“Dine with Dignity” Campaign in Support of Tomato Pickers
By Michelle Fabio
In support of tomato pickers, the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) has established the “Dine with Dignity” campaign to inform and organize students in the fight against farmworker poverty and human rights abuses by major food service providers.
The SFA is targeting Aramark, Compass, and Sodexo and urging them to join Yum Brands, McDonald’s, Burger King and others who currently work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in the effort for better wages and working conditions for tomato pickers in southern Florida.
Campus campaigns will include meetings with dining directors as well as other ventures designed to bring the plight of tomato pickers directly to the universities and colleges contracted with Aramark, Compass, and Sodexo for food services.
Florida farmworkers who pick tomatoes earn about 45 cents for each 32-pound bucket collected–about what they were earning 30 years ago. Moreover, they work from sunrise to sunset and have no rights to organize, collect overtime pay, or receive benefits.
Southern Illinois University student Kandace Vallejo sums it up: “Today, our message to Aramark, Compass and Sodexo is clear: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
