The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) created and implemented a uniquely effective food chain program to eradicate forced labor, exploitation, and violence in tomato farming in Florida. CIW’s Fair Food Program (FFP) has been hailed as “one of the great human rights success stories of our day”.  FFP harnesses the purchasing power of consumers and large food companies to compel growers to improve farm-workers’ working conditions.  Growers agree to adhere to a code of conduct in the treatment of workers, and workers are educated about their rights and provided means of reporting.  Through this agreement, purchasers agree to a zero-tolerance policy for abuses by their suppliers and also agree to pay a penny-per-pound premium that goes directly into growers’ payrolls as a line-item bonus on workers’ paychecks.  Greg will discuss the new theory of change underlying this campaign, the mechanisms necessary for its success, and what comes next.

Greg Asbed is a human rights strategist developing a new model—worker-driven social responsibility (WSR)—for improving conditions for low-wage workers in modern markets and supply chains.  WSR emerged from the decades-long work of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), an organization co-founded by Asbed, with Lucas Benitez and Laura Germino, in 1993 to redress injustices in the Florida tomato industry, including forced labor, sexual assault, and wage theft. Greg Asbed received a B.S. (1985) from Brown University and an M.A. (1990) from Johns Hopkins University. Prior to co-founding the Coalition for Immokalee Workers (CIW) in 1993, he spent three years in Haiti as part of the Peasant Movement of Papaye.

This event is free and open to the public, but seating may be limited.  For special assistance or needs, please contact Nino Guruli at nguruli@uchicago.edu.