NC protesters: "Quiznos has no biznos paying less for our tomatoes!"

A couple week ago the Coalition of Immokalee Workers website reported on a protest in North Carolina outside a Quiznos restaurant. We wanted to share the story of this fun and creative demonstration as well.

Students took to the streets in Winston Salem, North Carolina -- with the venerable Student Action with Farmworkers -- in a colorful and creative protest last week outside a local Quiznos. Here's a first-hand photo report, straight from our long-time allies at SAF:



Friday June 3, 2011, in Winston Salem, North Carolina, thirty students gathered together to demand that Quiznos pay one more penny per pound of tomatoes picked by Immokalee farmworkers. These students joined together from the East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest to participate in Student Action with Farmworkers’ Into the Fields (ITF) summer internship and the Sowing Seeds for Change fellowship. Although they just met on the previous Wednesday, this diverse group of farmworker students and conscious Southeastern allies came together to promote justice and change.



This vocal group lined up along a sidewalk directly outside the Quiznos shopping center and chanted shame slogans in both English and Spanish. Not only were these passionate individuals, but creative as well, coming up with slogans such as “Quiznos has no buiznos, paying less for our tomatoes.” In addition to the large group that was waving signs and marching on the sidewalk, several students dispersed fliers advertising the “Penny more per Pound” campaign and history. Many interesting conversations arose from sympathetic observers, including one man who remembered picking up tomatoes from Florida farms and being shocked by the conditions that the farmworkers faced on a daily basis.



A delegation of students delivered an official letter outlining their demands of Quiznos to the store manager. The store manager was receptive to the group and said that he was concerned and supportive of the Penny more per Pound cause. Consequently, the manager agreed to sign the letter and send it to Corporate.



The satellite group of students that had spoken with the manager, and others that were dispersing pamphlets, all reunited with the larger marching group for the final moments of the action.

Great work, everyone! Summertime is clearly time for action in North Carolina.

Vigilia de Solidaridad/Solidarity Vigil: herencias de esclavitud y resistencia/legacies of slavery and resistance

Monday, July 4th, 6:00pm
GEO Dentention Center
gather at the corner of 30th & Peoria

Join us outside the immigration detention center in Aurora in solidarity with all who are imprisoned, exploited or enslaved!

There will be a participatory performance exploring slavery as the common historic root of farmworker exploitation, mass incarceration of people of color and attacks on immigrants rights today.

We will also celebrate our legacies of resistance and ongoing strguggle for freedom.

SPARKLERS AND WATERMELON PROVIDED!

WE INVITE YOU TO BRING NOISE-MAKERS PANS, WHISTLES,DRUMS, SHAKERS & YOUR VOICE!

OPEN MIC: DETAINEES' FRIENDS & FAMILY & PEOPLE FORMERLY DETAINED

Hosted by Denver Fair Food

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Acompáñanos, afuera del centro de detención en Aurora, en solidaridad con tod@s los que son encarcelados, explotados y en esclavitud.

Tendremos una obra participativa explorando esclavitud como un raíz histórico común de la explotación de trabajadores de campo, encarcelación masiva de personas de color y ataques a los derechos de inmigrantes hoy.

Celebraremos nuestras herencias de resistencia y lucha seguida para liberación.

Tendremos sandia y bengalas para tod@s.

Trae tus tambores/pitos/cosas de hacer ruido!

Microfono abierto para familia y amig@s de detenidos y gente que fueron detenida antes.

Patrocinado por Denver Fair Food

Actions around the country!

The Denver Fair Food blog hasn't been especially active lately, but that doesn't mean nothing has been happening in the Campaign fo Fair Food. To the contrary, in the last several months there have been actions around the country targeting Publix, Stop & Shop, Trader Joe's and more. See the Coalition of Immokalee Workers website - http://www.ciw-online.org/ - for all the latest news.

We'd especially like to highlight our friends in Kansas and Texas.

If you look closely at the picture here, you'll see in the lower left quadrant a copy of the CIW's Quiznos Manager Letter... hung up, behind the counter of a Quiznos in McAllen, TX... by the manager... for his customers and crew to read and learn about conditions in the fields where Quiznos buys its tomatoes!

During Farmworker Awareness Week last a couple months ago, members of the Student/Farmworker Alliance, Just Harvest USA and the RGV Fair Food Committee came together for a double weekend of actions that included rallies outside of Quiznos locations throughout McAllen, TX and a 7-mile bike ride, reporting:

"Managers were very supportive overall. One even pinned up our manager letter, signed by dozens of community members, inside their restaurant's wall for all their customers to see!"

This follows our report two weeks early that a franchise owner in Quiznos' corporate hometown, "surprised everyone by saying that not only did he fully support the idea of farmworkers receiving fair wages and working conditions but he actually spoke with Quiznos Headquarters and encouraged them to sign an agreement with the CIW."

Sounds like spreading protests by Fair Food communities across the country isn't Quiznos' only problem - they might just have a growing internal revolt on their hands, too...

More recently, in the middle of this great country, representatives from "the Fair Food Kingdom in the City of Lawrence from the Land of Kansas" (aka, our good friends at Lawrence Fair Food) playfully reminded a local Dillon store (one of the many chains owned by grocery giant Kroger which also owns King Soopers) of its responsibility to do its part in improving wages and working conditions in Florida's tomato fields.

Check out the great video:


There will no doubt be more action in the Campaign for Fair Food coming including right here in Denver...

Message to Quiznos from a Florida tomato

During the Spring Blitz for Farmworker Justice, we were joined by a number of Florida tomatoes, one of which gave an inspiring speech inside the first-ever Quiznos restaurant. Sadly we had technical difficulties with the video of the speech, but without further ado we'd like to share the transcript . . .

Quiznos: I am a tomato from Immokalee, Florida and I have a message for you. I have traveled a great distance to deliver this message. Many of my dear friends spoiled next to me along the way so I do not have the same patience that these kind people of Denver have been showing you.

Your complicity in the exploitation and abuse of the humble soul who so gently plucked me from the vine that nurtured me is nothing short of shameful.

We tomatoes are enraged that our succulence is an object of profit for you at the expense of our companeras' and companeros' human rights. We know the true cost you pay for us when you leverage your large purchasing power, and we can see through your carefully calculated public relations.

One penny more and a place at the table, that is all they are asking of you. Just one penny. Think of all the pennies that my family has made for you.

A place at the table is all they want. We have been complimentary served at many of your corporate meetings, so we know its a fact there are plenty of open seats for farmworkers at those tables.

Make no mistake about it. Tomatoes everywhere proudly and decisively stand with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the principles of Fair Food.

In fact, we tomatoes have a beautiful legacy of fighting for what is right. We were harvested in Palmares and have crippled tyrants with food poisoning. Freedom fighters held captive in cold prison cells have been given strength due to our vital source of Vitamin C. It was us who provided the antioxidant Lycopene to heroic organizers like Dolores Huerta, Ella Baker, Emma Tenayuca, and, not so far away from here, Flaming Milka Sablich.

I will be on my way shortly because we have been busy the last few months, keeping rebellious bellies full from Eygpt to Wisconsin.

But before for I part, I want to leave you with some words being spoken out of Immokalee: “It is not a question of whether we will win, but when.” And we promise you that on the day victory arrives you will be able to taste its sweetness in every single tomato slice put on a Quizno sub.

Chipocrisy at graduation

Last Friday, Chipotle Mexican Grill founder and CEO Steve Ells gave the commencement speech at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He repeated his well-worn mantra of "food with integrity" but, unfortunately for him, not everyone was swallowing it.

Many students (and community members) were outraged at Ells' selection as the keynote speaker for graduation. While Ells claims to be "revolutionizing the way America grows, gathers, serves and eats its food," he still refuses to work with farmworkers - that is the very people who grow and gather our food! - to further the progress they are making in revolutionizing labor relations within the agricultural industry. This inconsistency between Chipotle's words and actions when it comes to the rights of farmworkers has been going on for so long that we have a name for it: Chipocrisy.

Outside the stadium where graduation occured, we shared the truth about Steve Ells' Chipocrisy, distributing hundreds of fliers.

During his speech, we shared our own message with Ells: STOP BEING A CHIPOCRITE! SIGN ON WITH THE C.I.W. ...

ISN'T THAT FOOD WITH INTEGRITY? Mr. Ells did not respond.

Police forced us to take down our banners claiming we were violating a CU regulation which they were unable or unwilling to cite.

Afterwards, several reporters including from KGNU and the Daily Camera interviewed us.

After the ceremony, we continued to get the word out . . .

. . . were joined by a few long-time allies/new graduates like our friend Jessica from MEChA de Boulder . . .

. . . and spoke with hundreds of curious consumers. While Steve Ells may be a judge on NBC reality shows and the commencement speaker at his alma mater, we can stand firm knowing the truth is on our side.

Students to protest Steve Ells at CU graduation

The choice of Chipotle founder and CEO Steve Ells as this year's keynote speaker for the University of Colorado commencement ceremony has made many students (not to mention community members!) outraged. They're outraged by Chipotle's Chiprocisy - claiming to serve "food with integrity" while refusing to join in agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to establish substantive, enforceable human rights standards for the farmworkers who pick tomatoes bought by the company.

Join students and other allies at CU's graduation to educate the public and let Ells know that "food with integrity" must include respect for the women and men who harvest Chipotle's tomatoes.

Friday, May 6, 8:00am
at Folsom Field in Boulder

Also, check out this article from the CU campus paper:
CU-Boulder students to protest Chipotle CEO Steve Ells at graduation

BACKGROUND:
Since 2006, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) has sought to establish a Fair Food agreement with Chipotle Mexican Grill to address farmworker exploitation in Florida's tomato fields.

Chipotle has consistently rejected this opportunity and has opted instead for a go-it-alone approach that eschews transparency, third-party oversight, and meaningful worker participation. Under this plan, Chipotle will review its own code of conduct, oversee its own payments under its penny-per-pound plan, and verify its own compliance with the changes it is proposing. That's just not credible.

Chipotle's entrenched opposition to the Campaign for Fair Food is particularly puzzling given the company's highly publicized commitment to "Food With Integrity" and self-proclaimed leadership role in "revolutionizing the way America grows, gathers, serves and eats its food." On its website, Chipotle maintains:

"We can talk about all of the procedures and protocols we follow and how important they are but it all really comes back to the people behind every ingredient we purchase, burrito we make, and customer we serve....

No matter how big or small the farms we work with, it's important that every worker is treated with dignity and respect. As a result, we have several policies in
place designed to ensure that the products we use at Chipotle are grown, made,
and shipped without exploiting people."

For Florida farmworkers, however, the hype doesn't match reality. Chipotle may have created a veneer of concern, but by refusing to partner with the CIW, the minimal steps the company has taken fall far short of the substantive, enforceable standards that the situation requires, consumers expect, and others within the industry have embraced.

"Food With Integrity" is either a holistic vision that respects the men and women who harvest Chipotle's tomatoes, or it's just another marketing ploy designed to cash in on a fad. It cannot be both.

Spring Blitz actions 2 & 3: photo report!

The Spring Blitiz for Farmworker Justice was a series of three actions calling on Quiznos to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to help ensure fair wages and human rights for the workers who harvest Quiznos' tomatoes. Without further ado, we'd like to share some photos the second and third actions:

Action 2: Return of the Tomatoes!

Our second action witnessed the return of an outraged group of Florida tomatoes who want to see justice for the workers who pick them.

Particularly exciting was the participation of a ton of youngsters like these to cherry tomatoes...
And this young person who hung out on the picket line with Mama Tomato...


Or this kiddo who contemplated what it would be like to have to fill and haul a tomato bucket which weighs more then him when full!


The rally ended with a one of the tomatoes giving a powerful speech inside the Quiznos restaurant, declaring to Quiznos: "Your complicity in the exploitation and abuse of the humble soul who so gently plucked me from the vine that nurtured me is nothing short of shameful." Full transcript and video are forthcoming!

Action 3: Cesar Chavez Day Protest

This protest, taking place on the birthday of the late farmworker organizer Cesar Chavez, was the debut of some beautiful new protest art. As musician, artist, actor, film maker and long time activist in the farmworker movement of the '60s and '70s Luis Valdez said, "one of the most importants weapons - instruments - in any cause, in any movement, in any strike is the picket sign."

Some of the new art riffed off of Quiznos' marketing slogan pointing to the distasteful reality that has made possible Quiznos' toasty subs.
While unfortunately the remembrance of Cesar Chavez has too often fallen into uncritical hero worship of a single individual, the amazing movement - in which Chavez was instrumental - was only possible do to the collective actions of thousands of farmworkers, students, people of faith, consumers and other allies.

The best tribute to the past struggles for farmworker justice, in our humble opinion, is to participate in the current struggles for farmworker justice. We'd like to think that our Spring Blitz for Farmworker Justice has added to that collective history.