Lakeland, FL
photos by JJ Tiziou
Publix investigators, and their crew of videographers, have followed the CIW from protest to protest over the past two months — even crossing state lines into Alabama and Georgia — observing firsthand the steadily growing numbers demanding that Publix be held accountable for brutal human rights violations in its tomato supply chain. It seems the investigators’ job, at least in part, is to advise Publix on how best to combat organizing campaigns. And from the looks of things so far, they seem strongly predisposed to strategies of resistance more than urging Publix toward critical thinking, engagement, and reasoned dialogue. Of course, ongoing conflict, in the world of these “labor dispute experts,” does mean greater job security.
But while that’s fine for the Publix investigators andtheir employment prospects, it really doesn’t serve anyone else’s interests — farmworkers, consumers, participating growers, or, for that matter, Publix itself. Because while Publix may be convinced that the tactics of misdirection and resistance help protect its profits, that’s really just short-term thinking.
You see, in the long-run, stubborn resistance is a double-edged sword for Publix. The longer Publix fights progress, the more protests there will be, the more abuses will surface (like this latest news), and the more Publix customers will learn of the dehumanizing conditions — the grinding poverty, back-breaking stoop labor, wage theft, abusive supervisors, discrimination and sexual harassment and, yes, slavery — in Florida’s fields.
In other words, the Campaign for Fair Food will be like those Publix commercials that run incessantly during the holiday season, only the opposite, building awareness, consumer by consumer, of the reality of farm labor exploitation behind the Publix logo.
And knowledge is power – the power to make change.
Needless to say, the next generation left the other generations in the house with a few tears in their eyes as they left the stage. |
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Rather, news of the dehumanizing conditions in Immokalee and wherever fruits and vegetables are picked will reach consumers and, increasingly, consumers will hold the companies that profit from the sale of those fruits and vegetables accountable for human rights violations in the fields.
The days of companies like Publix buying produce no questions asked are over, whether they realize it or not. It’s now only a question of whether Publix will be a leader — or a follower — in a movement that is already well underway. The next months will tell.