Take action for Fair Food
Weekend of Action Shifts Focus to Publix, Kroger and Ahold
Grocery Campaign: Call on Kroger, Ahold and Publix to work with the CIW
In November of 2007, 2008 and 2009 the PC(USA), along with many other institutions of faith and conscience, sent letters to major grocery, restaurant and foodservice corporations, including Kroger, Ahold, nd Publix, urging them to work with the CIW to address exploitation in the fields of their Florida tomato suppliers. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has also written letters to these grocery companies requesting that they meet and work with them to address exploitative wages and working conditions. Over the last several years Presbyterians across the country have sent postcards, dropped off manager’s letters when they shopped and engaged in peaceful actions at company stores and headquarters to emphasize that God intends fullness of life for all people and hears the cry of the poor.
Tomato pickers toil long days for 50 cents per 32-lb. bucket of tomatoes, with no right to overtime pay, no health insurance, no sick leave, no paid vacation and no right to organize to improve these conditions. In the most extreme cases, workers are held against their will and forced to work in modern-day slavery rings. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) has worked with the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI to investigate and help successfully prosecute seven cases of slavery in recent years, freeing more than 1,000 slaves.
The PC(USA) has been instrumental in helping the CIW in reaching groundbreaking agreements with Yum! Brands (Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and others), McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Whole Foods Market, Bon Appétit, Compass Group, Aramark, Sodexo foodservice and Trader Joe’s to:
- pay a penny per pound increase to tomato growers supplying these companies, requiring them to pass it along to improve farmworkers’ wages and
- work with the CIW to enforce a proven human-rights-based code of conduct to address abuses in the fields, which includes a zero tolerance policy for modern-day slavery.
- ensure a voice for farmworkers in monitoring improvements and reporting abuses.
We are insisting that major grocery chains, Kroger, Ahold and Publix do just what these other food giants have already done — forge agreements with the CIW that embrace these principles and implement them in the fields. While you may not recognize the name Ahold, you will recognize its subsidiaries, Stop ‘n Shop and Giant; the same with Kroger, which owns Dillons and many, many other chains. The CEOs of these grocery companies are the decision-makers on these matters for their local chains.
How You Can Help
Send Postcards
You can help by sending postcards to the CEO of the corporation whose grocery store is in your neighborhood. We have found that companies are very alert to what their consumer base communicates to them. Your witness matters. To order postcards email the Rev. Noelle Damico or call (631) 751-7076.
Generally, Kroger and its brands cover the West, Midwest and South. Ahold and its subsidiaries cover the Northeast. And Publix predominates in Florida and throughout the Southeast. (You are, of course, welcome to send postcards to all three companies!)
Kroger is based in Cincinnati but has 2,479 stores in 31 states under the following brands: Kroger, Ralph’s, King Soopers, Food 4 Less, Fry’s, Dillons, City Market, Fred Meyer, Smith’s, Foods Co., Hilander, Jay C, Pay Less, Owen’s, Scott’s, Gerbes, QFC.
Ahold is based in The Netherlands, and their U.S. office is in Quincy, Mass. They own 704 stores in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic under the following brands: Stop & Shop, Giant Foods and Martin’s.
Publix is based in Lakeland, Fla., and owns stores throughout Florida and the Southeast.
Drop off a Manager Letter
Download a Manager’s Letter and drop it off whenever you shop at your local grocery store. With your cart full, meet with the manager of the store. Explain that you are from a local Presbyterian congregation and that you care about how the food that you purchase is produced. You are concerned about the poverty wages and, in extreme instances, the slavery conditions faced by farmworkers harvesting tomatoes in Florida and want that grocery store to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to address this exploitation as other food buyers have already done. Urge the manager to pass on this communication to the CEO of Kroger, Publix, Ahold, or Trader Joe’s. If you have a different grocery chain in your area, use the general letter below and encourage the manager to share it with the company’s executives. (Managers are often required to share such communications up the chain of command).
Ahold
Stop ‘n Shop Manager Letter
Download
Giant Foods Manager Letter
Download
Martin’s Manager Letter
Download
Publix
Publix Store Manager Letter
Download
Kroger
Kroger Store Manager Letter
Download
General
General letter
Download
Other Supermarkets If you do not have a Trader Joe’s, Publix, Kroger or Ahold-owned grocery chain in your area, please feel free to speak with the manager of your local grocery store and inquire about whether the store sells Florida tomatoes. If so, there is a general manager’s letter that you can take to the company.
Send an email to supermarket CEOs urging them to sign a fair food agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers