In January, Buzzfeed blogger Arielle Calderon wrote “Reasons Why Publix is the Best Grocery Store to Ever Exist. Where shopping is a goddamn pleasure.”
The article went viral on Buzzfeed, Twitter, and Facebook immediately. Calderon wrote about how much she loves the Southeastern U.S. supermarket chain's subs, chicken tenders, and cookies.
But on bright March day at Desoto Park in South Tampa, hundreds of tomato pickers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers were marching to the Publix headquarters in Lakeland, Fla. Why?
“Because we want Publix to agree to participate in the Fair Food Program,” tomato picker Leonel Perez, 26, said through a translator. “We want one more penny per pound through the program for our tomatoes.”
The Fair Food Program is a legally binding contract for buyers and growers, requiring them to agree to seven basic tenets: a penny-per-pound price premium for tomatoes; a compliance code dictating zero tolerance for forced labor; a worker education program conducted by the CIW; independent monitoring of program compliance; a process for complaint investigation and remediation; changes to working conditions (access to shade, time clocks to ensure compensation; and a system for health and safety for workers.
“Eleven corporations are doing it," Perez said. "Ninety percent of tomato growers are doing it."
So why isn’t Publix participating?
“That’s the question we ask,” Perez said. “They continue to say this is a labor dispute.”
Maria Brous, spokesperson for Publix's corporate office, says Publix hasn't changed its position despite the CIW’s most recent protest. “At the heart of the issue, we’d pay a penny, a dime, or a dollar more,” Brous said. “We have 40,000 different products in our stores. It would be impossible for us if each product wanted us to pay their employees directly.”
There are 27 growers committed to the Fair Food Program’s penny-per-pound increase for pickers. Buyers participating in the program include 11 companies: Aramark, Bon Appetit Management Company, Burger King, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Compass Group, McDonald’s, Sodexo, Subway, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Yum Brands (owner of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut).
Asked about the corporations that have signed on, and whether that has any bearing on Publix’s position, Brous replied, “Companies have to make that decision for themselves.”
The CIW's Perez cited a recent Forbes magazine article listing Publix chairwoman Carol Jenkins Barnett as the 1,342nd richest person on the planet, calculating her current net worth as $1 billion.
“To pay one penny per pound more would be insignificant to her,” he said. “But to us, it means so much.”
Lupe Gonzalo, 31, from Guatemala, has been picking tomatoes for 12 years.
“It’s very sad to see Publix refuse to see the reality, to turn a blind eye to the truth,” Gonzalo said. “They only want to look at this as a labor dispute and it’s not.”
Publix says it's done its part, and the ball is in the employers' court, not theirs.
“We are doing our part to make that community more viable," Brous said. "There are two sides to this story.”
Gonzalo says the best way Publix could help would be to sign on to the Fair Food Program.
“It ensures a just wage after many years of exploitation in the fields,” Gonzalo said. “This is an invitation for people to raise their consciousness and campaign for justice.”
This article appears in Mar 28 – Apr 3, 2013.