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Whole Foods: Listen to Organic Consumers--No Sweatshop Natural Beef!

Say No! To SweatShop Time to Abolish Labor Exploitation in the Organic & Natural Foods Sector!

Last weekend, October 4th & 5th, OCA joined forces with the United Farm Workers, the Teamsters Union and the National Farm Workers Ministry and leafleted at Whole Foods Markets in 33 states. Our campaign is making an impact! Whole Foods Markets is Country Natural Beef's largest purchaser and can help eliminate labor exploitation in the organic and natural food supply chain by pressing Beef Northwest to negotiate in good faith with the United Farm Workers to improve conditions at their feedlots.

Keep the pressure up by sending Whole Foods' Global Vice President of Procurement Edmund LaMacchia an email today in support of Farm Workers!

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November 21, 2009

Subject:

Dear Mr. LaMacchia,

Last weekend concerned organic consumers and union members leafleted at Whole Foods Markets in 33 states in support of the United Farm Workers union drive at three Beef Northwest feedlots in Oregon. I am saddened to hear that Whole Foods claims no responsibility for the welfare of the domestic workers that supply Whole Foods and has refused to intervene. In fact, Whole Foods claims in a flier distributed to employees that what happens at Beef Northwest "isn't any of Whole Foods Market's business." I disagree.

Immigrant workers in the food sector and farmworkers in general are some of the most exploited and economically disadvantaged people in the United States. According to the most recent findings of the National Agriculture Workers Survey (NAWS), nearly three-quarters of U.S. farmworkers earn less than $10,000 per year and three out of five farmworker families have incomes below the poverty level.

US labor law discriminates against farmworkers by denying them many of the key protections that most other industrial or service workers enjoy, like minimum wage, overtime pay, and the minimum age
for farm worker children. Even the United State's own General Accounting Office found that "farm workers are not adequately protected by federal laws, regulations, and programs; therefore, their health and well-being are
at risk."

What about Whole Foods' Whole Trade Guarantee program for domestic workers? The Whole Trade Guarantee, through a third-party verified program, ensures that producers and laborers in developing countries get an equitable price for their goods in a safe and healthy working environment. Shouldn't Fair Trade principles and practices apply to vulnerable and often exploited workers and laborers in the United States as well as overseas?

Additionally, Whole Foods has signed an agreement in support of the Coalition of  Immokalee Workers (CIW), [the extra "penny-per-pound" bonus for hard-working Florida tomato pickers that has significantly boosted their income. What about the hundreds of workers at the Beef Northwest feedlots in Oregon?

I urge you to pressure Beef Northwest to negotiate in good faith with the United Farm Workers to improve working conditions at their feedlots. Otherwise I may have to consider cutting back my purchases from your store, or taking my business elsewhere.

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