Aramark, Sign an Agreement with the CIW

Dear Mr. Joseph Neubauer, Chairman and CEO Of Aramark:

As concerned students and consumers, we are writing to urge Aramark to take a leadership role in ending sub-poverty wages, forced labor, and other human rights violations endured by Florida tomato pickers.

We write in solidarity with the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA), a national network of students and youth organizing to advance justice and human rights together with the men and women that harvest the tomatoes that end up in our dining halls and on our plates. SFA works in close partnership with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, an internationally-recognized farmworker organization based in Southwest Florida.

According to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, "for farmworkers in and around Immokalee, the heart of Florida's tomato industry, the norm is a disaster, and the extreme is slavery." Florida tomato pickers have received the same wage (about 45 cents per 32-pound bucket of tomatoes) for 30 years. They receive no overtime pay despite 10-14-hour workdays, receive no health benefits of any kind, and are denied the right to organize to change these conditions. In the most extreme cases, workers are forced to work against their will under the threat or use of physical violence. In the past 11 years, seven federally-prosecuted cases of modern-day slavery have been uncovered in the fields of Florida affecting the lives of more than one thousand workers.

In recent years, however, a new hope for labor reform has emerged in Florida's fields. In 2001, the CIW with the support of student, faith and human rights allies launched the Campaign for Fair Food to call on major purchasers of tomatoes to take responsibility to address the dehumanizing working conditions created by these corporations' high-volume, low cost purchasing practices. In the eight years since, Yum Brands, McDonald's, Burger King, Subway and Whole Foods have all entered into agreements with the CIW, committing to pay at least a penny more per pound to workers harvesting their tomatoes, to implement a code of conduct in their supply chain to guarantee workers fair and humane treatment, and to work together with farmworkers in the development and implementation of these reforms.

During a four-year national boycott of Taco Bell, students at over 300 high schools, colleges and universities engaged in coordinated national actions, hunger strikes and innumerable educational events, leading to the successful removal or prevention of 25 Taco Bell restaurants or sponsorships. These actions ultimately helped to bring about the CIW-Yum Brands agreement. Students and youth have continued to play an integral role in the subsequent campaigns and agreements.

Now we turn to Aramark.  Your company claims to "conduct business with the utmost integrity and according to the highest ethical standards" working hard to continuously improve [your] actions.  Unfortunately, you do not appear to be working hard enough, because "conducting business with integrity" means also guaranteeing work with dignity for the farmworkers in your tomato supply chain. Aramark must enter into an agreement with the CIW. Until you do, we will be watching, and you can rest assured that we will be taking appropriate action.