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Logo of the CIW
Farmworkers protests USA 2013 03
Farmworkers protests organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) is a worker-based human rights organization based in Immokalee, Florida, which focuses on the fields of social responsibility, human trafficking, and gender-based violence at work.

The CIW, initially called the Southwest Florida Farmworker Project, was formed in 1993 in Immokalee (I-m-u-k-a-l-i), Florida, a center of the state's $600 million tomato industry. The group's organizing philosophy is based on principles of popular education and leadership development. One of the CIW's first accomplishments was to establish a cooperative to sell staple foods and other necessities at cost in order to combat price gouging by local merchants. Today, the CIW also owns and operates WCIW-LP (107.7 FM, "Radio Conciencia"), a low-power FM radio station that features music, news, and educational programing in several languages.

Between 1995 and 2000, the CIW organized several major actions to protest declining real wages for tomato harvesters, as well as frequent violence from supervisors towards field workers. This period included community-wide work stoppages in 1995, 1997 and 1999; a 30-day hunger strike undertaken by six members in 1998; and a 230-mile march from Ft. Myers to Orlando in 2000. By 1998, these protests "won industry-wide raises of 13-25% (translating into several million dollars annually for the community in increased wages).... Those raises brought the tomato picking piece rate back to pre-1980 levels (the piece rate had fallen below those levels over the course of the intervening two decades), but wages remained below poverty level and continuing improvement was slow in coming."

The CIW has aided in the investigation and federal prosecution of several slavery operations in Floridian agriculture. CIW received the 2015 Presidential Medal for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking in Persons for "pioneering the Fair Food Program, empowering agricultural workers, and leveraging market forces and consumer awareness to promote supply chain transparency and eradicate modern slavery on participating farms." Previously, the U.S. Department of State presented the CIW with a 2010 Hero Acting to End Modern-Day Slavery Award and credited the CIW for developing "a multi-sectoral approach, tapping NGOs, law enforcement, labor inspectors and the survivors, themselves" to combat forced labor in the U.S. agriculture industry.

The CIW's national Campaign for Fair Food educates consumers on the issue of farm labor exploitation – its causes and solutions – and forges alliances between farmworkers and consumers that enlist the market power of major corporate buyers to help end that exploitation.The CIW's Campaign for Fair Food has secured agreements with fourteen major food retailers, including Yum! Brands, McDonald's, Compass Group, and Walmart. In 2010, the campaign resulted in the creation of the Fair Food Program (FFP), following an historic agreement between the CIW and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange to implement the "Fair Food Code of Conduct" on 90% of the state's tomato farms, affecting approximately 30,000 acres of production and tens of thousands of workers.

Awards and recognition

The CIW has received a wide array of honors and recognition, including:

  • 2006 - Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award, Freedom Network USA, for outstanding contributions to combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery in the U.S.
  • 2007 - Anti-Slavery Award, Anti-Slavery International of London (world's oldest human rights organization) for exceptional contribution towards tackling modern-day slavery in the U.S. agricultural industry.
  • 2008 - Sister Margaret Cafferty Development of People Award, Catholic Campaign for Human Development.
  • 2010 - Adela Dwyer-St. Thomas of Villanova Peace Award, Villanova University, Center for Peace & Justice Education.
  • 2010 - People of the Year, Fort Myers (FL) News-Press, in recognition of the CIW's "years of groundbreaking advocacy" and "landmark efforts, which have far-ranging implications beyond Southwest Florida."
  • 2010 - Hero Acting to End Modern-Day Slavery Award, U.S. Department of State. On the occasion of the State Department's release of the 10th annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, which for the first time included the United States in its rankings. In recognition of "perseverance against slavery operations in the U.S. agricultural industry" and "determination to eliminate forced labor in supply chains."
  • 2012 - Growing Green Award, Natural Resources Defense Council, for leaders and innovators in the field of sustainable food and agriculture.
  • 2013 - Freedom from Want Medal, Roosevelt Institute, in recognition of creating "a sustainable blueprint for worker-driven corporate social responsibility, winning fairer wages; work with dignity; and freedom from forced labor and violence in the workplace"
  • 2014 - Clinton Global Citizen Award, Clinton Global Initiative, in recognition of the Fair Food Program as "a breakthrough, worker-driven approach to verifiable corporate accountability recognized by the United Nations and the White House for its unique effectiveness."
  • 2015 - Presidential Medal for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking in Persons, "by pioneering the Fair Food Program, empowering agricultural workers, and leveraging market forces and consumer awareness to promote supply chain transparency and eradicate modern slavery on participating farms."
  • 2017 - MacArthur Genius Fellowship awarded to CIW Co-Founder, Greg Asbed, for pioneering a “visionary strategy… with potential to transform workplace environments across the global supply chain”
  • 2018 - ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism from the Puffin Foundation and the Abraham Lincoln Brigades Archives. "In support of their continued efforts to protect the rights of agricultural workers, prevent involuntary servitude, and create a food supply chain that is fair from bottom to top."
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