Support the Grocery Campaign

Tomato pickers toil long days for 45 cents per 32-lb bucket of tomatoes, with no right to overtime pay, no health insurance, no sick leave, no paid vacation and no right to organize to improve these conditions. In the most extreme cases, workers are held against their will and forced to work in modern-day slavery rings. The PC(USA) has been among those who have helped the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) reach groundbreaking agreements with Yum! Brands (Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and others), McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Whole Foods Market and Bon Appétit foodservice to

1. pay a penny per pound increase to farmworkers harvesting for suppliers of these companies and
2. work with the CIW to develop a human-rights-based code of conduct to address abuses in the fields, which includes a zero tolerance policy for modern-day slavery.
3. ensure a voice for farmworkers in monitoring improvements and reporting abuses.

Now the Fair Food Campaign is working with the CIW and others to ask three prominent grocery chains, Kroger, Ahold, and Publix, to forge agreements with the CIW that embrace these principles.

To support the Grocery Campaign:

• Send an email to the Rev. Noelle Damico for postcards to send to the CEO of the corporation whose grocery store is in your neighborhood.
• Meet with managers of your local Kroger-, Publix- or Ahold–owned grocery store. 
• Send an email to Kroger's CEO.
• Download a flyer on the Grocery Campaign. [PDF]
• View a video about the Labor Day Freedom Ride to advocate with Publix grocery stores in Sarasota. Riders included Presbyterians from the First Presbyterian Church of Sarasota.