|
Wed Nov 12, 2008 at 07:16:19 AM PST
|
|
| Over the past several months, Organic Consumers Association and United Farm Workers have been running a campaign to get Beef Northwest Feeders to treat its workers fairly. Beef NW supplies "natural" beef to Whole Foods and so activists have been pressuring Whole Foods to dump Beef NW as a supplier unless they gave in.
Well, Beef NW gave in! We won! They've reached a settlement with United Farm Workers, although none of those details are public. Here are a few statements from a press release from Country Natural Beef.
Country Natural Beef will continue its two-year cooperation with Food Alliance in developing feedlot standards and certification similar to what we have at the individual ranches. The compassionate treatment of our beef animals and fair, equitable working conditions for the workers who care for them are core values of Country Natural Beef and our urban customers. It is important that we clearly define those values and verify them with third party certification.
The absence of collective bargaining laws governing agricultural workers leaves a void wherein unfairness abounds. Workers who want to organize have no mechanism to do so. Unions who are asked to assist workers have no effective method to engage the employer. The employer has no rules to follow and any activity they perform is portrayed as union busting. Customers of the employer become subject to intense economic pressures. The current situation is uniformly unfair for the worker, the union, the employer, and third parties and invokes discontentment and chaos. |
| Jill Richardson :: Victory for Labor at Beef Northwest! |
|
|
|
