2010 was a big year for tomatoes. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a community-based organization of immigrant agriculture workers in Florida, drew national attention to the slavery conditions of Florida's tomato pickers through the non-profit's traveling Modern-Day Slavery Museum. CIW's Campaign for Fair Food won major victories, with food-service giants Compass Foods, Aramark, and Sodexo and Florida's third-largest tomato producer, East Coast Growers, agreeing to pay more for their tomatoes and abolish unfair working conditions in their supply chians. These companies join Taco Bell, Whole Foods, McDonald's, Burger King, and Subway in meeting the CIW's standards addressing farmworker wages and working conditions.
But the CIW's work is far from over. Trader Joe's and other major grocers continue to refuse to negotiate with CIW. Most recently, grocery retailer Publix not only refused to meet with CIW, but came out with a stunning statement justifying the supermarket chain's inaction.
Usually PR executives are pretty slick at skirting around awkward questions, but Publix's media and communications manager was direct and candid in his recent comments. When a reporter for Baldwin County Now asked spokesman Dwaine Stevens if Publix would meet with CIW, he said no. Then he went on to express how Publix just doesn't care about agricultural slavery in its supply chain. "If there are some atrocities going on, it’s not our business," Stevens said. "Maybe it’s something the government should get involved with.”
Not a grocery retailer's "business" to make ethical standards for its purchasing? And since when do status-quo-loving businesses think government is the answer, anyway? It's an upside-down world over at Publix.
Companies like Publix are increasingly in the minority. As more and more retailers and restaurants take the bold step toward ethical purchasing, the public is starting to take notice — and this is where we come in. Corporations may not be inclined to respond to workers' demands, but they are usually sensitive to consumers' demands.
According to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton (i.e. "the government"), ending slavery is everyone's responsibility. When she presented CIW's Laura Germino with the Trafficking in Persons Hero Award she stated, "All of us have a responsibility to bring this practice to an end... And we can’t just blame international organized crime and rely on law enforcement... It is everyone’s responsibility. Businesses that knowingly profit or exhibit reckless disregard about their supply chains... all of us have to speak out and act forcefully."
As consumers it's our responsibility to help end slavery by calling on companies like Publix to come to the table with CIW. You can demand this by signing our petition to Publix telling them to only sell slavery-free tomatoes.
Source: food.change.orgSlavery in Tomato Fields? "Not Our Business," Says Publix Supermarkets | Sustainable Food | Change.org
