They came to America in search of a better life. The work in the agricultural fields of Florida they knew would be tough. But it was much worse than that. And so they spoke out during a 50-mile march.
They gathered in Pahokee near an old inn where not too long ago people who looked like them were held captive at night behind locked gates strung with barbed wire.
It was a Tuesday when the crowd of mostly current and former farmworkers marched down the agricultural roads through the belly of Florida.
After 12 miles they stopped. Picking up where they left off the next morning.
Why We Marched: Coalition of Immokalee Workers march on Palm Beach
As they got closer to the group’s final destination on the island of Palm Beach, the energy grew.
Along the way, the curious had questions, some eager to learn more about the Fair Food Program, a decade-long initiative where major retailers agree to only do business with growers who provide the farmworkers with humane working conditions.
Under the agreement the growers must allow a Fair Food worker to come to the farms and camps and inform the workers of their rights. The growers must also allow for routine inspections where workers can freely tell investigators about the working conditions. If the growers won’t adhere to these guidelines, the retailers must agree to take their business elsewhere.
The retailers must also agree to pay an additional one penny per pound for tomatoes they are buying. This money then comes back to the farmworker in the form of a bonus.
A produce truck led the way from rural roads over a bridge surrounded by yachts and mansions. Jimmy Cliff’s upbeat Reggae Song, “You can get it if you really want” plays in the background as a man blars into the a microphone that modern-day slavery still very much exists fields not associated with the fair food program.
His words are a reason they march.
******
Lupe Gonzalo was 20 and far from her home in Guatemala when she learned the promise of a better life in the agricultural fields of Florida was tantamount to a lie.
Rousted from bed around 4 a.m. she’d toil under Florida’s relentless sun picking tomatoes until night fell, arriving back to camp around 8 p.m.
The next morning was same: Grueling work filling one 32-pound bucket of tomatoes after the other without shade breaks or water. She earned about 45 cents for each 32-pound bucket.
Gonzalo did all this, day-in and day-out. She lived in fear of speaking up. But one day, it was just too much. She asked for some water.
She was told to drink from the ditch.
This is why Lupe Gonzalo marches.
*****
A young Gerardo Reyes Chavez dared to speak up, saying the meals the grow operation provided migrant workers were making them ill. Having just arrived from Mexico to pick tomatoes, Reyes asked if he could get $20 to buy some food.
He was fired.
Addressing the crowd along the parade route, he says he will not permit these kinds of abuses any longer.
This is why Gerardo Reyes Chavez marches.
*****
Silvia Sabanilla suffered frequent sexual assault in the fields. Supervisors would cart her and other women off with the promises of different work.
Again, this was another lie the migrant workers were told.
This is why Silvia Sabanilla marches.
******
About 90 percent of the tomatoes grown in Florida are currently monitored by the Fair Food Program. Fourteen major retailers have joined alliances with the group, but that only represents about 20 percent of the market.
A focus of the march was to celebrate how far farmworkers have come in the past decade but also to draw attention to hold-outs like Wendy’s and Publix and Kroger supermarkets.
“Wendy’s escuchen estmos en la lucha,” the demonstrators chant.
In English that translates to: Listen Wendy’s, we are in the fight.
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Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Jelfino Salas rest on his sign as he watches the rally program before the last two miles of the march. Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work, Farmworkers and allies marched the 45 plus miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Jelfino Salas rest on his sign as he watches the rally program before the last two miles of the march. Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work, Farmworkers and allies marched the 45 plus miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Tomato baskets are used as drums. Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Tomato baskets are used as drums. Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Iris Zunida of Orange County, CA, came to the march to support the farmworkers. She is part of a farmworkers group that is looking to do the same thing in California. Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A group of farmworkers performed a skit depicting life before and after the Fair Food Program. Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A mother and daughter wait for the last two miles of the march to begin. Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
A group of farmworkers performed a skit depicting life before and after the Fair Food Program. Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
A group of farmworkers performed a skit depicting life before and after the Fair Food Program. Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Farmworkers and their allies marched on Palm Beach. Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUMarchFarmworkersEnd03202023AM
Jelfino Salas rest on his sign as he watches the rally program before the last two miles of the march. Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work, Farmworkers and allies marched the 45 plus miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
High school student Ozzy Santana was resting near a Publix where the group stopped on the fourth-day of a five-day march to denounce the supermarket giant’s refusal to join the Fair Food Program.
Ozzy isn’t a farmworker, but the son of one:
Born shortly after his mother arrived in Immokalee, he remembers his mother coming home bruised and worn out.
He said that as a young growing boy there was no guarantee his mother would have enough money for three meals a day: “It’s the least I can do for the sacrifices she made.”
And this is why Ozzy Santana and close to 500 others march.
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