Tomato suppliers meet restaurant's demands

Tomato suppliers meet restaurant's demands

RICHARD DYMOND and LAURA FIGUEROA
Bradenton Herald

MANATEE - To address the concerns of some of its customers, McDonald's Restaurants won't buy tomatoes from suppliers who don't give their farmworkers their full rights.

The fast-food giant has decided to force its suppliers, which include four local tomato packing houses, to follow guidelines developed by a new group with Florida roots called Socially Accountable Farm Employers (SAFE), said Jay Taylor of Taylor-Fulton Farms, one of several local growers who are part of the SAFE group.

One of the new rules calls for farmworkers to be paid directly by the grower, not a crew chief, and for growers to pay a picking rate at least equal to the minimum wage of $6.40 an hour.

Growers must also hire a bilingual ombudsman to handle the concerns of employees, most of whom are Hispanic, Taylor said.

Taylor, who supports the new guidelines, called it a watershed moment in the history of fresh produce.

"I'm enthusiastic," said Taylor, who sells to a company that sells to McDonald's. "At the end of the day, if my children don't have to see news reports alleging the mistreatment of farmworkers in their business, like I do now, I'll be happy. This is using the power of the marketplace to drive positive social change."

Manatee County's four large tomato packing houses - Harllee, Pacific Tomato, Taylor-Fulton and West Coast Tomato - have all played a role in establishing SAFE, Taylor said.

Farmworkers legally in the United States would seem to have everything to gain from the program.
News of the potential switch to hourly wages sat well with some of the county's farmworkers, while others who are in this country illegally pondered its effect on them.

"I think it would be a good thing," said Jose Luis Rodriguez. Rodriguez, who resides in Palmetto, is a migrant farmworker hailing from a small town just outside of Mexico's Federal District. "This way you can know your paycheck will be the same from week to week. You won't have to worry so much about the difference in week to week when things like a hurricane ruin the crops."

What participating growers say they are prepared to do aligns well with McDonald's Code of Conduct for Suppliers. That code, located on its corporate Web site, states:

"Our Code describes how we expect our suppliers to treat their employees. It also establishes procedural expectations, including a responsibility to ensure that subcontractors who work on products for the McDonald's System comply with the policy in the treatment of their employees. Agreement to comply with the Code is a condition of doing business with us."

Grower involvement, while necessary, spotlights a conflict of interest, Taylor admitted.

Since growers are handing down the certification that is the first requirement for meeting McDonald's growers standards, the growers essentially are certifying one another, Taylor said.

"That is one of the weaknesses in SAFE, that it needs more independent parties," Taylor said. "McDonald's recognized that, too."

To solve the problem, McDonald's advised the growers to reach out to the University of Miami ethics program and to Center for Reflection and Analysis in Hartford, Conn., to verify the benefits, Taylor said.

"We want the University of Miami to look at the entire process and shoot holes in it," Taylor said. "What we want to do is make sure it is the best it can be for our employees."

For Raquel Santiago and her husband, Arturo Sid, who both said they have not been to a doctor since arriving in this country four years ago and mainly nurse themselves with over-the-counter medicines, the allure of paying into the Medicaid/Medicare system is attractive - but neither of them have documents to be in this country legally.

"Yes, it would be nice to be paid hourly," Santiago said outside of her Palmetto duplex, carrying her 1-year-old daughter, Yasmin, in her arms. "But at the same time I don't have papers, so where would that money for the Medicaid go? I don't think I can be covered by that, so it would mean less money for me and my husband."

The issue of undocumented, illegal alien workers isn't exactly addressed by the new standards, either.

While growers must have documentation papers for each employee, they aren't required to do detective work to see if the Social Security cards and photo IDs they receive from prospective employees are valid, Taylor said.

"We are duty-bound, by the guidelines, to accept the Social Security card and photo, and we can't be detectives or discriminate," Taylor said.

As part of these new standards, McDonald's will not require growers to provide farmworkers with health or life insurance, free housing, or a retirement plan, Taylor said.

McDonald's buys one million boxes, or roughly 1.5 percent of all the 25-pound boxes of tomatoes produced by Florida growers every year, Taylor said.

Manatee County is one of the key tomato-producing regions in the state.

Harllee Packing, one of Manatee County's oldest tomato houses, is also adopting the new rules, Taylor said.

SAFE is a group that's working together but isn't completely formed, said Bob Spencer, vice president of West Coast Tomato.
"What we are trying to do is set up a group that will prevent the organizations that don't take care of their workers from being able to compete with organizations that are taking care of workers and treating them in the right way," Spencer said.

West Coast Tomato already follows all of SAFE's rules, Spencer said.

The problem began when McDonald's discovered that some of its suppliers were guilty of mistreating workers and demanded that some standards be set, Spencer said.

"McDonald's was under pressure," Spencer said.

The spokesmen for SAFE are Reggie Brown, chairman of the Florida Tomato Committee, and Mike Stuart, president of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, Spencer said.

Though Manatee County tomato growers are providing hourly pay, it still is not common in farms throughout Florida. Arturo Cid said he and his wife will most likely continue to travel to Madison, Fla., in May to pick pumpkins, eggplants and peppers.

"No matter what, you have to keep moving to where there is work," he said.

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 708-7917 or rdymond@HeraldToday.com. Laura Figueroa, Herald reporter, can be reached at 708-7906, or at lfigueroa@HeraldToday.com.