Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice
Coalition of Immokalee Workers
For its work in helping to end slavery
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| Lucas Benitez | Gerardo Reyes Chavez |
The 17th Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice was presented in May 2009 to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW)1 for its work to eliminate modern-day slavery in the agricultural industry. CIW fights slavery by uncovering, investigating, and assisting in the federal prosecution of slavery rings preying on hundreds of farm workers.
The coalition, which began in 1993 with six migrant workers in Immokalee, Florida, now represents 4000 agricultural laborers and organizes thousands more. The coalition fights for workers’ rights, fair wages, better working conditions, decent housing, and an end to indentured servitude. Its anti-slavery campaign has helped to bring a number of successful court cases involving more than 1000 workers and more than a dozen employers in the past decade.
The award was presented on Friday, May 8, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. Mr. Lucas Benitez and Mr. Gerardo Reyes Chavez, both farmworkers and longtime labor organizers with the coalition, accepted the award on behalf of the organization and spoke about its work.