We recently shared our 2023 Impact Report of highlights from the past year, like launching our Food Workers Organizing Institute, hosting our member summit in Arkansas, and publishing a report on a decade of work on values-based purchasing. Now we want to share what we’re anticipating for the year ahead:
1. FARMWORKER TRIBUNAL
FCWA members from our farmworker committee are planning a bi-national farmworker tribunal in March 2024. The tribunal will take place over two days in New York City, where farmworkers will testify about the conditions they face on the job, and which rights and protections are needed.
We will focus on three key themes: Climate Justice, Freedom of Movement, and Health & Safety. Members are already conducting regional listening sessions to collect worker testimonies, and after the tribunal, we will produce a report to guide our collective work going forward
Our farmworker members have recently worked together to fight government attacks like the egregious Farm Workforce Modernization Act (which has failed to pass the Senate so far!), but we must do more than just fight defensively. Farmworkers must find their own solutions and create their own accountability process.
Stay tuned for more information about the tribunal and forthcoming report in 2024.
2. SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSPARENCY
The food supply chain is extremely opaque. Even after ten years working to shift how taxpayer dollars are spent on food under the Good Food Purchasing Program (see our Procuring Food Justice report for more info) we’ve only been able to obtain a sliver of the overall sourcing data we need.
Without uncovering supply chain data, workers can’t easily determine organizing targets, and communities can’t know where their taxpayer dollars are being spent on food. We are left instead to rely on corporate-friendly certifications and limited government inspections to tell us what is fair. That’s not going to work.
In 2024, we will continue working with members to conduct research mapping projects and advocate for publicizing supply chain data everywhere we are supporting values-based public food procurement.
3. SEEDING & SUPPORTING WORKER ORGANIZING
Finally, and as always: we will seed and support worker-led organizing along the food chain. We do this by amplifying and supporting our members’ campaigns, which run the gamut from demanding more permits for street vendors in NYC, to fighting anti-immigrant policies in Florida, to forming new independent unions in Washington and Oregon. We provide support in the form of peer-learning spaces, strategic advice, and cash infusions.
We’re also building the long-term infrastructure for food worker organizing by educating workers and organizers in our network through our Food Workers Organizing Institute.
Building a larger, stronger movement of food workers organizing is our mission. Thank you for supporting it in 2023, whether that meant standing up for workers in your community, donating to a worker campaign, or speaking to your friends about workers’ rights.
Your gift before January 1 helps us keep moving forward.