Florida Agricultural Workers to Fast for Fair Food in March 


In March, workers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida — men and women who put food on tables across the country — will go without food to demand that Publix Supermarkets support the fundamental human rights of farmworkers in Florida’s fields. 

The March fast follows close on the heels of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ (CIW)  historic agreement with Trader Joe’s.  On February 9, CIW and Trader Joe’s announced they had signed an agreement Committing Trader Joe’s to work with CIW and Florida Tomato Growers to support CIW’s Fair Food Campaign.

On March 5th, outside Publix corporate headquarters in Lakeland, Florida, farmworkers and their allies — faith leaders, students, and community
leaders from across Florida and across the country — will come together in a six-day fast, in the hope of raising awareness of Publix’s role in blocking progress in the fields and expanding the rights of the farmworkers who harvest the nation’s food.

On March 10th, Day Six of the fast, Fair Food allies will converge on Lakeland for a protest at a Publix location followed by a 3.5-mile procession leading to Publix headquarters, where they will join the fasters in a ceremony to break the fast.

The CIW is a community-based organization of mainly Latino, Mayan Indian and Haitian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout the state of Florida.

Throughout history, the act of fasting has been a show of faith, a form of political protest, a weapon of the powerless.  Social movements throughout modern times — from the women’s suffrage movement of the early 1900’s to Mahatma Gandhi and his use of non-violent protest to challenge British colonial rule — have also turned to fasting when other forms of protest have failed to produce change. 

U.S. farmworkers in particular have fasted as a means to underscore the urgent need for more humane labor conditions in the fields.  The most notable of these was the fast of the United Farm Workers’ Cesar Chavez in 1968, which drew global attention to the plight of California farmworkers.

The CIW’s own organizing history is founded, in part, on a seminal hunger strike by six of its members, a month-long fast that stretched from December 1997 to January 1998.

CIW welcomes allies to join with farmworkers in fasting or as support for the entire 6 days of March 5-10, or arrive on Thursday or Friday (March 8th or 9th) to fast or be present for a day or two.

They ask supporters who are only able to attend for one day, to join in the protest, procession, and ceremony to break the fast on Saturday, March 10th at 12pm.

For more information or to participate, contact Jake Ratner of Just Harvest USA, jake@justharvestusa.org.