring the CIW’s mobile Modern-day Slavery Museum, a benefit concert, and original theater and art, including a two-story …
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
February 19, 2024 at 3:48 PM

Washington Post heralds Fair Food Program’s groundbreaking heat illness prevention standards!

"These are the strongest set of workplace heat protections in the United States." Washington Post, “These farmworkers created America’s strongest workplace heat rules,” 2/17/24:  * “Leonel Pérez remembers when conditions on tomato farms were very different. He started picking tomatoes when he was 20…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
February 14, 2024 at 4:01 PM

Support the Farmworker Freedom Festival today!

We need your help to make the Farmworker Freedom Festival a success! “There is a huge difference now since we have started this season, the conditions here are really improving. For example, the supervisors used to get angry, and now they behave respectfully towards us [the workers]. Now we can mak…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
February 8, 2024 at 4:08 PM

Compass Group and Foodbuy visit Immokalee as the Fair Food Program’s rapid expansion continues

"Compass Group actively supports Fair Food Program in their goal to expand certification to more growers across the industry. "“As a long-standing participating buyer in the Fair Food Program since 2009, Compass Group actively supports Fair Food Program in their goal to expand certification to more …
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
February 1, 2024 at 6:18 PM

Watch CIW Co-Founder Lucas Benitez speak on human rights revolution that began in Immokalee

“We needed to create a new form of power.“ CIW’s Lucas Benitez: “I arrived ready to go into the field and to perform that labor, but what I was not prepared for was facing constant violations of my human rights in the process.”  “We, as workers, were able to create real consequences where before th…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
January 30, 2024 at 7:26 PM

Read how farmworkers launched the historic Fair Food Program in new Food, Inc. 2 Book!

Newly released book — including chapters from Eric Schlosser, Michael Pollan, and Senator Cory Booker — to accompany spring release of sequel to Oscar-nominated, Emmy Award-winning documentary Food, Inc. Newly released book — including chapters from Eric Schlosser, Michael Pollan, and Senator Cory B…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
January 23, 2024 at 1:00 PM

Grocery giant and Fair Food holdout Kroger linked to yet another modern slavery ring

“As long as there aren’t protections for workers, and workers are afraid to speak up, there are most likely going to be cases of forced labor.” Investigation from The Lever: “Multibillion-dollar retail giant Kroger Company defended its proposed takeover of rival Albertsons Companies, Inc. by highli…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
January 17, 2024 at 4:11 PM

Save the Date! Farmworker Freedom Festival – March 8-10 in Palm Beach, FL

The first-ever Farmworker Freedom Festival will take place in the mansion-lined streets of Palm Beach What:  A 3-day celebration of farmworkers’ human rights featuring the CIW’s mobile Modern-day Slavery Museum, a benefit concert, and original farmworker theater and art, including a two-story tall,…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
January 11, 2024 at 3:45 PM

With funding secured and key partners onboard, WSR pilot to protect and empower UK fishers readies for launch!

"It is important that the welfare and well-being of all crew operating on UK fishing vessels is protected to the highest standards possible..." Financial Times: “The scheme gives workers a key role in establishing, monitoring and enforcing their own employment rights.” “Unlike many voluntary corpora…
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  Lucas Benitez, Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
December 31, 2023 at 2:00 PM

CIW turns 31 years old tomorrow: Last chance to make a donation in 2023!

Dear John,  As the calendar flips from 2023 to 2024, the CIW turns 31 years old.   Thirty years ago, in 1993, farmworkers from Mexico, Guatemala, and Haiti began to hold weekly community meetings at the local Catholic church in Immokalee in an effort to address the abuses that had plagued Southwest…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
December 19, 2023 at 5:28 PM

CIW’s Lupe Gonzalo named as one of top “25 leaders, innovators and agents of change across the fresh produce supply chain.”

The Packer: “Drawing on her experience with the Fair Food Program, Gonzalo has helped to train, mentor and educate workers from other regions and industries on the Worker-Driven Social Responsibility model.” The Packer: “Drawing on her experience with the Fair Food Program, Gonzalo has helped to tra…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
December 18, 2023 at 8:40 PM

$30,000 in matching donations for the Fair Food Program unlocked!

Dear John,   Thirty years ago farmworkers toiling in the tomato fields of Immokalee, FL, rose up and began the fight for dignity on the job and freedom from forced labor. What started as localized strikes against individual farms and abusive crew leaders expanded to nationwide pressure campaigns ag…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
December 16, 2023 at 3:08 PM

30 donors needed to help us unlock $30,000 in matching donations for the Fair Food Program!

"On the farms, there have been many changes. We have bathrooms, that’s one of the things we really needed. There is more respect on the farm, there are no more abuses. Before, the crewleaders and the fieldwalkers, they would say disgusting things to us and we just had to remain silent. But thanks t…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
December 15, 2023 at 5:08 PM

30 Years of CIW: From tomatoes in Florida to over a dozen crops in 10 states and 3 countries!

"The fields have changed – now, we have better wages and better treatment for everyone. Before, there was nothing like that. Before, I would be working under the sun, working hard, and I would want to stop for water. The boss would stop me, and I would say, I need water. He would say, there’s the …
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
December 14, 2023 at 10:33 PM

30 Years of CIW Ending Sexual Violence in the Fields

“It wasn’t easy. He would get in the truck and touch us, and we would say 'no.' And then one day he called me and told me to come to him because he had something to show me. He was the boss, the one who gave us the work, so I went and he was showing [me] some accounts and I didn’t understand why he…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
December 12, 2023 at 1:00 PM

30 Years of CIW Uncovering, Investigating, and Preventing Forced Labor

In 1997, Miguel Flores and Sebastian Gomez were sentenced to 15 years each in federal prison following convictions for slavery, extortion, firearms charges, and more. Flores and Gomez had a workforce of over 400 men and women in Florida and South Carolina, harvesting vegetables and citrus. The wor…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
December 11, 2023 at 2:01 PM

30 Years of CIW Forging the Power of Prevention

Lucas Benitez was born to a big family in the rural highlands of Guerrero, Mexico. Raised in a cramped house with dirt floors, he migrated with his older brother at the age of 17 to Immokalee, Florida, where he worked in the tomato fields. Lucas expected to find hard work at the end of his journey,…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
November 17, 2023 at 4:28 PM

Action Alert Nov 18-22: Demand Kroger join the Fair Food Program!

Here are five ways you can contact Kroger! Calling all members of the Fair Food Nation! Take action to demand justice for farmworkers by contacting Kroger and demanding the grocery giant join the Fair Food Program!  Earlier this year, Kroger – who has long resisted the call from farmworkers and cons…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
November 15, 2023 at 7:17 PM

Save the Date Nov 18-22: Thanksgiving Week of Action Against Kroger

Stand with farmworkers demanding Kroger join the Fair Food Program! Fair Food Nation! Stand with farmworkers this Thanksgiving season for a week of action to demand Kroger join the Fair Food Program!  For many of us, Thanksgiving is a time of year when we pause to give thanks, spend time with frien…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
November 13, 2023 at 3:46 PM

New report unearths extensive rights abuses on farms certified by Equitable Food Initiative and Fair Trade USA, calls for worker-driven solution

"Brands must replace voluntary certifications with binding agreements with independent worker organizations..." Among the key findings in the report: “Workers describe indicators of forced labor on certified farms without detection. This report gathers testimony on a farm that carries dual FTUSA an…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
November 1, 2023 at 7:15 PM

How the Fair Food Program’s heat protections are saving lives and leading the way toward a worker-driven solution

“We look to [the Fair Food Program] for best practices..." Leo Perez, CIW: “We see the Fair Food Program as… both a method of education… to share information with workers about these risks, and at the same time as a tool for workers to protect themselves against the worst effects of climate change…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
October 27, 2023 at 2:39 PM

Lupe Gonzalo’s journey from the fields to the forefront of human rights

“We are human beings, we are women, and nobody is going to keep stepping on our dignity!” Lupe Gonzalo in Rebel Girls: “Food doesn’t come to the grocery store by magic. It comes from people. It comes from farmworkers.” ALSO: Congratulations to longtime CIW and FFP ally Susan Carter, much-deserved r…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
October 19, 2023 at 3:47 PM

A tribute to the life and legacy of Antonia Rios Hernandez (1974-2023)

“Antonia was a powerful woman. She was a strong woman. She always believed in the dignity and the justice for workers." Antonia Rios in The New York Times: “The most beautiful thing is knowing all of the other workers, chatting with them, learning about their lives and their experiences. Many have…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
October 13, 2023 at 2:46 PM

Official recognition of WSR model’s unique power to protect human rights continues to grow with USDA announcement!

"The program will provide incentives designed to simultaneously benefit workers and employers," U.S. Department of Agriculture recognizes Worker-Driven Social Responsibility (WSR) as highest form of human rights protection in agriculture;  WSR, Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) officially desi…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
October 6, 2023 at 3:07 PM

CIW Co-Founder Lucas Benitez to receive Wallenberg Medal for achievements in human rights on October 10, joining the company of previous medal recipients Rep. John Lewis, Elie Wiesel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama among others

"The decades of labor of countless women and men in Immokalee in the fields that have brought us to where we are today." FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  CIW Co-Founder Lucas Benitez to receive Wallenberg Medal for Achievements in Human Rights on October 10, joining the company of previous medal recipients Re…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
September 27, 2023 at 2:36 PM

Action Alert: Demand Kroger join the Fair Food Program today!

Today is the day to demand justice for farmworkers! Calling all members of the Fair Food Nation! Today is the day to demand justice for farmworkers by contacting Kroger and demanding the grocery giant join the Fair Food Program!  A year ago today, the notorious crewleader of Los Villatoros’ harvesti…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
September 25, 2023 at 4:28 PM

Five ways to pressure Kroger to join the Fair Food Program

We are just two days away from the call-in day of September 27! We are just two days away from the call-in day of September 27, when the Fair Food Nation will call on Kroger to demand they join the Presidential Medal-winning Fair Food Program in light of well-documented cases of modern-day slavery …
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
September 21, 2023 at 2:41 PM

“Food, Inc. 2”, sequel to the 2008 Oscar-nominated documentary, showcases Fair Food Program as model solution for a more just food industry!

“Food Inc, 2” is an excellent entrypoint into the tireless efforts of farmworkers. Watch the trailer for the upcoming “Food, Inc. 2,” featuring the CIW and the  Fair Food Program as a model solution to our nation’s broken food system!   The much-anticipated sequel to the Oscar-nominated 2008 documen…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
September 13, 2023 at 2:33 PM

SAVE THE DATE SEPT 27: Call Kroger and demand the grocery giant join the Fair Food Program!

Together, we can ensure that Kroger hears our calls for justice in the fields. Stand with farmworkers on September 27 for a virtual action to demand Kroger join the Fair Food Program!  Action alert! Calling on all members of the Fair Food Nation!    On September 27, 2022, the notorious crewleader o…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
September 7, 2023 at 2:18 PM

The Fair Food Program adds corn to growing crop list, continues expansion in Colorado!

“There’s always opportunities to do the right thing." Montrose Daily Press: "The [Fair Food Program] provides workers with a means of making complaints, which has led to people speaking out against abuses..."  CIW's Leo Perez: "The basis of this program is that workers have the information and the t…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
August 31, 2023 at 4:24 PM

Media Roundup: How the Fair Food Program’s heat protections are transforming agriculture

"The way I see it, human rights shouldn’t depend on luck.” The Invading Sea: “A solution is hiding in plain sight on farms in the supply chains of major corporations participating in the Fair Food Program.”   This summer has brought deadly heat across much of the world, including regions in the sout…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
August 23, 2023 at 3:00 PM

RELEASE: Fair Food Program’s heat illness standards are saving farmworkers’ lives amidst record-shattering summer temperatures

"The program is credited with eliminating unsafe working conditions, wage theft, beatings, rape and forced labor..." FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Fair Food Program’s heat illness standards are saving farmworkers’ lives amidst record-shattering summer temperatures  Professor Susan Marquis, Princeton Univer…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
August 18, 2023 at 6:19 PM

Miami Herald Op-ed on Fair Food Program heat stress standards: “Outdoor workers are dying in extreme heat. We have the solution to save their lives.”

"We can prevent a father or mother, a daughter or son, from losing their lives.” Dr. Susan Marquis, Miami Herald: “Farmworkers in the Fair Food Program have developed heat-illness standards and protocols that already are in place on farms from Florida to New Jersey, reaching west through Tennessee …
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
August 2, 2023 at 2:14 PM

Financial Times (UK): “Fair Fish” pilot program readies for launch in Northeast Scotland, and UK’s top buyers join talks to back the WSR initiative

"If successful, the scheme could be replicated across the UK." Financial Times: "The 'worker-driven social responsibility' pilot would ensure minimum standards around wages, rest and grievance procedures."  Mike Park, head of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association, to the Financial Times: "Pa…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
July 28, 2023 at 5:59 PM

We are hiring fall interns – and more!

We need passionate, driven individuals more than ever.Join the movement for Fair Food as an intern with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers! Today, we invite the Fair Food Nation to help us spread the word that we are looking for interns for this coming Fall!  As we look toward the future and the gro…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
July 26, 2023 at 2:27 PM

Coalition of Immokalee Workers awarded the prestigious Frances Perkins Public Service Award from the American Bar Association

"The WSR model has become the 'gold standard' of social responsibility programs..." “The American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law has awarded the 2022 Frances Perkins Public Service Award to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) for its vital decades-long fight for the digniti…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
July 19, 2023 at 1:36 PM

CIW co-founder Lucas Benitez to be awarded prestigious Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan!

“Notable medal recipients over the past 30 years include Archbishop Desmond Tutu… John Lewis [and] Elie Wiesel.” Release: “UM awards the Wallenberg Medal to those who, through their actions and personal commitment, perpetuate Wallenberg’s extraordinary accomplishments and human values, and demonstra…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
July 12, 2023 at 1:22 PM

Kroger called out in its hometown newspaper for repeated discoveries of forced labor in its supply chain

Kroger’s silence when confronted with proof that it has bought and sold forced labor-harvested produce is chilling. Gerardo Reyes Chavez, CIW in the Cincinnati Enquirer: “This latest horrific case of modern-day slavery in Kroger’s supply chain is a wake-up call… Tainted with forced labor in its sup…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
July 10, 2023 at 1:56 PM

Fair Food Program expansion makes headlines in Colorado!

“This is a program with a lot of integrity.” Gwen Cameron, owner,Rancho Durazno: “It’s a good way to communicate our values to our customers. I think the general public has become more aware of and interested in the treatment of ag workers and the Fair Food Program made me realize we need to do a be…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
July 5, 2023 at 12:26 PM

Massive protest against SB1718 in Ft Myers gets national media attention

"You want to stay, but you also want to go."USA TODAY: "She wiped away tears, shaking her head as her daughter sat next to her. 'You want to stay, but you also want to go.'" WGCU: "One of the strictest laws in the nations aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration takes effect in Florida July 1, …
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