Meanwhile, another day of mockery by Publix of slavery, farmworker poverty, and its own customers in Clearwater…

In Immokalee Saturday, the Collier County Sheriff’s Department and the Collier County Coalition Against Human Trafficking held the first-ever “Day without Slavery,” a community event “aimed at providing seasonal farm workers and members of the Immokalee community with information about human trafficking and ways to identify victims of human trafficking.” The CIW worked with the Sheriff’s Department to help publicize the event and the CIW’s Lucas Benitez addressed the crowd, estimated at over 500 people (“Immokalee event geared toward raising awareness of human trafficking,” Naples Daily News, 11/14/09).

The Immokalee farmworker community — famously dubbed “ground zero for modern-day slavery” by one federal prosecutor — was the target of the event. Detective Charlie Frost, who testified in last year’s Senate hearings on slavery in Florida’s fields, told the Daily News:

“They are our eyes and ears out here,” Frost said. “They’re the ones that will be able to alert us to these trafficking type of situations. It’s important that they know they have rights as victims.”

But on the same day that farmworkers and police were joining forces in Immokalee in a grimly serious battle against the scourge of modern-day slavery, Publix representatives were once again busy mocking farmworkers and their allies in Clearwater, who were there protesting Publix’s refusal to address revelations of slavery in its supply chain.

In a reprise of its clumsy, and widely-criticized, attempt to surreptitiously film CIW actions in southwest Florida last month, Publix representatives again aggressively filmed protesters in Clearwater on Saturday, though this time the cameramen (right, in blue shirt) clearly identified themselves as shooting on behalf of Publix, with small “I (heart) Publix” pins on their chests. Throughout the day, Publix cameramen stood squarely in the faces of the protesters, filming individual workers and consumers for the benefit of, in their words, “Publix executives.”

The “Day without Slavery” in Immokalee and the protest in Clearwater shared a common purpose — to end slavery in Florida’s agricultural industry. The goal of the Publix protests is to forge a more humane agricultural industry by creating real market consequences for those growers who would continue to abuse their workers while ensuring that those who step up to higher labor standards are rewarded with increased demand from ethical retailers, companies like Compass Group, Whole Foods, and others. Yet despite the simple justice of the campaign’s demands, Publix continues to purchase tomatoes from growers tainted by last year’s brutal slavery prosecution, as they confirmed again just recently to the press.

It is one thing for a large corporation like Publix to resist change. But it is something else all together when a company like Publix adopts such an openly hostile, and quite frankly unsophisticated, position in response to calls by its customers for social responsibility. The issues driving the campaign — endemic farmworker poverty and slavery — are now well-established and accepted as fact by everyone from food industry leaders to government officials. Even Florida governor Charlie Crist has publicly declared his support for the Campaign for Fair Food. Yet in spite of this, Publix has refused all communication with the CIW and treated farmworkers and CIW allies alike with unprecedented disdain.

Every day, more and more longtime Publix customers are becoming aware of the conditions behind Publix’s tomatoes and of the company’s hostility to the Campaign for Fair Food. And their customers’ response is unequivocal: This kind of behavior on the part of a multi-billion dollar company against one of the poorest communities in the country, against the very workers whose backbreaking labor has helped make Publix the richest privately held company in Florida, is simply not acceptable.

Indeed, it suggests the very attitude that has allowed slavery to fester in Florida’s fields for so long.

Sooner or later, Publix, like other food industry leaders who fought the campaign with similar tactics in the past, will reconsider its strategy, meet with the CIW, and realize that the changes farmworkers are calling for are fair, feasible, and long-overdue. Until that time, Publix might at least find a more professional way to communicate its position. Better still, perhaps Publix could meet with the Collier County Sheriff’s Department Anti-Trafficking Unit and so show some hint of respect for fundamental human rights.