Student/Farmworker Alliance

I didn’t even think to realize where the food I ate everyday was coming from until I heard Raj Patel speak and watched all the videos on storyofstuff.com. When I was younger I didn’t feel like I was in control of the food I consumed because everything was provided for by my parents. Even here at UCLA I feel limited by the options given on campus. Just because a certain restaurant chain is highly popular and is located just about everywhere doesn’t necessarily mean it is a honest business. Being a popular food chain does not give the right to exploit workers, which many fast food chains do. There are many suppressed farmworkers that supply goods to fast food industries that are being stripped of social and economic justice.

Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) is a national network of students organized in direct partnership with farmworkers to eliminate sweatshop workers and modern day slavery in the fields. SFA is partnered with the Coalition of Immokalee (CIW), which is a membership-led organization of mostly Mexican, Guatemalan, Mayan Indian immigrants, and other low-wage workers in southwest Florida.

The SFA sides with farmers to create a path to a better world. They do this through education, action, and leadership development.

SFA was part of the three largest victories against corporate greed:

• Taco Bell: Between 2002 and 2005 22 high schools and colleges prevented Taco Bell restaurants and sponsorships as a part of SFA’s “Boot the Bell” campaign. In March 2005 Taco Bell and its parent company Yum! A brand, which is the world’s largest restaurant corporation, accepted all of the boycott’s demands. They agreed to work with the CIW to improve the sub-poverty wages and working conditions of farmworkers in its tomato supply chain.
• McDonald’s: After years of intense campaigning, in April 2007 the CIW reached a landmark agreement with McDonalds, the worlds largest single restaurant chain, to take responsibility for exploitation of farmworkers.
• Burger King: In 2008 Burger King agreed to work with the CIW after relentless campaigning.

If you click on resources and then on action on the website, it lists a number of ways to get involved. Some ideas are:

· Hold a rally on campus

· Organize a delegation and present a demand letter

· Re-appropriate comment cards in your dining halls

· Host a film screening

· And much more!

http://www.sfalliance.org/action.html

http://www.sfalliance.org/index.html