Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW)

Subject:

Your Letter:

I am contacting you to urge Trader Joe's to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), an internationally recognized farmworker organization, to address the sub-poverty wages and abuses faced by the farmworkers who pick your company's tomatoes.

Florida tomato pickers are among this country's most exploited workers.  They earn sub-poverty wages, lack most standard rights and benefits, and have not received a significant raise in over 30 years. In the most extreme cases, workers are held against their will in situations of modern-day slavery. There have been seven farm labor servitude operations – involving well over one thousand workers in total –  successfully prosecuted in Florida in the past dozen years. This summer, the Department of Justice unsealed indictments for two additional forced labor operations in Florida agriculture.

As a concerned consumer, I am calling on your company to sign a Fair Food agreement with the CIW. Similar agreements have already been reached between the CIW and nine leading food retailers, including fast-food companies McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, and Yum Brands; foodservice providers Compass Group, Aramark, Sodexo, and Bon Appetit Management Company; and natural food leader Whole Foods.

The agreements require those companies to demand more humane labor standards from their Florida tomato suppliers (including a zero tolerance policy for slavery), to pay a price premium for more fairly produced tomatoes, and to shift purchases to growers who meet those higher standards. Several Florida tomato growers have shown their early support for this effort by agreeing to pass along the pay premium to their tomato harvesters, and to abide by a code of conduct under which workers have a voice and slavery is not tolerated.

I am extremely disappointed that your company has turned its back on human rights. As a conscientious consumer and supporter of the CIW's Campaign for Fair Food, I urge Trader Joe's to work together with the CIW to ensure human rights and fair wages for those who harvest the tomatoes sold in your stores.

Sincerely,

Dan Bane

Trader Joe's
P.O. Box 5049
Monrovia, CA 91017
US

Alison Mochizuki

Trader Joe's
P.O. Box 5049
Monrovia, CA 91017
US