highlights from daniel klein's article: are chipotle and trader joe's really selling food with integrity?
"Beyond helping them [immigrant farm laborers] to know their rights, CIW also created the Campaign for Fair Food asking the major tomato purchasers in this country (fast food chains, grocery stores) to pay a penny more per pound for tomatoes, and asking farmers to put that penny towards the workers... Taco Bell has agreed to join the plight for farm workers, as have 9 other major corporations including McDonald's, Subway, Burger King, and Whole Foods. But guess who wont: Chipotle and Trader Joe's.
"Yep, the two corporations whom you would assume would be at the forefront of workers rights issues, are distancing themselves... And that Chipotle -- the company who promotes the integrity of their food and practices more than anyone -- wont partner with CIW in adopting the Fair Food Principles is especially baffling.
"Both have written statements about their uninterest in partnering with CIW... These actions seem very at odds with the Trader Joe's and Chipotle image. They both claim to be doing it their own way, but as Eric Schlosser was quoted as saying: "Claiming you support farm-worker rights but refusing to work with CIW is like someone in the '60s saying they support civil rights but they won't work with Martin Luther King, Jr. or the NAACP.""
btw, if you're for gay rights, here's some more food for thought. chick-fil-a donated nearly $2 million in 2009 to groups that have anti-gay agendas (source).
1 comment:
My assumption was always that places with 'higher quality' food like Trader Joe and Chipotle must be paying more for their ingredients in the first place which is why it costs more to buy from them as well. CIW obviously has an intention of directly funneling extra funds to the workers. Thats fine, but can you really expect every corporation to sign on to a third party agreement to pay more when theyre already paying more? Sounds like it would be a lot easier to do FOR corporations who arent paying more in the first place?
That article also did not give Chipotle's side of the story, but here's Trader Joes.. which is triple what CIW asked?
http://www.traderjoes.com/about/customer-updates-responses.asp?i=60
Bottom line, TJ didn't sign CIW's agreement directly, but their own agreement with their suppliers reference CIW.
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