Trader's Joe

Issues Trader Joe's faced

Florida tomato pickers: Trader Joe's is Rotten

A tomato farmworkers has been a long-time community allies with Trader Joe's who has been supplying them tomatoes. 400 people stopped at Trader Joe's store for a picket and short rally. A street-theatre performance mocked the two-faced nature of the company as they failed to commit what the farmworker asked which was an agreement of paying them one penny more for each pound of tomatoes picked.

In this industry of farmworkers, workers do intense labour involving picking 2 tons of tomatoes per day under the Florida sun which might have led to physical and mental abuse. 8 cases of modern-day slavery which involves more than 1,000 Florida farmworkers was exposed and prosecuted by CIW.

Trader Joe's recognize how far out of the step is which they claimed that they have agreed to buy tomatoes from Florida farms covered by the CIW agreement and also included a surcharge in their tomato contracts which could cover the wage increase. But they refuse to sign on to the code of conduct that would give a pay raise to the workers and also an agreement to access includes access to water and shade during break time.