… and though the weather was just a bit better this time around, the Tour crew met many of the same allies, and found much of the same joy, that they encountered in March. Dozens of Fair Food allies gathered outside a Boston Trader Joe’s for a lively Boston action, many of them taking up positions along the store front to ensure that those who entered and exited would see their signs and hear their message.

Meanwhile, on the sidewalk, many more protesters made their own signs and joined a picket line…

… making noise and sending an unequivocal message of disappointment with the glaring gap between Trader Joe’s carefully cultivated image and the reality of its refusal to work with the CIW for real farm labor reforms.

The sign on the right says it all: “End farmworker exploitation. Your customers will thank you.” Despite the size and energy of the Boston Fair Food crowd, Trader Joe’s remained inexplicably unmoved, earning itself a return visit in September from a still larger crowd demanding that the self-styled progressive grocer live up to its image.

Before reaching the late afternoon protest, the Tour crew spent the early afternoon participating in several meet-ups with Boston organizations, including some of the fired Hyatt Hotel housekeepers leading the Hotel Workers Rising Campaign. Workers told the Tour crew of the inhuman conditions they face at work, including 30-room cleaning quotas, the total lack of a voice on the job, and in the case of this particular hotel in Boston, the firing of workers to bring in a subcontracting company that pays lower wages.

On the day before the Boston Trader Joe’s protest, the Tour crew joined allies for an action at a local Stop & Shop in Worcester…

… for a very animated action, driven by the energy of local youth, who made sure that the thousands of commuters traveling the crowded street in front of the store learned the reason for the protest.

Worcester’s Channel 3 came out to cover the action for the TV news, amplifying the local Fair Food activists’ voices…

… and following the action, it was time to deliver a manager letter. Peter Wells, Associate Conference Minister for the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ explained the church’s long history of standing with the CIW and the importance of Stop & Shop doing its part. After the group presented the letter, the District Manager pulled out his own sheet to give the delegation, including the claim that:

“The suppliers we are associated with in the Immokalee region are members of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange and have entered into an agreement to adopt the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Code of Conduct. We select and monitor our suppliers carefully. We require them to adhere to our standards of engagement by treating all employees fairly, with dignity and respect, and in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.”

These unsubstantiated claims were not enough for the delegation, however, who clearly and unequivocally replied that enforcement is key and that Stop & Shop needs to stop freeloading off the work of the nine companies that have already signed Fair Food agreements and use its purchasing power to help enforce the Fair Food Code of Conduct.

The Tour crew’s visit to Massachusetts started with a visit to New Bedford, where the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores and Massachusetts Immigrant Workers Center Collaborative (IWCC) hosted a press conference about the perils faced by day laborers for temp agencies and a proposed law, REAL (Reform Employment Agency Law), that would provide protections for temporary workers.

And in a truly moving surprise, following the press conference, IWCC leaders invited Tour participants Oscar Otzoy and Wilson Perez to speak about the CIW’s supermarket campaign and presented them with an unannounced award recognizing the CIW for its “tireless struggle and leadership on behalf of workers in Florida and throughout the nation.” After a wonderful exchange with IWCC members, the youth of the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores sent the Tour crew off with a performance of the traditional Mayan dance, “Rey Quiche.”

Check back soon for the final reports from the Trader Joe’s Northeast Tour as the Tour reaches Portland, ME, and New Haven, CT!