Dear
Lured with the promise of good wages and steady work on a Florida tomato farm, Lucas Domingo was trapped in the nightmare of slavery for 2.5 years. Forced to pick tonnes of tomatoes during the day, Lucas and other workers were locked in a U-Haul truck to prevent them from escaping at night. Eventually they got out by punching a hole through the roof.
This isn’t the norm in the tomato industry but is an extreme example of what has happened on farms outside the protection of the Fair Food Program. Which is why many major food chains and super markets have joined the Fair Food Program, using their combined power to enforce a policy of zero tolerance for slavery.
But Publix Super Markets, a major purchaser of Florida tomatoes, is standing in the way of ending modern slavery in Florida's tomato fields. Publix refuses to join the Fair Food Program. By continuing to do business with tomato farms that do not enforce the Program's principles, Publix could be supporting slavery.
With only two weeks left of the Florida tomato-picking season, there are final quotas to be met and conditions are ripe for worker exploitation. As one Publix representative says “May is prime time”1 for tomatoes and it is also prime time for Publix to profit from produce that could have been picked with forced labour.
Tell Publix Super Markets CEO William Crenshaw to join the fight against slavery in the U.S. tomato industry now.
Florida has been called America’s ‘ground zero for modern slavery’, where workers like Lucas are forced to work for little or no pay. Thankfully the Fair Food Program is working to enforce a policy of zero tolerance for slavery on tomato farms and has been proven successful.
After decades of abuse, Florida’s workers finally have a chance in the fight against exploitation with the Fair Food Program, demanding a policy of zero tolerance for human rights abuses, including slavery, on tomato farms.
Tell Publix to join the Fair Food Program and put an end to modern slavery in the Florida fields.
We think Publix will make the right choice and join the fight against slavery in the U.S. tomato industry, but it won’t happen without public pressure. Please take action today and forward this message to your friends and family to send as many messages to Publix as possible at this critical time.
Thank you for your support,
Debra, Kate, Mich, Nick, Amy, Jess, Ryan, Hayley and the Walk Free Team
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1 http://www.publix.com/featured/ASP/fltomatoes.do
1 http://www.publix.com/featured/ASP/fltomatoes.do
Walk Free is a movement of people everywhere, fighting to end one of the world's greatest evils: Modern slavery.
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