What can Sakuma workers on strike learn from ‘Food Chains’?

http://www.seattleglobalist.com/2015/01/02/can-sakuma-workers-strike-learn-food-chains/31979



Migrant farm workers in the tomato fields of Immokalee, Fla., where advocacy led to a Fair Food agreement with major food chains. (Still from FoodChainsFilm.com)


by Rebecca Randall - Jan 2, 2015

Connecting the field to the grocery store proved to be the best means to achieve labor gains for migrant farmworkers in the tomato fields of Immokalee, Fla., according to the documentary “Food Chains,” which will screen in Seattle on Jan. 29.

Time will tell whether the model is replicable for other farmworkers, such as the berry pickers who launched the “Boycott Sakuma Bros. Berries” movement.

The film focuses on the formation of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and their efforts to improve their working conditions.

In the beginning, paychecks for the tomato pickers sometimes amounted to no more than $42.87 for a 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. workday. Initially, they tried to put pressure on farmers to raise the pay.

FULL story at link.



Published on Sep 4, 2014
www.foodchainsfilm.com
Executive Produced by Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives) and Eric Schlosser (Food Inc, Fast Food Nation), FOOD CHAINS exposes the abuses rampant in farm labor in the United States and reveals the forces behind that exploitation through the narrative of an intrepid group of tomato pickers in Florida, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, who are battling the 4 trillion dollar global supermarket industry - and winning!

There is more interest in food now than ever before, yet, no one is talking about the people who pick our food, the hundreds of thousands of hard working individuals to whom we are all connected through our purchases at supermarkets, farmers' markets and restaurants.

In Theaters: November 21, 2014

Starring: Eva Longoria, Eric Schlosser, Dolores Huerta, Bobby Kennedy Jr., Ethel Kennedy, Lucas Benitez, Gerardo Reyes-Chavez, Barry Estabrook, Tom Saenz and others.
Narrated by Forest Whitaker
Directed by Sanjay Rawal
Produced by Smriti Keshari, Sanjay Rawal, Eva Longoria, Hamilton Fish

Join the movement! www.foodchainsfilm.com

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