Publix pressured to sign farm worker agreement

FORT WALTON BEACH — A group of farm workers, advocates and residents asked Publix supermarket managers Tuesday to consider signing on to an agreement that raises labor standards and pay for tomato pickers in Florida and could stop forced labor in Florida’s agricultural industry.

Late last year farm workers from Immokalee signed a landmark agreement with the state’s tomato growers and some of the biggest tomato buyers in the world, including fast-food giants McDonald’s, Burger King and Taco Bell, and grocery store chain Whole Foods.

The growers and buyers agreed to pay a penny-per-pound more to tomato pickers and to establish a code of conduct that protects workers from exploitative conditions. The buyers also agreed to halt business immediately with growers found to use forced labor conditions.

The 4,000-member Coalition of Immokalee Workers is now asking Publix to sign on.

“Publix is the largest private company in Florida and they wield a tremendous influence within our state’s agricultural industry,” said the coalition’s Cruz Salucio. “So far, they’ve refused to be a part of the solution to the human rights crisis in Florida agriculture.”

Members of the coalition were in Fort Walton Beach this week with a traveling modern-day slavery museum designed to shed light on the human rights issues in Florida’s agricultural industry.

On Monday, about 70 people toured the museum in the parking lot of the Fort Walton Beach Municipal Library.

Tracy Clarke of Fort Walton Beach visited the museum and then joined the farm workers Tuesday to speak to managers at the Publix on Miracle Strip Parkway in Fort Walton Beach.

“I don’t like the fact that I might buy a tomato that was picked under these conditions,” she said. “It’s ridiculous. Why on earth would Publix not want to come on board?”

Publix representatives said the company believes the agreement with the other buyers, like Taco Bell, Burger King and Whole Foods, already made the necessary changes to the industry.

“We assume that the resolution addressed farm worker pay in Florida,” said Publix spokesman Dwaine Stevens in an e-mailed media statement.

Ninety percent of the tomato growers in Florida have signed on to participate in the agreement, but the growers only pay farm workers a penny more per pound when the tomatoes they pick are sold to buyers that have already signed the agreement.

“Publix can’t just take a free ride now,” Salucio said. “Ninety percent of the state’s tomato farms are willing to pass on the penny to the workers if only Publix would pay it."

Stevens’ statement said the company is unaware of any slavery in their supply chain or wages paid less than federal minimum standards.

“If there are such grievances, we would direct those complaints to the appropriate local, state and federal government agencies,” the statement said.

Several years ago the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office asked representatives from the coalition to train deputies on how to recognize slavery and human trafficking.

“It opened the eyes of a lot of law enforcement officers to a problem that before that they didn’t really know existed or what the warning signs were,” Lt. George Collins said.

While many of the operations his office has uncovered have not been related to farm workers, forced labor situations exist in north Florida, he said.

“These are very difficult cases to prosecute,” he said. “They say for every victim you rescue, there are probably 15 or 20 you haven’t.”

Salucio said it is important that major corporations step up to change the conditions for farm workers that create an environment for abuse.

“What we need to do is prevent the abuses from occurring, which entails the major buyers of tomatoes not turning a blind eye, but working together with the coalition to eliminate the conditions of poverty and powerlessness that pervade this industry,” he said.