The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, who represents farm workers, announced that Trader Joe's has signed a Fair Food Agreement with the group. The CIW partners with other groups to push for better working conditions and pay for farm workers. The group has focused on the tomato supply chain, urging the companies that buy large quantities of tomatoes to pay a penny more per pound, a move that will help the farmworkers. Last year the group pressured Taco Bell into signing an agreement. The CIW has also gotten many of the growers to sign agreements that will help improve working conditions to farmworkers. Trader Joe's is the second supermarket to sign an agreement, after Whole Foods.
See "Trader Joe's Caves to Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Signs Fair Food Agreement", Josh Eidelson, In These Times, February 12, 2012