Have you ever taken the time to think about who picked that tomato you’re about to eat, or how it’s possible that it’s so darn inexpensive?
I’m guessing most of us haven’t, but after watching the new movie ” Food Chains” (now playing in select theaters and available for download via iTunes), I know that we all should.
“Food Chains” takes viewers to meet the tomato pickers of Immokalee, Florida, and their fight for a fair wage. Currently, pickers are paid a penny a pound and on an average day — a day that starts before sunrise — each is picking near 4,000 pounds of tomatoes and taking home roughly $40. What do they think would be a fair wage? They want to get paid a whole two pennies a pound.
And it’s not as if there isn’t money out there for them, but it likely won’t come from the farmers. The film reports that the cost to farmers today of growing a tomato is triple what it was only a decade ago, yet the massive supermarket chains have demanded farmers maintain their prices. The money that should be in American farm workers’ pockets is currently residing in those supermarket chains’ coffers.
According to “Food Chains,” if Publix — Florida’s largest supermarket chain — were to pay farmers that extra penny per pound for their workers, it would cost their bottom line an extra $1 million annually. That sounds like a lot until we’re told that the annual profits for Publix border on $2 billion, and that if Publix decided to pass the additional cost on to the end consumer, it would only cost the average family an additional $0.44 per year.
The movie co-stars author, food activist and executive producer Eric Schlosser, who explains that the workers’ plight is anything but new and that “the history of farm labor in the United States is a history of exploitation.” To hammer this point home, a clip from the hard-hitting 1960 Edward R. Murrow CBS special on Immokalee farm workers, ” Harvest of Shame,” quotes a farmer who, in commenting on their workers, notes: “We used to own our slaves; now we just rent them.”
“Food Chains” also makes it clear that this problem isn’t unique to the tomato pickers, and that across the board American farm workers’ exploitations are the norm, not the exception. As to what’s being done, currently it’s the workers’ own grass roots organization, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers pushing for change. The CIW established the ” Fair Food Program,” designed to ensure humane wages and working conditions for farm workers. To the CIW’s great credit, the program has been endorsed by food industry giants Taco Bell, Walmart, Chipotle, McDonald’s, Subway, Yum Brands and more.
But not Publix.
The CIW’s Greg Asbed states: “In the 21st century, the responsibility for protecting workers’ rights has to be shared by the corporations who control the supply chains where those workers toil,” but Publix doesn’t appear to agree. “Food Chains'” overarching story follows the CIW workers as they stage a six-day hunger strike outside the Publix head office. The workers’ demands were simple — they weren’t looking for the hunger strike to lead Publix to extend that penny a pound of human decency and fair wage. Rather, their only demand was that Publix would sit down to talk with them.
Publix didn’t.
While it’s easy to forget where our food comes from, we need to remember that supply chains connect us all. At the very least, you owe it to those workers — whose exploitation provides you with the fresh, inexpensive produce you enjoy — to watch this powerful film.
And Publix? Shame on you.
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‘Food Chains’ — a Tremendously Important New Movie originally appeared on usnews.com
