Abstract
Reviewed by: Elsa Underhill, Deakin University, Australia
In recent times, Australian food retailers have been asked repeatedly to explain what they are doing to eliminate the risk of exploitation of workers at the bottom of their supply chain, most notably following the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) Four Corners exposé ‘Slaving Away’ (ABC, 2015) and during the Senate enquiry resulting in the Report ‘A National Disgrace: The Exploitation of Temporary Work Visa Holders’ (Australian Senate, 2016). In their defence, retailers typically point to their Codes of Ethical Conduct and the like. This book by Susan Marquis sets out why those responses are not good enough and what can be done to improve employment conditions down the supply chain. The objective of Marquis’ book is to provide an account of the development and implementation of the Fair Food Program based in Floridas USA and explain why it has been rated as the most effective of all supply chain regulations in existence today.
The Fair Food Program was developed by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) over an extended period beginning in the early 1990s. Concern about the failure of ad hoc prosecutions to improve employment outcomes amongst tomato pickers in Florida led two paralegal workers to seek systemic change across the industry. Both had a background in activism in Central America, and they initially worked with pickers with similar backgrounds to encourage worker activism in a context where violence and poverty had traditionally deterred workers from speaking out. Over time, through the use of extraordinarily engaging and creative campaigns, they enrolled major fast-food buyers into a programme that requires them to purchase tomatoes from growers who meet minimum standards which extend well beyond statutory requirements (of which there are few for agricultural workers in the USA). These standards are highly detailed (supported by a 40-page manual), and are based upon workers’ experience of adverse conditions and tomato picking specific practices. The standard also requires buyers to pay an additional ‘penny per pound’ for all tomatoes purchased, which is passed through growers to the pickers.
The CIW tackled Taco Bell first, which signed onto the programme after 4 years of campaigning, including national boycotts, lengthy ‘Truth tours’ and removal of outlets from university campuses and the like. McDonald’s was approached soon after, eventually signing on after 2 years of campaigning. Some buyers who entered the programme later did so of their own volition, whilst yet others are still subject to CIW campaigns that have been ongoing for several years. The CIW was joined in its campaigns by faith groups, university students (formalised through the Student/Farmworker Alliance) and consumers who spread knowledge about the level of exploitation and encouraged further boycotting of buyers. After signing up a small but significant group of buyers, the CIW turned to campaigning amongst growers to persuade them to also join the programme. Growers signed on quickly once the first major grower had agreed to participate. Buyers agree to only purchase from growers complying with the scheme. Market pressures work on both buyers and growers to facilitate compliance with this programme. Buyers are subject to consumer pressures and are keen to protect their public image, whilst growers lose market share if they breach the required standards and are suspended from supplying buyers in the programme. The latter is regarded as far more effective than schemes that impose loss of certification too removed from consumers to be influential. That these growers supply almost all winter tomatoes to the USA market strengthens the interdependence between buyers and growers.
The CIW established an independent organisation, the Fair Food Standards Council (FFSC), led by a retired New York Judge, that audits and promotes compliance amongst growers. Through extensive education and auditing (with a minimum of 50% of workers interviewed by the FFSC at every audit), and an effective complaints hotline (that requires a 48-hour response to worker concerns, with most resolved within 14 days), supported by an extensive database of growers including their record of compliance, workers become continuous monitors adding further compliance pressures upon growers. Unsurprisingly, the programme has become a model for programmes seeking to improve employment conditions by utilising pressure points in the supply chain.
Marquis provides a detailed account of these developments, followed by an appraisal of why the programme has been so effective. She commences by introducing the key characters in Chapter 1, before expanding upon the tools used to promote activism and confidence amongst the migrant worker community in the early 1990s. Chapter 2 chronicles a series of campaigns against growers (including prosecuting for modern slavery), and an emerging realisation that corporate buyers of the product, not the growers, controlled the market forces that underpinned worker exploitation. In Chapters 3 and 4, the lengthy campaigns targeting Taco Bell and Yum! (its corporate parent, which also owns brands such as Kentucky Chicken) are outlined, along with the steps involved in developing a code of conduct. It is at this point that the CIW realises that the only code of conduct that can be effective in lifting employment standards is one which they write themselves. Interestingly, in response to these developments, the growers’ employer association developed its own code of conduct, which quickly fell into disrepute when ‘slaves’ escaped from a certified grower’s property. Chapter 5 details the CIW’s expectations of what a code of conduct should achieve, and why commercial external audit companies could not deliver on ensuring compliance with such a code. This is followed by an account of the audit, complaint and enforcement processes developed by the CIW in conjunction with the FFSC, in Chapter 6. It is this chapter which sets out most clearly how demanding an audit process needs to be in order for it to effect change. By 2012, the CIW were turning to supermarket chains as the next tier of major buyers to sign into the programme. In Chapter 7, we learn of the difficulties of drawing supermarkets into a Fair Food programme compared to fast food outlets with a narrow product range and a socially conscious youth customer base. Nevertheless, in 2013, Walmart joined the programme following the revelation of slave conditions in Mexican tomato farms supplying Walmart. In the penultimate chapter, Marquis summarises the benefits to each of the parties involved in the Fair Food Program. The benefits to workers are clear, and include higher pay, better occupational health and safety, less violence and the eradication of forced labour. Growers, on the other hand, have benefited from a more stable workforce, including a second generation of farmworkers because it is now a viable way to earn a living, and a semi-protected market for their product because buyers in the scheme can only buy Florida tomatoes from those growers also participating in the programme. Buyers have benefited by meeting the shifting preference of consumers towards more socially responsible products. The concluding chapter asks whether this scheme can be a model for other industries, whilst summarising why the scheme has been effective. This chapter will be of particular interest to those interested in experimenting with similar models in different contexts.
Marquis, Dean at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, undertook 6 years of research to produce this book. During this time, she developed an intimate knowledge and admiration of the critical players in the development and implementation of the Fair Food Program. This adds value to the text, but at a price. An unfortunate weakness of Marquis’ book is poor editing. The book is written in a very personable style, but the level of detail about the characters making up this remarkable story distracts from the overall aim of explaining the how and why of the Fair Food Program. A shorter, more concise account could offer great benefit to a wider audience. Also, the chapter titles offer little indication of the content of chapters, and the absence of sub-headings adds further to the mystery of which way a chapter will unfold. Notwithstanding these weaknesses, the book should be essential reading for those interested in supply chain regulation, practitioners, students and academics alike. It details the complexity of utilising market pressures within supply chains to generate change, and the importance of empowering workers to continually monitor conditions to ensure compliance with such programmes. It will be interesting to see how many similar schemes evolve in the future.