Bringing Food Justice to Trader Joe's

Friday 13 August 2010

by: Laura Flanders | GRITtv | Video Report

Trader Joe's is one of a batch of new corporations wrapping their push for profits in feel-good green slogans and promises of fair labor practices. But at least a few of their products aren't coming from fair labor at all. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a community organization of farmworkers in Florida, have gotten other corporations like Whole Foods and Subway to sign a pledge to buy tomatoes from growers that have good labor practices--after workers in Florida have been rescued from conditions that have been legally deemed slavery.

Trader Joe's still refuses to sign, and there's an action coming up here in New York. We spoke to Kate Caldwell, Human Right to Work with Dignity Director at the National Economic & Social Rights Initiative, and Nancy Romer, General Coordinator with the Brooklyn Food Coalition, about the reasons behind the protest.

If you want to help bring food justice to Trader Joe's, there's an art-making party at the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective this Friday evening, August 13, and the protest is at 6pm on August 19, outside the Trader Joe's at 6th Avenue and W. 21st St. in New York City.

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Comments

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For the record, Whole Foods

Sat, 08/14/2010 - 13:46 — Anonymous (not verified)

For the record, Whole Foods and Subway did not sign an agreement to "buy tomatoes from growers that have good labor practices", they pledged to buy their tomatoes from farms with better labor practices, ie, who pay their pickers and entire cent more per pound of tomatoes. Trader Joe's need to do better, so do the rest of tomato buyers and consumers. If you want to end bad working conditions in Florida and elsewhere, you must be prepared to pay more at the market for your tomatoes too.

I am desolated! I thought

Sun, 08/15/2010 - 00:23 — mia (not verified)

I am desolated! I thought that Trader Joe's was the answer!
Although I live in Canada, I make every effort to find Trader Joe's when I visit the US.
German billionaires owning me Trader Joe! Horrible.
Next time I enter a Trader Joe it will be to seek out organic fair trade coffee only.
"Two Buck Chuck" forsooth. I should have known better!

I began shopping at Trader

Sun, 08/15/2010 - 14:59 — E. Gamble (not verified)

I began shopping at Trader Joe's original store in South Pasadena, CA some forty years ago. Their stores were among the first to promote "ecology consciousness" with reusable cloth grocery bags, etc. Joe Colomb (sp?), the founder of Trader Joe's, must be spinning in his grave!

The video isn't working for

Sun, 08/15/2010 - 20:45 — Anonymous (not verified)

The video isn't working for me, either. I did see the opening appeal, but I found it rather transparent. What did the farmworker say?

(a) He makes 50.00 per certain amount of tomatoes. What does that translate as, however, in terms of how much a tomatoe picker makes per day? There are a lot of Americans right now who can't make 50. in a whole day.

(b) He says his fingers get messed with picking. Well, that happens with a lot of different kinds of work that I've done to. But no one is weeping their eyes for me.

truthout, why did you take

Sun, 08/15/2010 - 22:06 — Anonymous (not verified)

truthout, why did you take down my post about whether or not this is something being engineered by Whole Foods?

I am not prepared to pay

Sun, 08/15/2010 - 22:11 — Anonymous (not verified)

I am not prepared to pay more at my market for tomatoes. The prices are already way too high for non-organic.

I'm sure Laura Flanders and the women being interviewed have enough income to do so, but most Americans are concerned about their food prices.

I wonder if they're half as concerned about prisoners in Colorado being used for farm labor at a wage of .60/day. After Colorado shipped the immigrants out.

I'd like to know if Whole Foods has something to do with this campaign against Trader Joes. Since TJ has a much better labor record, and that disgraceful Whole Foods CEO fought against opening up Medicare and after he signed a crummy deal selling out his own employees to a health insurance company with catastrophic and high deductibles. He'd rather see them with that than full coverage under Medicare!