Farmworkers Call Upon Supermarkets to Do the Right Thing

Advocates from Tampa, FL, to Denver, CO, to Boston, MA, are gearing up for the launch of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' "Do the Right Thing Tour" this Sunday. From college students to fifth graders, farmworkers to concerned consumers, religious leaders to musicians, they're throwing a quote from Publix's founder back in the faces of those who think "atrocities" in their supply chain are not their business: "Don't let making a profit get in the way of doing the right thing."

Things will kick off with Boston's March to Stop Sweatshops, a little play on words (and logo) to target Stop & Shop's refusal to sign onto the Campaign for Fair Food. The supermarket's parent company, Ahold USA, has dug in its heel and continue to give a big fat "no" to working with CIW on making certain their shelves aren't stocked with tomatoes juicy with slavery. Then events will really heat up with a "Do the Right Thing" rally at a Publix supermarket in sunny Tampa, Florida. Once again, on Publix: these are the people who think "atrocities" committed to provide the food they sell don't concern them in the least.

While the tour will run all up and down the East Coast, offending supermarkets exist all over the country, and advocates have launched their own supporting campaign in locations such as Colorado, Texas, and Kansas -- because ending modern-day slavery matters no matter what your zip code.

The tomato growing industry should be red with shame over its high rates of human trafficking and rights abuses. Meanwhile, CIW's ongoing effort on behalf of farmworkers, particularly immigrant laborers more vulnerable to being taking advantage of, secured a monumental victory when the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange agreed to provide guaranteed abuse-free tomatoes to any company that signs onto the Campaign for Fair Food. Other food providers that have giving in to pressure from CIW to do the right thing include Whole Food, Burger King, McDonald's, and Subway.

The cost of ending slavery and exploitation? Just one penny per pound. That hardly seems like too much to ask of such massive, profitable supermarket chains -- if Publix really wants to claim they don't know where to get the cash, maybe they can start by taking it out of the salary of the public relations person who's so vocal about the unimportance of atrocities. I'm not sure what benefit he's providing to Publix, but I do know what benefit signing on with CIW would provide: thousands of guaranteed lives free from intimidation, abuse, and slavery.

Catch the Do the Right Thing tour if you can, and sign these petitions insisting that Stop & Shop and Publix supermarkets start making atrocities in their supply chain their business.

Photo credit: walknboston