30 years ago, in 1993, the CIW was born in a Catholic Church in Immokalee, when a small group of farmworkers began gathering to ask why conditions were so brutal for people who left their families behind at home to feed the world and to discuss how to better our community. We drew upon social movement experiences in Haiti, Mexico, and Guatemala in developing our strategy, and through work stoppages, hunger strikes, and marches, won modest wage increases for Florida tomato pickers.
Now, in 2023, we celebrate the Fair Food Program’s power of prevention — the prevention of forced labor, sexual assault, physical abuses, wage theft, and much more! As I look back at the last 30 years, I am amazed by how much progress we have made — together. A penny more per pound does, indeed, buy progress — $44,070,697 to date, to be exact — and so much more. The CIW’s Fair Food Program now protects tens of thousands of workers on fields producing 15 products in 10 states and 3 countries.
30 years from now, my hope is that the CIW’s work through the Fair Food Program, and the Worker-driven Social Responsibility model the FFP gave rise to, will have touched everyone on the planet in some way — consumers, buyers, growers, sponsors, sustainers. And I am optimistic that we will achieve that goal, too, just as we have achieved all our goals over the years — together.
Thank you for advocating on our behalf around the world. As CIW turns 31 years old, if you have not already done so, we hope you will consider making a gift of any size in honor of the incredible transformations that have been made over the last thirty years. Your gift ensures that we can grow the program’s impact to tens of thousands more farmworkers around the world. We couldn’t do any of this extraordinary, life-changing work without you.
-Lucas Benitez, CIW Co-Founder
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