Between 2005 and 2010, McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King and Subway, along with several large food suppliers and growers, pledged to pay farmworkers an extra penny per pound for the Florida tomatoes they purchased. 

The deals were negotiated through the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). The last holdout, The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, signed on last November and seemingly erased any impediments to the payments.  But, Greg Schell of Florida Legal Services, which is bringing the class action suit on behalf of the farmworkers, says that’s not the case.

“There was all the this publicity about these great agreements that they got a lot of public goodwill out of and what’s frustrating to us is okay, that’s fine. Now, pay the money.  All we want is the money and it’s puzzling to my clients and puzzling to me as to why this can’t get resolved,” he said.

Schell says only McDonalds has responded to the lawsuit and representatives told him they were waiting from instructions from the CIW on how to get the money to the workers. 

The Coalition issued the following written statement.

“We don't support this lawsuit, because we think it's wrong on the facts and wrong on what it would impose.  We're confident the court will make the right call on this, and we're happy to wait until that time to make any further comment."

Florida Legal Service and the CIW have both worked for decades to improve working conditions and pay for migrant farmworkers.