CIW Supermarket Campaign Targets Publix, Kroger and Trader Joe’s

CIW Supermarket Campaign Targets Publix, Kroger and Trader Joe’s

CIW Supermarket Campaign Targets Publix, Kroger and Trader Joe’s

With the exception of Whole Foods, the US supermarket industry plays an active role in farmworker exploitation.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

For decades, Florida’s farmworkers have faced terrible abuses and brutal exploitation. Workers frequently earned sub-poverty wages for toiling sixty to seventy hours per week in season; some have even been chained to poles, locked inside trucks, beaten and robbed of their pay. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) was founded in 1993 to take on these abuses.

The Nation has written about the CIW many times before. A community-based worker organization that helped expose a half-dozen slavery cases and trigger the freeing of more than 1,000 workers, the CIW advocates on behalf of seasonal workers in Florida for higher wages, better living conditions, respect from the industry and an end to indentured servitude.

The CIW has been remarkably successful in convincing the country’s four largest fast-food companies (McDonald’s, Yum Brands, Burger King and Subway) and three of the largest foodservice providers (Compass Group, Aramark and Sodexo) to sign Fair Food agreements with the CIW, securing higher wages and numerous workplace rights for Florida’s tomato pickers. These agreements have made a real difference in people’s lives.

My colleague Greg Kaufmann recently detailed the CIW’s latest victory—a hard-fought agreement with Pacific Tomato Growers, one of the five largest growers in the nation with more than 14,000 acres in the United States and Mexico, which stands to increase workers’ annual earnings from about $10,000 to approximately $17,000. 

Now, the coalition’s focus falls squarely on the $550 billion supermarket industry. With the exception of Whole Foods, which signed an agreement with the CIW nearly two years ago, the US supermarket industry plays an active role in farmworker exploitation. Publix, Ahold, Kroger and Trader Joe’s all pack a particularly heavy punch given their market power in the produce industry, and all of them are refusing to address the same workplace exploitation issues its corporate brethren have made peace with.

This new video demonstrates the brutal conditions these supermarket chains are being asked to redress.

Send an e-mail today to the CEO’s of Publix, Ahold, Kroger, and Trader Joe’s to demand they start working with the CIW to protect human rights in their Florida tomato supply chain.

Then, take out your calendar and save two dates: This coming spring, farmworkers from Immokalee and allies from across the country will be gatherin, not once but twice, to call for fair contracts for farmworkers.

 

  • On Sunday, February 27, they’ll be in Quincy, Massachusetts, for a protest at Ahold’s US headquarters.
  • Then, on Saturday, March 5, following a week-long tour back down the east coast, activists will assemble in Tampa, Florida, for a second major protest, this time in Publix’s backyard.

Help spread the word about this campaign and send the message that it’s high time for the supermarket industry to join the growing movement for Fair Food.

Support independent journalism that exposes oligarchs and profiteers


Donald Trump’s cruel and chaotic second term is just getting started. In his first month back in office, Trump and his lackey Elon Musk (or is it the other way around?) have proven that nothing is safe from sacrifice at the altar of unchecked power and riches.

Only robust independent journalism can cut through the noise and offer clear-eyed reporting and analysis based on principle and conscience. That’s what The Nation has done for 160 years and that’s what we’re doing now.

Our independent journalism doesn’t allow injustice to go unnoticed or unchallenged—nor will we abandon hope for a better world. Our writers, editors, and fact-checkers are working relentlessly to keep you informed and empowered when so much of the media fails to do so out of credulity, fear, or fealty.

The Nation has seen unprecedented times before. We draw strength and guidance from our history of principled progressive journalism in times of crisis, and we are committed to continuing this legacy today.

We’re aiming to raise $25,000 during our Spring Fundraising Campaign to ensure that we have the resources to expose the oligarchs and profiteers attempting to loot our republic. Stand for bold independent journalism and donate to support The Nation today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel

Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x