To the Point
Justice for farmworkers
Conditions for agricultural laborers in the US have been described by the UN as “appalling." But tomato workers in Florida have won their freedom from virtual slave labor.
By Warren Olney • • 1h 2m ListenFor farmworkers in Florida, working conditions had not improved since the shocking 1960 CBS documentary “Harvest of Shame,” which revealed virtual slave labor in the nation's fields. When traditional protests failed, the grassroots Coalition of Immokalee Workers, an organization of tomato workers and community leaders in Florida, focused on the top of the food chain. Now, Taco Bell, Whole Foods, McDonalds and others refuse to buy from growers who don’t pay a living wage and provide modest benefits. Food-industry titans pay just a penny a pound more for tomatoes to directly finance these improvements, and it costs consumers nothing. Is this a model for American factories and other low-wage workplaces?
Warren Olney
former KCRW broadcaster
Andrea Brody
Senior Producer, KCRW's Life Examined and To the Point podcast
Devan Schwartz
Producer
Ibram Kendi
Professor of history and international relations at American University, Director of Anti-racist Research and Policy Center
Susan Marquis
Dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School and vice president of innovation at RAND
Jon Esformes
CEO and operating partner of Sunripe Certified Brands based in Florida, which is one of the country’s oldest tomato producers.