#imokalee

[vrnessa]

Be Better Trader Joe's

You know Trader Joes? The grocery chain that bills itself as an ethical alternative to the big name stores? Well, it turns out they are not so friendly to the workers who pick the tomatoes they sell. Trader Joe's CEO is refusing to sign the Fair Food Agreement with the Coalition of Imokalee Workers - a group of farm workers from Florida who have successfully pressured corporate giants like McDonalds to agree to ensure that farm workers in their supply chains get treated humanely & get paid at least ONE PENNY more per pound of tomatoes they pick.

Take one moment & tell Trader Joe's that if they want to act like they're better than other grocery chains to BE BETTER than other grocery chains. We are talking about pennies here, people.The average rate today is 50 cents for every 32-lbs of tomatoes they pick, a rate that has remained virtually unchanged since 1980.

As a result of that stagnation, a worker today must pick more than 2.25 tons of tomatoes to earn minimum wage in a typical 10-hour workday — nearly twice the amount a worker had to pick to earn minimum wage thirty years ago.

Regardless of the way you feel about undocumented workers, the people who pick tomatoes are human beings. They deserve to be treated ethically, respectfully & with dignity. They have families, they love, they live & they just want to make a life for themselves. Most farmworkers today earn less than $12,000 a year. Please, take 2 minutes from your day & send a letter to Trader Joe's. You can find a form letter here: http://sumofus.org/campaigns/tjs-tomatoes/

[ihatecomingupwithnames]

Why Won't Supposedly Progressive Trader Joe's Sign an Agreement Not to Sell Slave Labor Tomatoes? It Will Only Cost a Penny Per Pound

...Before I got involved in the coalition,” says Perez, “a boss would scold me when I was in the shade or drinking water,” even in 105 degree heat. “He would say, if you want a break, get on the bus and leave and don’t come back to work for me." Now workers are guaranteed breaks where they can sit in the shade and eat and drink water. “You don’t have to eat around pesticides anymore.” Whereas he and other workers regularly used to come into work sick in order to keep their jobs, now they can stay home when they’re too sick to work. Before the agreement, says Otcoi, “When someone did complain they weren’t listened to, or sometimes they with fired. With the agreement we have the right to speak up without fear.” He says the agreements have ended an epidemic of sexual harassment and sexual assault where he works. Before, managers would make clear that sex was the price for an assignment to a less strenuous job... ...Trader Joe’s has publicly responded to the campaign with a “Note to Our Customers” that calls the CIW’s Fair Food agreements “overreaching, ambiguous, and improper,” without noting that such agreements have already been signed by competitor Whole Foods, major fast food chains, and the growers that provide most of the country’s tomatoes. The company’s letter passes responsibility onto its wholesalers, who buy tomatoes from growers and sell them to Trader Joe’s (and have less to fear from public embarrassment). In a point-by-point rebuttal to the letter, CIW retorts that “Apparently, Trader Joe’s is better at innuendo than math.” CIW notes that when it began discussions with the wholesalers -- several separate competing companies -- the wholesalers said they needed to talk to Trader Joe’s before moving forward, but then stopped returning CIW’s calls...