The 2015 Fair Food Program (FFP) Annual Report has been published and is available for download! Issued by the Fair Food Standards Council, the yearly assessment of the state of the Program is the best source for metadata analysis and conclusions on the implementation of the Fair Food Program in effect in Florida’s tomato fields. It thoroughly evaluates each Program requirement, from direct hiring to proper timekeeping, with quantitative and qualitative assessments of accomplishments and the challenges that lie ahead, and thoroughly explains the process for the FFP’s enforcement mechanism, its nascent expansion into new crops and states, and expectations for future growth.
For those interested in understanding how the Fair Food Program functions in practice, this is the single best annual resource. Here’s a brief window into its reporting:
Since 2011, the Fair Food Program has brought about many far-reaching reforms across the Florida tomato industry. In the span of just four years:
- CIW has educated nearly 35,000 workers at 400 face-to-face sessions, and reached 150,000 workers with written and video materials, on their rights within the Program;
- Workers have brought forth over 1,100 complaints under the Code of Conduct, resulting in the resolution of abuses ranging from sexual harassment and verbal abuse to systemic wage violations, demonstrating workers’ trust that reported problems will be investigated and corrected;
- FFSC has issued nearly 120 comprehensive reports and corrective action plans – based on 12,000 worker interviews during audits ranging from two days to two weeks and all operational, management and financial systems reviews – in order to assess and improve Participating Growers’ implementation of the Code of Conduct; and
- Participating Buyers have paid nearly $20 million in Fair Food Premiums to improve workers' wages.
Charts like this illuminate the efficacy of the complaint resolution system, which, as shown here, resolved 100% of filed complaints in 2015, most in less than two weeks.
The report includes illustrations of impact of every element of the Code of Conduct, which often explain even more than the numbers.
Isabel, a 30 year old farmworker in Florida, told an investigative reporter: “Before, we would hear about a contractor or supervisor who would take women to a private place, to the edge of the field, and we understood that sexual assault was what was happening,” she said. “Now, we aren’t hearing these stories in the same way we used to.”
You can download or share the Annual Report here.
This report demonstrates that the agreements that have been won through years of community organizing in Immokalee, and then years of farmworkers and consumers campaigning side by side in the Campaign for Fair Food, are transforming the tomato industry in Florida and beyond for tens of thousands of workers. Take a look, and join us for the next big step in the Campaign to expand and strengthen these human rights advances: the 2016 Workers' Voice Tour!