The MacArthur Foundation awarded one of its $625,000 “genius grants” to Greg Asbed, one of three co-founders of the Coalition for Immokalee Workers (CIW). It said Asbed “is a human rights strategist developing a new model — worker-driven social responsibility — for improving conditions for low-wage workers within the 21st Century labor market.”
In the drive for better working conditions and higher pay for workers in Florida’s tomato industry, Asbed “was a principal architect of the coalition’s Fair Food Program,” said the foundation in describing Asbed’s career. Under the program, food companies agree to pay a higher price for tomatoes with the premium going directly to workers’ paychecks, while growers agree to a code of conduct on the farm. Since 2010, the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange and over a dozen food companies have signed onto the program.
With the success in the Florida program, Asbed “envisioned the potential for wider economic and social change, and together with colleagues, he designed the WSR (worker-driven social responsibility) framework,” said MacArthur. ” Asbed’s visionary strategy for WSR has the potential to transform workplace environments across the global supply chain.”
Asbed, Lucas Benitez and Laura Germino formed the CIW in 1993.
To read the foundation’s citation about Asbed or to see the list of other 2017 grantees, click here.