Publix Profits: Time To Do the Right Thing

Last March, I was honored to join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, in a protest outside the Publix Headquarters in Lakeland urging Publix to join the Fair Food Program. It really was an emotional and powerful action and I was thankful to experience it. But, sadly, Publix continues to stubbornly refuse to join the Fair Food Program and to do its part to help improve the lives of the farmworkers who pick its tomatoes.

Florida’s tomato farms supply 50% of all U.S. fresh tomatoes but have also been called America’s ‘ground zero for slavery’. Walk Free, a movement fighting to end modern slavery, also called out Publix last week with an action targeting Publix CEO William Crenshaw.

Publix has released their financial results for the second quarter: a whopping $7 Billion in sales! Despite all the profits, the company still will not do the right thing. 1 penny per pound. One penny per pound is all it takes for Publix to do the right thing.

The rights abuses are well-known and documented. The reality is solution called the Fair Food Program has been proven successful in the fight against worker exploitation. Other leading food companies like Subway, Trader Joe’s and McDonald’s have already joined the Fair Food Program, demanding a policy of zero tolerance for human rights abuses, including slavery, on tomato farms.

Yet Publix continues to turn a blind eye.

I think Publix will do the right thing. I think it is also in the best interest of the company as well as the community, so I hope they will do the right thing. But let’s continue to urge them to take action now. Here’s the video from the event at Publix HQ, Immokalee Inspiration: