Update on the Immokalee Workers

Back in April of 2009, Evan Kleiman spoke with writer Barry Estabrook about the slavery-like conditions for tomato harvesters in Immokalee, Florida (listen to the interview here). The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is working to improve conditions and raise wages. Tom Philpott, a food and agriculture writer for Grist, gives us an update on their fight. They've succeeded by raising tomato prices by a penny per pound, charged to most fast food companies. The next fight is for Publix and Wal-Mart to pay the price increase. Since 2009, that penny per pound has been held in escrow by the growers. In November, that money was released to the workers. Read about the landmark deal here.