More than a dozen U.S. restaurant chains and retailers have signed on to a voluntary initiative called Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) Fair Food Program to pay an extra penny per pound for tomatoes to support farm workers, according to CBS News. Companies that have signed include McDonalds, Chipotle, Trader Joes, and last year Walmart, which sells 20 percent of America's tomatoes. Walmart's joining was featured in the 2014 documentary, "Food Chains."
"We believe that by signing up to the Fair Foods Program, that we can have a major impact on the sustainability and the viability of the whole supply chain," said Walmart Senior Vice President Tom Leech.
There are still about a million migrant farm workers in the U.S. The population of towns like Immokalee, Fla., swells every winter when migrants and their families move here looking for work.
Along with the penny premium, growers must have zero tolerance for forced labor, child labor, and sexual harassment. Other standards, such as mandated shade and mandatory worker training, go beyond what is legally required.
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