The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) started small. 

It was just a handful of farm workers, at first, gathered in a church to talk about how they could make their lives better. The problem was their jobs. As tomato pickers, they labored long hours under the hot Florida sun; they had no shade or water; they were paid less than minimum wage; and they endured physical, sexual and emotional abuse. 

Things needed to change.

Most workers’ rights groups start out something like this, with a handful of people banding together to demand change. What makes CIW unique is the enormous amount of success it’s had. 

The organization is a prime example of how a group of disenfranchised workers can build power and create long-lasting and effective change. Its work has set a model for other groups looking to build a movement. 

Founded in 1993, CIW has organized immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti to fight for farm workers’ rights. 

While initially focused on Immokalee, Florida, CIW’s work has transcended boundaries and its presence is now felt in tomato farms in several other states, including Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey. 

It fights for fair wages, respect from employers and industries, better and more affordable housing, stronger laws and enforcement against those who violate workers’ rights, the right to organize without fear of retaliation and an end to involuntary servitude in the field. 

CIW’s work can be divided into three broad, interconnecting spheres: the Fair Food Program, the Campaign for Fair Food, and the Anti-Slavery Campaign. 

The Fair Food Program

As explained in the 2014 documentary “Food Chains,” farm workers are at the bottom of the food supply chain. At the top of the chain lie the supermarkets, fast food chains and foodservice. It’s these three groups that dictate everything else, from the price of fruits and vegetables to how workers are treated. 

In other words, supermarkets hold all the power, and farm workers hold none at all. 

“I think it would be easy to demonize farmers and hold them responsible for the poor wages of migrants,” said “Fast Food Nation” author Eric Schlosser in the documentary. “That might have been true in some cases 30 years ago, 40 years ago, but that’s not really the problem today. If you want to make change, I think you need to look at the people who have the real power to make the lives of farm workers better, and those are the people at the very top.”

The root of farm workers’ exploitation comes not from the farmers themselves but from the “increasing degree of consolation in the retail food industry,” explained CIW in its Alliance for Fair Food website.

“Multi-billion-dollar brands were leveraging their unparalleled purchasing power to demand ever-lower prices from growers, which in turn created a downward pressure that perpetuated farm workers’ poverty and abuse conditions,” CIW added. 

That’s where the Fair Food Program comes in.

The Fair Food Program (FFP) is a legally binding partnership between farmers, farm workers and retail food companies to ensure farm workers receive fair wages and just work conditions. The way it works is simple: Large companies agree to pay a penny more per pound of tomatoes and pledge to buy only from growers who are part of the program and adhere to its labor standards. 

This has given farm workers leveraging power to demand humane working conditions like shade and water, the right to organize or file complaints without fear of retaliation, the right to work without being sexually harassed, and the right to work without fear of being forced into slavery. 

According to the FFP, the one penny per pound initiative has added more than $30 million to Florida tomato farmers’ payroll since its inception in 2011. 

“In the Fair Food Program,” added the FFP, “workers are not just at the table, they are at the head of the table.”

So how did CIW convince big companies to sign onto the Fair Food Program? Through the Campaign for Fair Food. 

The Campaign for Fair Food

Since Immokalee workers had very little bargaining power, they sought allies with other groups, explained the Alliance for Fair Food. 

To do this, they helped form three organizations: the Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida, which brought in spiritual resources and the “moral weight of faith-based voices”; Just Harvest USA, which tapped into the growing consumer movement for just agriculture; and the Student/Farmworker Alliance, which sought the collective political education, energy and leadership development of college students and young people. 

It was the latter group in particular that helped the FFP take off. College campuses banned Taco Bell and McDonald’s until they agreed to join the program. The pressure worked, and both fast food giants signed on. 

In addition, farm workers and their allies also participate in hunger strikes, protests and marches to draw attention to their cause. In 2014, for example, the CIW launched a campaign against Publix, hoping to convince it to join the FFP. As one of the largest supermarket chains in the nation, Publix’s participation in the program would be a huge boon for CIW. 

“We workers don’t have money to pay millions of dollars to advertise in the same way that Publix advertises on TV or on the radio. But we do have our bodies that we can use to send our message,” said Luis Benitez, whose story was documented in “Food Chains.” 

Schlosser, in the documentary, explained, “The history of farm labor in the United States is a history of exploitation. Most people have no idea that they’re connected to this system every time they buy fresh fruits and vegetables.”

As such, the Campaign for Fair Food seeks to inform consumers and spread awareness of the injustices farm workers face in order to pressure companies to join the program. 

So far, it’s had success. Alongside Taco Bell and McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Burger King, Subway, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Yum Brands, which owns KFC and Pizza Hut in addition to Taco Bell, have all joined the Fair Food Program, as have many others. 

Not every campaign is successful, though. As of 2020, Publix still hasn’t joined the program. 

The Anti-Slavery Campaign

According to the nonprofit organization End Slavery Now, CIW has been instrumental in the “discovery, investigation and prosecution” of seven major slavery operations in the southwestern United States. More than 1,200 farm workers in the U.S. have been freed from captivity and forced labor. 

End Slavery Now writes that CIW’s work has “helped pioneer anti-trafficking work in the U.S., contributing to the formation of the Department of Justice Anti-Trafficking Unit and the passage of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000.”

Additionally, according to the St. Louis Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America (IFCLA), CIW also co-founded Freedom Network USA and the Freedom Training Institute, which local, state and federal law enforcement officials all regularly attend. CIW also advocates for solutions to end all forms of human trafficking and slavery around the world. 

“With the implementation of the Fair Food Program, CIW has achieved the ultimate goal of all anti-slavery efforts, that of prevention,” writes the IFCLA. The FFP educates, trains and empowers farm workers to monitor, identify and expose any slavery operations that may surface. 

Lessons from the tomato farms

CIW’s worker-driven social responsibility model has been adopted in numerous other places from Vermont’s dairy farms to clothing sweatshops in Bangladesh. 

CIW’s success illustrates how a small group of dedicated people can create enormous change. Perhaps one of the biggest lessons to be learned from CIW’s work is that change should be led and developed by the workers themselves. 

On its website, the FFP explains that one of the program’s greatest strengths is that it is “designed, monitored and enforced by farm workers.” They help educate each other and are on the lookout for injustice in the fields; they reach out and engage with community members who in turn pressure companies into action. But it’s the workers who understand better than everyone else what exactly they need. 

By working together with allies, community members, philanthropists and private companies, CIW has been able to create a more just, equitable and fair workplace for tomato pickers in Florida and other parts of the U.S. 

 “Nothing that is fair in society has come free,” said Benitez. “Someone always has to ask for it. And we are doing that. We are demanding a dignified life for ourselves.” 

A successful funding structure

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, CIW is funded primarily through grants and individual contributions. Between 2014 and 2019, CIW received more than $10.3 million in grants. Some of its top donors include the Wal-Mart Foundation, the JPB Foundation, Humanity United and the Foundation for a Just Society, among many others. 

In 2001, CIW’s total revenue was $185,671. By 2011, it was more than $2.8 million. Its revenue has remained between $1.5 million and $2.8 million since then. In 2018, its total revenue was $2.1 million.

The Alliance for Fair Food, which is an ally of CIW and houses the Campaign for Fair Food, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization sustained through grants and individual contributions. Between 2010 and 2018, the Alliance for Fair Food has received $1.2 million in foundation grants. Its revenue in 2018 was $326,856, up from 2017’s revenue of $197,795 and 2016’s revenue of $217,620.