Join us for a Food Justice Webinar Thursday March 15 at 1:00pm ET

Last week, I was fortunate to have been invited to fast for six days with farmworkers seeking a decent wage and livable working conditions. It is a scandal that the very workers who pick 80 percent of the tomatoes consumed in the United States often have difficulty feeding their own families.

Please join World Council of Churches North American president Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson and me, along with Fast for Fair Food organizers Rev. Noelle Damico of the Presbyterian Hunger Program and Gerardo Silva of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, for an opportunity to interact live and for free on a webinar.

“From Harvest to Home: Farmworkers, Food Justice, and Hunger.”

March 15th – Thursday afternoon – 1:00pm EST

We’ll share information about the fast and ways you can get involved in next steps during the first half hour, then open up the second half hour to answer your questions.

Click here to register for the webinar.

Please register early, as space is limited. Members of the press are welcome for this webinar. Please spread the word.

I look forward to seeing you online!

Grace and Peace,

Michael Livingston

Director, National Council of Churches Poverty Initiative

A brief encounter with a Publix store manager

Click here to ask Publix to talk with the farmworkers and sign the Fair Food Agreement.

“Welcome one another, as Christ has welcomed you.” (Romans 15:7)

Fasters outside the Publix grocery store at a Wednesday night vigil wait for the interfaith delegation to emerge and share whether they succeeded in speaking with the manager.

That short verse from Romans came to me last night after the Candlelight Vigil that closed Day Three of the Fair Food Fast in Lakeland, FL, corporate home of Publix.  We were gathered on the corner of the street where a Publix grocery stores sits in a comfortable shopping center. (We were prohibited from standing on the private property of the shopping center).

Rabbi Brian Schuldenfrei of Bet Shira in Miami had offered words of encouragement to those of us fasting. He shared the story of Esther and the powerful witness her fast made in ancient Judah. After our vigil, Rabbi Schuldenfrei suggested we take the “light” to the Publix store and express the hope that the manager would convey our collective desire for conversation with corporate executives at Publix about the legitimate concerns of the farmworkers.

A small interfaith delegation led by the Rabbi walked to the entrance of Publix and was met by the store manager and several other Publix employees. We were not allowed to enter the store. The Rabbi extended his hand and introduced himself to a Publix employee, not the manager, who had assumed control of the encounter and he refused to shake the Rabbi’s hand or offer his name. He interrupted the conversation and ordered us to leave the grounds.

Students sing and bring joy to fasters, while also offering a musical message to Publix.

To be accurate, it was not a conversation.  No one from Publix said anything to us after the manager identified himself by name.

It was a chilling encounter. While our visit was spontaneous, it was in good spirit, encouraged as we were by our time of prayer and singing. The Coalition of Immokolee Workers has been trying to engage Publix in conversation since 2007 by letter and since 2009 by a variety of public actions. This week-long fast is the latest attempt to stir the conscience of Publix toward conversation about fair wages and the Fair Food Program. After last night’s encounter I understand much better what a long hard road the farmworkers have traveled.

Click here to ask Publix to talk with the farmworkers and sign the Fair Food Agreement.

I’ll send another update tomorrow.

Grace and Peace,

Michael Livingston

Director, National Council of Churches Poverty Initiative

Princess and the Pea, Publix and the Penny

Media covering the Fair Food Fast ask us, “How do you respond to Publix’s offer to “Put the penny in the cost and we’ll gladly pay it”? Publix’s statement is that they respond to market forces, and: “our policy is not to get involved in labor disputes.”

Just a penny per pound more would make all the difference in farmworkers' lives.

The extraordinary change in the relationship between growers and farmers at this moment is not a labor dispute. Over 90 percent of the Florida tomato growers and the Coalition of Immokolee Workers (CIW) have already agreed upon a Fair Food Code of Conduct. The corporations that have signed on have agreed to pay the Fair Food Premium, which is a small price increase that is designed to give the workers a penny wage increase for every pound of tomatoes they pick.

Ask Publix CEO Ed Crenshaw to meet with the farmworkers and sign the Fair Food Agreement.

Greg Asbed, staff with the CIW likens the Fair Food Premium to the reverse of the Princess and the Pea story. The Princess feels discomfort at the placement of a pea at the bottom of stack of many mattresses, whereas Publix could sleep soundly and never notice the discomfort of a little penny. Meanwhile, farmworkers will experience significant gain from the expenditure of a penny a pound on the part of the corporation. Yet Publix refuses to talk to the farmworkers or even consider signing the agreement. By refusing, Publix undermines the efforts of the farmworkers to labor in environments free of abuses that have characterized the system for over three decades. Publix provides an alternative, a shelter for growers that have not signed the agreement. By so doing, they participate in practices that are unjust and immoral.

As the largest corporation in Florida, Publix exerts enormous influence in the food industry. Publix has the opportunity now be a part of the healthy changes that are taking place in the industry. Or, Publix can tacitly support the continuation of a system that does not recognize the humanity of the men and women who pick the tomatoes it sells in groceries stores it lauds as offering a “pleasurable shopping experience.”

How can we enjoy buying goods when we know the farmworkers who pick them are underpaid and overworked, who labor without pension and health benefits and when some of them may have been subjected to forced labor? The scriptures of the Old and the New Testament are clear in calling for justice for the worker and the creation of each one of us in the image of God.  We stand with farmworkers as they strive for a new day in fields and a future for their children in a “Fair Food” universe.

Ask Publix CEO Ed Crenshaw to meet with the farmworkers and sign the Fair Food Agreement.

Until tomorrow,

Michael Livingston

Director, National Council of Churches Poverty Initiative

Ed Crenshaw, it’s time.

Rev. Livingston, with representatives from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Student Farmworker Alliance, lights a candle to begin prayers for a New Day to dawn for worker justice, when Publix signs the Fair Food Agreement.

Ed Crenshaw won’t talk to farmworkers. He’s the CEO of Publix, the largest grocery store chain in the Southeast. The Coalition of Immokolee Workers has had remarkable success in a long struggle for justice for farmworkers. Yum Brands (2005), McDonalds (2007), Burger King (2008), Subway (2008), Whole Foods (2008), Aramark (2010), and most recently Trader Joe’s (2011), are among ten corporations that have signed on to participate in the Fair Food Campaign.

Click here to sign a petition to Ed Crenshaw, asking him to meet with farmworkers and sign the Fair Food Agreement.

The Fair Food Campaign asks corporations to:

• increase the wages of the workers
• comply with a Code of Conduct that includes zero tolerance for forced labor and systemic child labor
• enable worker to worker education sessions to ensure workers know their new rights
• allow a worker-triggered complaint mechanism
• maintain a system of health and safety volunteers on every farm to ensure that workers have a voice in their working conditions
• make some specific and concrete changes in working conditions that ensure fair compensation
• and provide for the simple comfort of shade and rest during extremely hot work days.

It’s day one of six days of fasting with farmworkers and their supporters at the corporate headquarters of Publix in Lakeland, FL. I’m already impressed with the quiet dignity of workers with whom I cannot communicate using the English I speak or the Spanish they speak. Yet we stand together under the same bright sun and our very presence alongside a busy thoroughfare, announces a firm commitment to seek justice for a workforce whose humanity has been ignored by a system of labor that is fundamentally unjust.

The farmworkers and holding signs that say “You’re human and so am I,” and “I fast today so that my children won’t be hungry tomorrow.” A typical farmworker must pick about 150-160 buckets of tomatoes a day, each bucket weighing about 32 pounds. They don’t have health plans, and often make less than minimum wage. They can sometimes arrive at 4:00a.m. and wait for hours to be hired for the day–hours for which they are not paid, and time spent away from their families. 

I like a thick slice of tomato on my burger; but at what price?  Ed Crenshaw, sit down and talk to farmworkers.  It’s time.

Click here to sign a petition to Ed Crenshaw, asking him to meet with farmworkers and sign the Fair Food Agreement.

Grace and Peace,

Michael Livingston

Director, National Council of Churches Poverty Initiative

Fast for Fair Food

I love tomatoes. Many of us do. But can we eat them in good conscience when we know that the farm workers who pick them are grossly underpaid and work under conditions that most of us do not and would not tolerate?

Can we live with doing nothing when the companies (like Publix) who hire them or who benefit disproportionately from their labor refuse to acknowledge their responsibility for the plight of farm workers, and will not engage in constructive conversation about meaningful change?

We are all in this life together. We are all fed from the bounty of the earth. I am going to join farm workers and the Presbyterian Hunger Program in Lakeland, Florida in a fast as part of the Fair Food Campaign. I do not regard this fast as a hardship on my part. By God’s grace I can offer the luxury of my time to brothers and sisters whose humanity I value as much as my own. I count it a privilege, as the season of Lent begins, to, as Paul asks of us in Romans 12:1: “…present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Learn more about the Fast for Fair Food and join Florida clergy and congregations in praying that with God’s help, Publix’s isolation and hesitation can be transformed into communication and cooperation with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. View and share the Faith Moves Mountains video and materials and join your prayers with thousands across Florida. I’ll keep in touch next week through our Facebook page and Twitter, sharing stories of the farm workers’ struggle and the community gathering around them, fasting and speaking for justice together.

Across Florida and the southeast where Publix grocery stores are prominent, people of faith are encouraged to drop off a manager’s letter when they shop, and to support or organize events such as the Interfaith Clergy Press Conference and Open Letter to Publix on March 6 in Tallahassee which includes Presbyterian clergy: the Rev. Brant Copeland, the Rev. Tom Borland, and the Rev. Mary Vance.

Learn more about ways you can pray with and support the Fast for Fair Food.

Grace and Peace,

Michael Livingston

Director, National Council of Churches Poverty Initiative

Photo of tomato picker by Scott Robertson.

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