Clip file: Tomato workers in historic new labor pact

"From hardscrabble beginnings in a borrowed church meeting room in 1993, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has fought to transform the way Florida’s $400 million tomato industry treats its workers....Compass will pay a penny and a half more a pound for all tomatoes it buys annually. One cent goes directly to the workers; the other half-cent covers administrative costs. Tomato harvesters will now earn 82 cents for each 32-pound bucket they pick, up from 50 cents per bucket. The raise means their annual earnings could rise from about $10,000 to between $16,000 and $17,000. There are at least 30,000 migrant farmworkers in Florida, from which 95 percent of the nation’s tomatoes come between October and June."

The rest of the story: Tomato workers win new pay deal (Fort Myers News-Press 2009-09-26)

Resource: Coalition of Immokalee Workers, "a community-based worker organization" [whose] members are largely Latino, Haitian, and Mayan Indian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout the state of Florida." Formed in 1993, the organization has had major successes, including an historic agreement with Taco Bell in March 2005.