MIAMI HERALD

September 11, 2009

Florida tomato grower will raise workers' wages

A Central Florida tomato grower broke away from the pack and signed a deal to improve wages.

By ELAINE WALKER

Chipotle Mexican Grill is going directly to one of the Florida tomato growers to improve wages for the migrant workers who harvest the company's tomatoes.

The Denver-based burrito chain announced that it reached an agreement with East Coast Growers and Packers to pay workers an additional penny per pound for all Chipotle tomatoes they pick. The pay will go from 50 cents for a 32-pound bucket to 82 cents per bucket, marking a 64 percent increase.

The deal could mark a major turning point in the long-running efforts by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to improve the wages and working conditions of the migrant workers who pick Florida's tomatoes.

The farmworker activist group had reached agreements with Burger King, McDonald's, Subway, Taco Bell and Whole Foods to pay workers the higher wages. But most of that money sits in escrow accounts and has never gotten to the workers.

While Chipotle had been in discussions with CIW, the company didn't want to sign a deal that wasn't going to yield results.

``We were looking for a way to address the issue that actually benefits the workers now versus some point in the future,'' said Chris Arnold, a spokesman for Chipotle.

The missing link in past deals has been the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, which since 2007 has threatened fines against its members for participating. Two growers participated in the Taco Bell deal for two years, but the rest of the deals were never implemented.

The growers have argued that they can't participate because of legal issues with a third party dictating the terms of its workers' employment. They've also complained about the difficulty of tracking who picks tomatoes that ultimately end up on a Burger King Whopper or a Chipotle burrito.

Rather than fight with the rest of the industry, East Coast Growers decided in the last few weeks to drop out of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange and strike a deal with Chipotle.

``I would rather be unpopular with my competition and do the right thing,'' said Batista Madonia Jr., sales manager for the family-owned company. ``I believe when you do the right thing for your worker, it gives you a better worker and a better company.''

Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, said he was not familiar with the details of the agreement between East Coast and Chipotle. But that the the growers organization remains a voluntary one.

``Everyone is free to make whatever business decision they choose to make,'' Brown said.

East Coast Growers was started in 1956 by Madonia's parents and has been based in central Florida for 30 years. The company describes itself as one of the top three tomato growers in the state, planting about 7,000 acres of tomatoes in Florida. East Coast also owns three packing houses in Florida, plus it has growing and packing operations in Virginia.

Madonia said he is already in discussions with all of the other major fast-food chains about the ability to handle their business and implement the agreements with the CIW. While Chipotle is a small user of Florida tomatoes, Subway is the biggest user of all restaurants and Burger King would also be near the top.

``If it brings me extra business that's great,'' Madonia said. ``If not, it still helps my workers live a better life and it doesn't cost me anything.''

Madonia said he is working with the repacking houses on the mechanism for tracking how many tomatoes a worker has picked that are ultimately bought by Chipotle or any other restaurant chain.

``Every farmer has always faced situations where people say it can't be done,'' he said. ``We always find a solution.''