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Reflections from visiting the Fair Food Program

January 23, 2025
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Lucila Granada

Chief Executive

As FLEX continues to make progress towards launching the Worker-Driven Social Responsibility pilot in North-East Scotland, team members visited our partners at the Fair Food Program in Florida to see the first-ever such program in action on the ground, and to meet with its architects and community in person.

This trip was a vital opportunity to learn more about the pioneers of Worker Driven Social Responsibility and how they succeeded in improving conditions for workers, and with that, improving farms as workplaces and businesses, as well. As in UK fishing, the vast majority of the workers on Fair Food Program farms are migrant workers. By talking directly with organisation members, former workers and programme participants, we gained more, invaluable insight into this rare – and replicable – “win/win/win” model for social responsibility.

Our trip was focused on engaging with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), the internationally recognised organisation that launched the Fair Food Program in the US in 2011. We heard about their history in Immokalee and studied the socio-economic context they organised in, walking round the farmworker community of Immokalee itself and getting a glimpse of what their life is like. We learned how CIW pioneered the victim-centred approach to investigating and supporting the prosecution of these cases, sparking the modern anti-human trafficking movement.

During the trip we also engaged with the first participating signatory of the Fair Food Program, one of the largest tomato producers in the US. We observed a worker education session run by former farmworkers familiar with challenges workers face in the fields; the CIW normally runs one session per season per crew on participating farms, addressing rights and responsibilities under the programme and sometimes additional focus topics. The one we witnessed was educating around 80 workers about expanding access to medical support. It was a strong example of how to equip workers with the tools and knowledge about how this programme works for them and how to serve as frontline monitors of their own rights. 

We were also invited by the Fair Food Standard Council (FFSC) to observe part of an audit at a farm, a process which rigorously checks compliance with the terms of the Fair Food Program. This includes looking into management systems, company records and payroll data, and interviews with management, crew leaders and at least 50% of the workers themselves. This ensures that the agreement the workers and employer set out is being met, and that new problems get addressed. The FFSC team’s skill and deep understanding of farm operations, dynamics, risks and potential challenges for workers are impressive. We also learned in greater detail from FFSC staff about the management of their complaint hotline, investigation and resolution process.

We are incredibly thankful to everyone at the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and Fair Food Standards Council. On top of the tours and visits, they facilitated days of multilingual workshops and exchange – even including our team members who’d stayed behind in Scotland. They generously organised meals we all shared with their team, and social time, so we continued discussions at every opportunity.

Overall, we gained a deeper insight into how the CIW built their programme, benefiting from the years of direct worker experience and transforming their struggle with exploitation.

As the Fair Food Program is an advisory partner to our project in UK fishing, we also went deeper into the planning and sketching of the programme we envisage here, addressing the crisis of worker rights and conditions in fishing – particularly for migrant workers.

As we come back to the UK to continue this work, we do so with evermore understanding. Thanks to our international friends and partners, we steadily enhance our vision of what workers in fishing could can accomplish here, and how we can support them.