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Coalition of Immokalee Workers

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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
December 17, 2025 at 3:25 PM

New ProPublica Feature Article: How the Fair Food Program benefits workers and growers alike

"We knew there were problems. We wanted them fixed.” Lucas Benitez with John Esformes, CEO of Pacific Tomato Growers DBA Sunripe Certified Brands as the CIW and Pacific agree to join forces to launch Fair Food Program in 2010 ProPublica on the Fair Food Program: “…The Fair Food Program’s protections…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
December 9, 2025 at 4:17 PM

As Immokalee’s only major grocery store closes its doors, prices are expected to rise. You can help the CIW respond today!

The newly expanded CIW food cooperative is seeing a jump in sales as the Immokalee community adjusts to life without a large chain grocery store serving the town's 25,000 residents. In late October, the Winn-Dixie in Immokalee closed its doors. Its replacement may take six months  — or longer — to…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
December 2, 2025 at 4:47 PM

Kick off the holiday season of giving with a gift for farmworkers’ rights!

Today, on Giving Tuesday, we launch our end-of-year campaign... Today, on Giving Tuesday, we launch our end-of-year campaign — a moment to honor all who have stood with Immokalee’s farmworker community over the years, and to reflect on the challenges ahead as we redouble our efforts to expand the g…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
November 26, 2025 at 7:10 PM

2025: A Tale of Two Thanksgivings

This Thanksgiving, give thanks for human rights in the fields by becoming a Fair Food Sustainer! This Thanksgiving, you can help sustain the groundbreaking advances we’ve achieved through the Fair Food Program, and give thanks for the women and men who put food on your Thanksgiving table, by becom…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
November 20, 2025 at 4:36 PM

Lucas Benitez, CIW Co-Founder, Turns 50, as CIW Turns 30!

"Truly, without you, I would not be writing these lines..." Lucas Benitez, third from left (in black shirt), speaks with then US Representative Porter Goss following a public debate in Immokalee between members of the farmworker community and Rep. Goss on the need to raise the federal minimum wage …
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
November 12, 2025 at 5:08 PM

Fair Food Program adaptation in India gains steam as sugarcane workers nationwide gather to discuss WSR

"By coming together, sugar workers break the silence around long-standing abuses and begin to build the trust..." Sugarcane workers hold a community meeting as part of an orientation program before the harvest season begins in Uttar Pradesh, organized by the India Sugar Workers’ Association (ISWA),…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
November 10, 2025 at 3:20 PM

Yale students, in urgent op-ed, call on university to join the Fair Food Program

“It is unacceptable that Yale backs away from fair and humane conditions in its supply chain when a program exists which can guarantee them.” As part of the FFP’s on-the-farm,  on-the-clock, worker-to-worker education, the CIW’s Nely Rodriguez (right) and two volunteers display a Fair Food Program e…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
October 20, 2025 at 4:20 PM

We’d love to hear from you!

Dear John,   As a valued supporter of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Fair Food Program, you play an essential role in advancing our mission. As we head into a new season, we’re taking time to reflect. We’d love your perspective as part of that reflection! Your support has gotten us this…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
October 8, 2025 at 2:24 PM

A look inside the Fair Food Program in South Africa

“Every country is different, but human rights must be implemented equally..." Human rights investigators and educators with the Fair Food Program in South Africa pose for a group photo with the South Africa edition of the FFP’s Know Your Rights and Responsibilities booklet, given to workers during …
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
September 30, 2025 at 3:18 PM

An update on Marco Guevara and his family…

Thanks to the generosity of nearly 500 donors, we have already raised over $26,000. Marco Antonio Hernandez Guevara, along with his wife Reyna and their three daughters, celebrating his youngest daughter’s third birthday We want to quickly take a moment to thank everyone who has so generously suppor…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
September 23, 2025 at 2:27 PM

Bombshell ProPublica investigation reveals horrifying new details on ‘Operation Blooming Onion’ — largest ever modern-slavery case, uncovered by CIW — highlights Fair Food Program as only proven solution

“The USDA called [Blooming Onion] the biggest sting operation of labor trafficking in U.S. history.” A photo submitted to the court by federal prosecutors as evidence in the ongoing “Blooming Onion” prosecution shows a shrine to Santa Muerte found in the home of Javier Sanchez Mendoza Jr., a farm l…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
August 27, 2025 at 2:36 PM

Marco Guevara, farmworker and beloved husband, father of three, has passed away after hospitalization with heatstroke

“Marco Antonio Hernández Guevara should not have died..." La Jornada: “Marco Antonio Hernández Guevara should not have died. The farmworker, like so many others, came to the United States to work in the fields of Florida and support his wife and three daughters in Mexico. He will now return to his c…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
August 20, 2025 at 8:12 PM

Immokalee farmworker hospitalized, on life support after suffering heat stroke during sweltering summer

You can help: GoFundMe effort launched by Immokalee area pastor... Marco Guevara, proud father of 3 and husband, succumbs to heat on Immokalee area farm, lies fighting for his life in Naples hospital  Mr. Guevara’s employer, JAM Farmers, is not part of Fair Food Program and its life-saving heat prot…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
August 12, 2025 at 2:10 PM

2024 FFP “State of the Program” Report — Part 3: Understanding the FFP's unique market-based enforcement model

“More important than the money, which I need, was the feeling of dignity when my labor – the buckets I harvested – was recognized.” Farmworker on an FFP participating farm: “More important than the money, which I need, was the feeling of dignity when my labor – the buckets I harvested – was recogniz…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
July 31, 2025 at 2:49 PM

2024 FFP “State of the Program” Report — Part 2: Measuring the Fair Food difference in the fields

In part 2 of our series on the release of the 2024 Fair Food Program State of the Program report, we’re going to focus on what truly sets the FFP apart in agriculture: Results. Concrete results. Workers take a rest break under shade on a Fair Food Program participating farm Fair Food Program reach…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
July 23, 2025 at 5:29 PM

RELEASED: 2024 FFP “State of the Program” Report — Part 1: How a human rights program, born in Immokalee, went global

“There is a huge difference now since we have started [participating in the FFP] this season, the conditions here are really improving..." State of the Program report: “Now, fourteen years since its inception, the FFP has entered into a phase of truly dramatic expansion: During 2024 and 2025, the Pr…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
July 10, 2025 at 2:02 PM

Civil Eats’ feature article on Fair Food Program’s heat protections wins coveted James Beard Award!

“I encourage everyone here who procures food to check out the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program..." Grey Moran, in acceptance speech for James Beard Award: “I encourage everyone here who procures food to check out the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program. As a journalist…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
July 3, 2025 at 1:57 PM

WSR in India: High court sides with sugar industry workers calling for sweeping changes, real human rights protections

"[L]abor leaders are also pressuring multinational companies to join a labor-standards program modeled after the Fair Food Program..." India Sugar Industry Workers Association: “This is a historic moment, a historic opportunity where the court has pushed to make substantial changes…”  The New York T…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
June 26, 2025 at 2:12 PM

Worker-driven solutions are catching on around the world. Here’s how you can help spread the word!

Representatives from women’s organizations and unions based in Lesotho in Southern Africa gather for a photo with representatives of the CIW, the Fair Food Standards Council, Workers Rights Consortium, and the Solidarity Center in Immokalee following a two-day exchange to study the Worker-driven So…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
June 17, 2025 at 2:07 PM

A tale of two worlds: The world inside the FFP’s award-winning human rights protections, and the world outside

Farmworkers marching from the farming community of Pahokee, Florida, to the billionaire enclave of Palm Beach carry a papier-mâché model of the parallel worlds of agriculture: the bright, hopeful world illuminated by the Fair Food Program and the dark, violent world beyond its protections.John, it'…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
June 10, 2025 at 2:17 PM

How the Fair Food Program guarantees unparalleled protections for farmworkers

John, during week two of the Fair Food Program Sustainer Drive, we take a look under the hood of the FFP to see how all the moving parts—including the CIW’s consumer allies and Sustainers like you—work together to set the “new gold standard” for enforcing fundamental human rights in global supply ch…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
June 4, 2025 at 2:11 PM

Why You Should Become a Fair Food Sustainer

Fair Food Nation! We’re kicking off our June Sustainer Drive! Join us, John! Fair Food Nation! We’re kicking off our June Sustainer Drive! All month long, we’ll be spotlighting what makes the Fair Food Program (FFP) so uniquely effective, taking a look back at our achievements, and acknowledging the…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
May 30, 2025 at 5:56 PM

CIW spoke at Yale Architecture last month and we have the highlights (video)

Yale University’s School of Architecture holds powerful conference on forced labor in the “built environment..."Yale University’s School of Architecture holds powerful conference on forced labor in the “built environment” and invited the Fair Food Program to share its insights from the Worker-driven…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
May 20, 2025 at 1:50 PM

VIRTUAL ACTION ALERT: 5 ways to demand Wendy's join the Fair Food Program!

Fair Food Nation, today is the day to demand Wendy's finally do the right thing... Fair Food Nation, today is the day to demand Wendy’s finally do the right thing to protect farmworkers and join the Presidential Medal-winning Fair Food Program!   In tomorrow’s annual general meeting, Wendy’s shareh…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
May 15, 2025 at 2:48 PM

SAVE THE DATE: MAY 20! Demand Wendy’s join the Fair Food Program

Mark your calendars to contact Wendy’s next Tuesday, May 20th! Calling all members of the Fair Food Nation: Mark your calendars to contact Wendy’s next Tuesday, May 20th! Demand justice for farmworkers by calling, emailing, or delivering a printed letter to Wendy’s urging the fast-food giant join t…
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  Coalition of Immokalee Workers · [email protected]
May 7, 2025 at 3:19 PM

Longtime CIW ally, friend Kerry Kennedy awarded the prestigious Oscar Romero Human Rights Award

“I march with Coalition of Immokalee Workers to demand dignity and respect for farmworkers." Kerry Kennedy, President of RFK Human Rights: “This recognition is a personal honor and a reminder that the pursuit of human rights demands boldness, compassion and an unshakable commitment to justice.”  Ke…
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