Three GSC members had the opportunity to visit the Coalition of Immokalee Workers down in Immokalee, Florida for the annual Encuentro (click here to read more about the amazing weekend!), a gathering of members of the Student/Farmworker Alliance. As the Coalition makes headway in its campaign against mainly-Florida grocery stories such as Publix, the SFA is focusing on the new campaign, Dine with Dignity. What’s it all about? Who’s involved? Why is it important? Hear about Dine with Dignity in the words of the many organizations and individuals fighting for fair food!
“Colleges and universities spend over $4 billion each year on food. This figure represents a significant portion of the national food system – one that young people can directly influence.”
-The Real Food Challenge
“In the United States… companies such as Sodexo… and Aramark provide meals, catering and vending machines to virtually every federal agency… 90 percent of universities, 40 percent of healthcare facilities, and 30 percent of schools. If you’ve eaten at a public cafeteria, you’ve probably eaten food sourced by one of these companies…”
-”Cafeteria Kickbacks: How food-service providers like Sodexo bilk millions from taxpayers”
“[Aramark's] buying power and vendor relationships maximize choices and minimize procurement costs…”
-Aramark Education: Financial performance & operational excellence”
“Sodexo has significant purchasing power… Our Supplier Code of Conduct sets out Sodexo’s desire to do business with suppliers, contractors and other partners who conduct their business based on responsible, ethical, social and environmental practices.”
-”Corporate citizenship at Sodexo: Our supply chain”
“But the motivations are not just sentimental. For colleges … buying organic, humanely grown, or local food has practical benefits. Although food expenditures can be a small part of the budget, food is a highly visible symbol of a college’s amenities and priorities.”
-”Colleges chew on local food phenomenon”
“Social responsibility in this country’s food industry is inevitable, and though the exploitation of Florida’s farmworkers remains unconscionable today, company by company we are building a path toward justice. The next steps are up to those companies that stand before us in the road ahead…”
- Comments by CIW, Burger King agreement press conference, April 2008
“From our college and university dining halls to the sweltering fields of Florida, multinational food service provider corporations such as Aramark and Sodexo — who hold lucrative contracts with our schools to deliver and serve the food we eat every day — must take responsibility for the dismal conditions in which their tomatoes are harvested. While such multinational corporations may seem like formidable obstacles to a student campaign for human rights in corporate supply chains and greater student participation in university contracting decisions, the Student/Farmworker Alliance is no stranger to taking on corporate giants as an integral partner in the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Campaign for Fair Food — and winning.
As tuition-paying students, as members of the campus community, as the captive consumers of the food service industry and an increasingly corporatized system of higher education, and as young people responsible for constructing a more just society — we deserve a voice in campus food procurement and food service decisions and policies. We demand real change and real responsibility from the food service industry and from our universities. Today, students across the country are asking: What is the food service provider industry waiting for? Another slavery sentencing in the federal courts? 30 more years of stagnant wages for tomato pickers? But we are prepared to do more than just ask; we stand poised to take action…”
-SFA Background on the Dine with Dignity Campaign
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