How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
The lines outside Trader Joe's yesterday weren't for the cheap groceries.
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Laborers, artists, students and activists protested in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers against the grocery chain's labor policies for farmworkers who pick the chain's tomatoes.
The CIW, the Community Farmworker Alliance NYC and the Student/Farmworker Alliance rallied outside of the Trader Joe's Union Square location at noon before marching to the chain's Chelsea location.
In conjunction with community organizations, farmworkers have pushed for grocery chains to adopt a fair food agreement that guarantees workers' rights and a fair wage for field workers. Although major food corporations Whole Foods, Subway and McDonald's have already signed the agreement, Trader Joe's has not responded to the CIW's requests in two years.
"We are asking Trader Joe's to add one more penny per pound of tomatoes, which will double the wages," said Luis Gomez, a spokesperson for the Community Farmworker Alliance NYC.
Currently, Trader Joe's pays tomato pickers 45 cents per 32 pounds of tomatoes picked.
CAS sophomore Gaia Dell'Eugenio said she heard about the event from a professor in NYU's Social and Cultural Analysis department.
"I thought it was something interesting and something important," she said. "I live in U[niversity] Hall, so Trader Joe's is half a block away. NYU is renting that space. If you can tell NYU that you care about this, then they'll tell Trader Joe's and something can be done."
CIW's requests also include the right to deal solely with companies that strictly abide by human rights laws, to support the agreement between the CIW and Florida Tomato Growers Exchange that granted workers more leverage in the workplace, and to eliminate slavery in the food supply industry.
"These workers don't have sick days, overtime pay or paid vacation," Gomez said. "Working rights that we take for granted, they don't have at all."
Signs that read "Un centavo más" and "Trader Joe's, escucha! Estamos en la lucha," which translate to "One cent more" and "Trader Joe's, listen! We are in the fight," reflect the Mexican and Guatemalan heritage of many of the workers. Mexican women dressed in traditional indigenous clothing blessed the march with religious rituals.
"I have been so inspired by the CIW," Mae Singerman, a protestor, said. "There's something amazing about how they organize."
Representatives of farmworker, community and student groups from across the northeastern United States also attended the rally.
"This is a very united and personal protest because not only do they support the workers, they also have families and friends in the fields," Fordham University senior Raine Dalton said.
Dalton volunteered with the CIW through Fordham's Global Outreach program and helped build houses and tutor the children of farmworkers in Immokalee.
CIW will hold rallies in Boston on Feb. 27 and Tampa on March 4 and 5 as part of the organization's "Do the Right Thing Tour."
Trader Joe's could not be reached for comment.
