Trader Joe's sells cheap tomatoes through slave labor?...

[cascadiance]

I just tuned in to Laura Flanders tonight and she had a segment on this, and I looked up on the web another story that just came out this week how the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is making a big effort now to expose how Trader Joe's is using outfits that are providing much of their tomatoes they sell at cheaper prices through what has been prosecuted as using "slave labor" conditions to produce them.

I buy most of my groceries now at New Seasons here in Portland, who is even better than Whole Foods about being natural and buying local (and not having a funky CEO that bad mouths single payer health care). I do notice though at times when some items are significantly higher priced there than some place like Trader Joe's where I have done most of my business in the past, especially before moving to Portland. One of those areas I'd noticed was the tomatoes that were usually a buck cheaper at TJ's than at New Seasons. During the times of the year that both stores got them from Mexico, I'd buy them from TJ's in those cases. This time of year I take advantage of New Seasons selling local tomatoes, etc. where TJ's does not (still imports them from Mexico).

Now with this news:

http://www.gaycitynews.com/articles/2010/08/11/news/doc4c630ed5ab347625543692.txt

I'm more inclined to buy them from New Seasons, and when they go out of season here in Oregon, I'll be quizzing New Seasons on their policies with the labor conditions that produce their produce then too.

I'm willing to pay more for locally produced produce as well as those that are certified to providing decent labor conditions for their workers. Perhaps we need something analogous to "Fair Trade" certification that is now available to help us buy coffee ethically.

Anyone with me?

I do like Trader Joe's for most stuff, and it sounds like this group doesn't want us to boycott TJ's yet, but just see how much pressure we can put on them to do the right thing!

I still love getting salads from TJ's with their selection, etc. I'm hoping they are made "properly" so that I don't have to find some other place to get reasonable salads too.

[Gormy Cuss]

1. I don't buy tomatoes from TJ's (or much other produce for that matter) but I do know that

Trader Joe's is very responsive to customer displeasure with how and where they source their food items. Witness how quickly they promised to stop buying single item products (like produce and canned fruits or vegetables) from China a few years back when there were so many adulteration stories.

IOW, before boycotting the stores tell the management, local and corporate, that you do not wish to buy tomatoes from Immolakee unless TJ's can certify that the workers had fair standards and wages. Writing letters is far more effective than just talking to the managers.

[cascadiance]

2. Yeah, we shouldn't be boycotting yet. But writing letters and talking to those at TJ's...

would seem to be a good thing to do right now to help make sure they stay on the right path to keep their customer base happy by doing the right thing.

At least they aren't in your face like Whole Food's CEO was, who was basically being dismissive of his customer base with his very unthoughtful words about health care. That deserved a stern response. Though there might be some people knowingly trying to profiteer from unethical behavior at TJ's, it's not clear that this is a general practice of the company yet, and with enough radar focused on it, perhaps they will make sure that these practices get corrected.