UI organizations observe Farmworker Awareness Week
The hands that pick the produce grown and consumed across the United States go without recognition, said Elena Perez, University of Idaho sophomore and Movimiento Activista Social (MAS) activist.
Perez said families work tirelessly for little money while sometimes being sprayed with pesticides, and work without breaks in the hot sun without access to shade, clean water and in some cases, restrooms.
Kira Hunter | Argonaut
Members of CIW protest outside of local Wendy’s as part of national protest for the signing of Fair Food Agreement, March 29, in conjuction with Farmworker Awareness Week.
“Forget about where these people come from,” Perez said. “It is not about who these people are, it is about human rights.”
To observe National Farmworker Awareness Week, MAS organized a protest Sunday to pressure Wendy’s to join the Fair Food program and buy tomatoes from suppliers and farms that ensure farmworkers are treated fairly, able to report abuse and harassment, have access to shade and are paid a higher wage.
“We are protesting because we want Wendy’s to sign on to the program,” Perez said. “Students have the power. These corporations target us because they have cheap food.”
Wendy’s is the only fast food chain that has not joined the program, Perez said. Every other fast food chain signed on to the program, including Chipotle and Wal-Mart.
About 20 people turned out to the protest, which was independent of any UI department or event. Protestors marched from the Teaching and Learning Center chanting with large signs.
“Wendy’s shame on you, farmworkers have families too,” protestors said carrying tomato shaped signs saying. “I want fair food … Farmworker rights are human rights.”
The UI and Moscow community have been at work planning and participating in other events over the last week to raise awareness about the plight of farmworkers across the country.
The UI College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) organized many of these events to also partake in National Farmworker Awareness Week.
“We are celebrating Farmworker Awareness Week because we serve students who come from migrant worker backgrounds,” said Evelina Arevalos assistant director of CAMP. “It is important for CAMP to celebrate it and bring awareness to that.”
Thursday, there was a screening of the documentary “Food Chains,” which showed the conditions of the farmworkers in Immokalee, Florida, and talks about the origin of the Fair Food Program. Saturday, there was musical performance by Corazones Salvajes, a Latin band from Guanajuato, Mexico. Monday there was a blood drive as part of the National Cesar E. Chavez blood drive challenge.
Kira Hunter | Argonaut
Elena Perez, leader of the local CIW group holds a sign protesting outside the Moscow Wendy’s Sunday.
Throughout the week, there was a long-sleeve shirt drive, to depict how farmworkers have long sleeves to protect themselves from the sun. All of events have led to a keynote speech by Yazmin Garcia Rico, youth director of the Student Action with Farmworkers.
“Even though she is young, she is very good at motivating others,” said Victor Canales-Gamino, CAMP recruiter. “She is very passionate. She is very hands on.”
Canales-Gamino came to the U.S. from Mexico with his parents when he was just 8 years old. As a child, he would go the fields with his parents, because there was nowhere else he could go. At the age of 11, he started working in the fields alongside his mother and father to support the family.
“Any money I got was to support the family,” Canales-Gamino said. “(It) put food on the table and paid the bills.”
The managers who work to organize the farmworkers often treat them unfairly and scare them with the threat of deportation to keep them in line, Canalee said.
“They didn’t see us as humans,” Canales-Gamino said. “They try to control the farmworkers a lot so they don’t want to speak out.”
Perez hopes raising awareness of the conditions in the fields and the way farmworkers are treated will help students make the connection between the produce they eat and the people who work the fields.
“If people are able to see the connection, then they will do something about it,” Perez said.
Canales-Gamino said the Fair Food program originated in Immokalee, where farmworkers were paid a penny for every pound of tomatoes they picked.
Kira Hunter | Argonaut
University of Idaho students attending “Food Chains” at the Kenworty Theater March 26, a free event for U of I Farmworker Awareness Week. From left to right: Pierce Benson, Josh Trumble, Brandon Morford, Kevin Bertsch
The goal of the program is to get farmers and suppliers to pay farmworkers a penny more for every pound of tomatoes picked. In doing so, Canales-Gamino said farmworkers would make twice as much as they do now and would cost consumers an extra $0.44 annually.
“There are a lot of corporations that have joined the agreement,” Rico said. “There is no reason why Wendy’s shouldn’t.”
The protest was not limited to Moscow, Canales-Gamino said, and many of the people involved in Sunday’s demonstration have plans to continue to raise awareness of farmworkers’ conditions.
“This is a movement nationwide to get students to pressure Wendy’s to sign the Fair Food Agreement,” Canales-Gamino said. “We are not against Wendy’s. We are against injustice.”
Graham Perednia can be reached at [email protected]