- The Plate
Tomato Pickers Expand Case for Workers’ Rights
It’s fair to say we care more than ever about the food we eat: where it comes from, who farms it, and how it was grown. But how much do we think about the people who harvested it—not the farmers, but the workers the farmers employ?
A recently-released documentary, Food Chains, argues that we don’t think about that enough. It aims to change that with a tightly-filmed portrait of an inspiring group: the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, who fight for fair wages for Florida’s impoverished tomato pickers. In fact, they’re planning their first ever Parade and Concert for Fair Food, traveling from Immokalee to St. Petersburg, Florida, tomorrow to raise awareness about working conditions.
Tomato pickers’ lives are brutal—long days, no benefits, an ever-present threat