News

Chipotle to improve tomato pickers wages

September 9, 2009

Chipotle Mexican Grill announced that it has reached an agreement with East Coast Farms, one of Florida's largest tomato growers, under which workers who harvest tomatoes for Chipotle will receive an additional penny per pound for tomatoes picked for Chipotle.

The agreement between Chipotle and East Coast Farms comes following months of discussion between Chipotle and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a community-based organization that has led a campaign to improve wages and working conditions for Florida farm workers.

Under the agreement with East Coast Farms, farm workers who pick tomatoes for Chipotle will see their pay go from 50 cents for a 32-pound bucket, to 82 cents for each 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick. That translates to a 64 percent increase for all of the tomatoes they pick for Chipotle.

"We have a decade-long track record of working to improve the nation's food supply system," said Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle. "Our efforts have always been rooted in doing the right things and in finding solutions that have a real impact. By working directly with East Coast Farms to improve wages and working conditions for workers who harvest tomatoes for Chipotle, we have taken another important step forward."

According to a news release, similar agreements between other large tomato buyers — like Burger King — and the CIW have been blocked by a Florida tomato industry cooperative. Under most of those agreements, money earmarked for farm workers is accumulating in escrow accounts rather than reaching the farm workers for whom it is intended. By working directly with East Coast Farms, Chipotle will be able to pass the additional wages directly to the workers.

"Chipotle has been a leader in driving change in the nation's food supply," said Batiste Madonia, sales manager with East Coast Farms. "When their representatives came to us to negotiate this agreement, we agreed that it was the right thing to do. With this framework in place, we hope to work with other companies that are looking to make similar improvements to wages and working conditions for Florida farm workers."