The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) embarked on a 200-mile march from Fort Myers, Fla., to Lakeland to raise awareness about the Fair Food movement that has encouraged growers and big tomato buyers (Subway, McDonald’s, Burger King and companies that provide food for dining halls, etc.) to agree to higher wages and other worker protections. The march, which goes from March 3-17, will end at Publix headquarters to put the pressure on supermarket industry leaders who continue to refuse these protections. 

A Florida potato grower and its labor contractor have been accused of labor trafficking and taking advantage of workers, according to a federal lawsuit filed yesterday in Jacksonville by Florida Legal Services and Farmworker Justice. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, on behalf of two farm workers who say they were victims of labor trafficking and other violations of federal and state labor laws while employed in 2009 and 2010 by Bulls-Hit Ranch & Farm, a potato grower in Hastings, Fla.