AMERICAN LEFT HISTORY

This space is dedicated to the proposition that we need to know the history of the struggles on the left and of earlier progressive movements here and world-wide. If we can learn from the mistakes made in the past (as well as what went right) we can move forward in the future to create a more just and equitable society. We will be reviewing books, CDs, and movies we believe everyone needs to read, hear and look at as well as making commentary from time to time. Greg Green, site manager

Thursday, March 21, 2019

From Protest to Party: Celebrating victory at U of Michigan! Coalition of Immokalee Workers

Coalition of Immokalee Workers<workers@ciw-online.org>

3/11/2019 9:10 AM

To alfredjohnson34@comcast.net

From Protest to Party: Celebrating victory at U of Michigan!

4 for Fair Food Tour rolls into Ann Arbor, spends a special Sunday with Michigan allies celebrating success in Boot the Braids Campaign at UM!

After more than a week on the road – and on the heels of an emotionally-charged march and protest at OSU in Columbus, Ohio – the bus and its many satellite vehicles carrying workers from Immokalee and their allies on the 4 for Fair Food Tour arrived in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Sunday, the site of the first major victory in the campus-based Boot the Braids Campaign.

In true CIW style, however, the celebration couldn’t begin before getting in a spirited, Saturday evening picket at a Wendy’s restaurant in nearby Ypsilanti! [...]

[...] Later, at the victory celebration, the crowded hall at Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Ann Arbor, heard not only from local allies with Washtenaw Solidarity with Farmworkers but also from Gerardo Reyes of the CIW, who delivered a moving talk about the difference between Wendy’s raw economic power, on the one hand, and the ultimately greater power of the human bonds formed in a partnership between determined workers and committed consumer allies like that at the heart of the Campaign for Fair Food:

"That is the most beautiful thing that can exist: Workers sharing their dream with consumers, and consumers supporting the idea that human beings should not be robbed of their dignity at their work place. Wendy’s doesn’t have a chance against us. The power that they have is cold, it’s structural, and it’s full of greed. And this power is a dead kind of power. We will all as workers continue with this struggle, until Wendy’s understands that the power we have built is rooted in love. This power and this love cannot be resisted by any force. As workers, we know that were going to win. We’ve already seen the changes in the fields: the elimination of sexual abuse, of modern day slavery.

The moment will arrive that we will have not just Wendy’s, but Kroger, and other corporations, and show the world that you can do business without having to crucify the dignity of workers and exploit them in the process.

Thank you for all the work you’ve done to win this victory at the University of Michigan. Wendy’s doesn’t know it yet, but they already lost. They will eventually see the error of their ways, and become partners. That will be possible thanks to all of you..."

Head over to the CIW website to read the Michigan photo update!

Coalition of Immokalee Workers

(239) 657 8311 | workers@ciw-online.org | www.ciw-online.org