SWOPblogger

Never in my life did I think I would willingly walk 9 miles consecutively.

For that matter when I was still in school, I dreaded PE because every Friday we had to do a one mile run. And although I feel very accomplished at having walked 9 miles, what the walk represented, was more powerful and meaningful to me than just another stroll in the park.

On Thursday November 29th I was fortunate enough to be heading out to Miami Florida. I was picked to be apart of a delegation representing SWOP and Grassroots Global Justice, a national network of grassroots organizations that SWOP is a part of. We headed out on this trip to Miami in support of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and Florida’s tomato pickers in protest of Burger King.

The CIW in partnership with Florida tomato pickers have been working for several years now demanding fair wages and humane treatment for the workers who pick tomatoes. To do so, the CIW created the Alliance for Fair Food--a campaign which called upon major corporations such as Taco Bell, Mc Donald’s, and Yummy brand corporations to set the standard for tomatoes suppliers and take a vow to only buy from suppliers who paid and treated their workers fairly. In April of 2007 after many years of battling with these corporations all 3 corporations had signed on to be a part of making this dream a reality. Unfortunately not all major corporations were willing to support these standards. When Burger King was asked to a part of this movement which the CIW was attempting to create, not only did they decline to sign on with this agreement but they also publicly stated they did not believe tomato pickers were living in poverty. They also stated that if tomato pickers were unsatisfied with the working conditions Burger King would hire them to work in their restaurants. After further looking into it, I found not only do tomato pickers make on average $10,000 a year, but in order for them to make even a minimum wage, they would have to pick over 2 tons of tomatoes in a average eight hour work day!

I guess this all leads me back to why this walk was such a meaningful and impactful walk in my eyes. Amongst the swarming sea of marchers with cleverly painted signs, a tractor truck drove along with the crowd. Inside of this tractors bed were dozens of warn tattered shoes with a sign that stated, “Doubt our poverty -Walk in our shoes”. This slogan echoed through my mind and warmed my heart as we finished the last stretch of this nine mile march. There I was walking with the Immokalee workers and everyone else who came to support them in their fight. And although my feet were throbbing and my thighs were aching, I couldn’t help but be inspired by the mass amount of people whose feet were throbbing too. We all marched so well together in solidarity for people who have already put enough miles on their shoes while being exploited by corporations like Burger King. Since this epic march where over 1,500 marchers gathered to send a message to Burger King Headquarters, the CIW has continued to put pressure on Burger King and gather media attention around the issue. For continued coverage of the CIW’s battle with Burger King visit their website http://www.ciw-online.org/