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Initiative to end
Human Trafficking in NE Ohio
The Collaborative Initiative to End Human Trafficking is
sponsoring several presentations across northeastern Ohio by
members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. The
Coalition (CIW) is a community-based organization of migrant
farmworkers headquartered in Immokalee, Florida.
These workers have long been subjected to brutal conditions in
the fields, including sub-poverty wages, widespread labor rights
violations and human trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery.
According to their website, since 1997, the CIW has been active
in the discovery, investigation and prosecution of several human
trafficking operations in Florida, helping to liberate over
1,000 workers.
At the various area programs, the CIW representatives will
describe their personal experiences and interact with their
audiences. They will highlight the connection between labor
trafficking and the food we eat, challenging audiences to take
positive action to promote fair wages and working conditions in
our fields and change our shopping practices to benefit those
who bring produce to our tables.
The CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food seeks to improve wages and
working conditions for Florida tomato pickers by calling on
major buyers of tomatoes to pay one penny more per pound for
their tomatoes, ensure that this penny is passed down directly
to farmworkers, and work together with the CIW to establish and
implement a code of conduct in their supply chains. Thanks to
CIW’s efforts and those of Fair Food activists, Florida tomato
growers and a number of food industry leaders (including
McDonalds, Subway and Whole Foods) have made strides in
implementing CIW’s fair food principles.
One of the major sites for the CIW presentations is the Ohio
Fair Trade Expo at John Carroll University, October
22, 2011, 9:00a.m.- 4:00 p.m. The Expo is free and open to
the public.
Other sites, dates and locations which are also free and open to
the public include:
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 5:00 p.m. at the Nord Center, 6140
S. Broadway, Lorain, OH 44053. (Call 440-204-4225 to register);
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Thursday, October 20, 2011, 7:00 p.m. at the West Shore
Unitarian Universalist Church, 20401 Hilliard Blvd, Rocky River,
OH;
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Sunday, October 23, 2011, 1:00 p.m. at the Unitarian
Universalist Congregation of Greater Canton, 2585 Eaton Street,
NE, Canton, OH.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is one of only two U.S.
recipients of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. CIW was
also recognized by the U.S. Department of State when one of its
representatives, Laura Germino, was chosen as a 2010
Trafficking in Persons Report hero. Among her many
accomplishments, Germino helped to develop curriculum for the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement on advanced investigative
techniques in human trafficking and for the National Sheriffs’
Association on first response to victims of crime. To learn
more about the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, go to
www.ciw-online.org.
The Collaborative Initiative to End Human Trafficking is a group
of concerned professionals whose mission is to educate and
advocate for the prevention and abolition of human trafficking
while connecting services on behalf of trafficked persons. For
more information, please call the Collaborative Initiative to
End Human Trafficking at 440-356-2254.
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