As highlighted in a recent blog by The Nation, farmworkers in Florida have much to celebrate. The migrant farmworkers of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and their student, faith, and fair food allies have mobilized nationwide actions for more than a decade, making basic demands to the most powerful fast food corporations in the world: protect the human rights of farmworkers, put an end to modern-day slavery in the fields of Florida, and give farmworkers one penny more per pound of tomatoes they pick. This past week, East Coast Growers and the Compass Group (the world’s largest food-service company) have agreed to pass down the penny more per pound the farmworkers have earned in agreements with Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Subway. Although farmworkers and domestic workers are excluded from the 1935 U.S. National Labor Relations Act, which protects the right to fair working conditions, the right to join unions, and the right to overtime pay, these farmworkers have nonetheless fought for these inalienable human rights, and together with consumers’ demands not only for sustainable food, but fair food, they are successfully bending the arc of agriculture towards justice.

Photo by Scott Robertson:

As the state of California cuts funds in the face of the current economy and university regents meet to discuss drastic increases in student fees in the UC system, those most effected by these measures- the students themselves- are planning a walk-out today at 12:00pm. The students are exercising their right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression in demanding that their right to affordable education be fulfilled. The students recognize the problem posed by the economy, but are criticizing the priorities the state and regents have made in making the students and lowest-paid workers in the university system pay for the deficit. Rights organizations such as the Student Labor Action Project have noted how the administration has tried to co-opt student mobilization by making these important budget decisions in the summer months. So far, fourteen students have been arrested in demonstrations earlier this week. How do tuition increases in public education system impact racial and economic diversity on campuses? Will actions such as these in California spread to other colleges and universities around the country facing similar challenges?