Dairy farm workers from across New England and the Milk with Dignity Campaign are planning on holding a rally in Portland on Saturday demanding action from supermarket chain Hannaford’s.
The Bangor Daily News reports that the organizers want the supermarket chain to sign a farmworker-authored code of conduct that sets standards for labor and housing conditions on dairy farms.
This effort is supported by Vermont-based farm worker organization Migrant Justice, which was founded in the wake of Jose Obeth Santiz Cruz’s 2009 death. Cruz was pulled into a mechanized gutter scraper and strangled to death by his clothing on a Vermont dairy farm.
Migrant Justice succeeded in getting Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream to sign the code of conduct, which includes independent oversight of farms, in 2017. It has lobbied Hannaford to do the same since 2019.
Wages are a major issue for the workers, with farmers in Maine making around $7.25 an hour in comparison to the states minimum wage of $13.80 an hour, despite recent legislative efforts to change that. They also do not have the right to organize for the purposes of collective bargaining for wages, hours, working conditions or benefits.\
According to a statement made by Hannaford’s on Thursday, “We differ with Migrant Justice in our approach to the solution. In our experience, truly impactful, lasting change is best affected at scale across the industry — not on a state-by-state, commodity-by-commodity, or company-by-company basis — and in partnership with credible, external auditing organizations.”.
The Hannaford statement also pointed out that it maintains a 24-hour hotline to take farm worker complaints. However, the complaints are referred back to workers’ farms, via middle-man milk supply companies, for investigation.
Migrant Justice organizer and translator Will Lambek says that despite the chain’s refusal, workers are still planning on demonstrating. “Workers are committed to this. They’re in it for the long haul and understand how tough it is to get a gargantuan multinational chain to change its ways.”
