Sabor a sudor…


Farmworker families, South Florida allies join forces for spirited picket outside Publix’s new store aimed at Latino market in Miami’s Little Havana!

Publix is making a play for Florida’s massive Latino market, but the company’s refusal to support farmworkers’ human rights through the CIW’s Fair Food Program might just come back to haunt the Lakeland-based grocery giant.

On the heels of last Friday’s vigil and protest in conjunction with the United Methodist Women’s gathering in Lakeland, dozens of farmworker men, women, and children from Immokalee made the trek to Miami’s little Havana last Saturday to protest outside the opening of a new Publix “Sabor” supermarket, Publix’s new marketing initiative aimed at Latino consumers. The protest was organized in collaboration with Florida International University’s Student Farmworker Alliance and was led by the CIW’s Women’s Group. Nely Rodriguez of the CIW explained the reason for the action:

“As farmworker mothers, we are asking that Publix help to build a better future for our children by putting their weight behind a Program that advances formworkers’ rights and dignity. We will not rest until Publix realizes that the 21st century supermarket cannot afford to turn its back on human rights.”

Two consecutive days in July, two massive protests outside landmark Publix stores — the campaign to demand respect for the men and women who pick Publix’s tomatoes is growing stronger by the day!

And as Publix seeks to extend its $29 billion per year reach into the Latino market, the growing campaign will demand a reckoning from the company for its disrespect of Immokalee’s farmworkers, as Wendy’s found out in this article from Latin Times from just last week:

“… The company’s CMO Craig Bahner also said that it was important that Wendy’s build a rapport with the growing Hispanic community in the U.S.

‘Hispanic consumers as a group are growing in purchasing power and influence, and we need to build the brand with them,’ he said…

… Wendy’s has been in hot water with the Hispanic community, however, for its refusal to join the Fair Food Program, which ensures proper pay and care for migrant workers who harvest food for companies who sell their products to fast food companies.” read more

There is little doubt that one of the keys to future success for food industry leaders like Publix and Wendy’s is to build a strong, positive reputation in the country’s growing Latino community. But new relationships are always tricky, and disrespecting the tens of thousands of members of that community whose undervalued labor helps pad your company’s profits might be the very definition of getting off on the wrong foot. The future is now, and there’s no better time than the present to start showing that your company truly cares about the communities in which it does business.