Campaign brims with action as summer & Encuentro preparations take off!

• 2009 Encuentro: Information | Application
• Chipotle e-action & campaign update!
  • Add your voice to the open letter to CEO Steve Ells calling on Chipotle to "to make 'food with integrity' truly 'fair food.'”
• Publix supermarket campaign
• Dine with Dignity campaign headquarters

June 15, 2009 - As we look toward the 2009 Encuentro and a fall season of intense action and organizing, another powerful step in the Dine with Dignity campaign was just taken as Students for Sustainable Agriculture and Chicano Studies 50 at the University of California-Davis successfully pushed a resolution through their student government calling on Sodexo to "meet with the CIW and... implement an enforceable, human rights-based Code of Conduct for its tomato supply chain." (Click here for the full text of the resolution, which comes on the heels of a similar resolution passed at Wichita State University and semester-ending actions from Philadelphia to Southern Illinois.)

Plus, in a landmark moment for the Campaign for Fair Food, two of Florida's largest organic growers have agreed to pass the extra penny-per-pound on to workers and meet strict labor standards, effectively breaking the stalemate instituted by the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange two years ago! Our friends at Philadelphia's (yes, that's also where Aramark headquarters is located) own Media Mobilizing Project had this to say about the great news:

"We congratulate the CIW on this important step forward in the Campaign for Fair Food and remember that this campaign continues. Here in Philadelphia, one of the largest food service providers in the world, ARAMARK, has refused to sit down with workers. The CIW has been to Philadelphia several times to share their stories... The MMP and several groups in this network stand ready to support this effort to improve the conditions and lives of workers who make ARAMARK's huge profits possible..."

Speaking of Aramark and the rest of the food service provider industry, the Dine with Dignity campaign will be back stronger than ever this Fall, and there's no better way to deepen your involvement than to join us in Immokalee this September 10-13 2009 for the 5th-annual SFA Encuentro, quickly shaping up to be our most important one yet. Whether you're an SFA "old-timer" or just beginning to get involved, apply today to join us for a long weekend of strategizing, relationship-building, training & reflecting not only on the Campaign for Fair Food & our work in solidarity with the CIW, but also on the nature & significance of our shared work for global justice & social change. Click here for more info and don't miss some of the latest news from the campaign right here:

• Immokalee tomato labor group pressures Publix (The Packer, 6/10)
• Editorial: Publix should back tomato pickers' fight (Ft. Myers News-Press, 6/6)
• Victory for CIW - farmers agree to pay 'penny more per pound' (Media Mobilizing Project, 6/4)
• Agreement made to raise harvesters' wages and working conditions (Ft. Myers News-Press, 6/4)