Act: Support Blueberry farmers in Peru

(Stand with Santos Celestina Carranza, General Secretary of SITETSA, a union supporting blueberry farmers in Peru)

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I’m thankful for the global food economy. One of the reasons is because I like to eat blueberries year round. But the luxury of being able to eat out-of-season produce comes with a cost.  A cost that blueberry farmers in Peru are currently paying.

The U.S. Department of Labor recently released a report on how farm workers are being mistreated–hired on short term contracts, unions being busted by employers–all which are in violation of the trade agreement between the United States and Peru.

Even Nike isn’t cool with how things are going, joining Life is Good, New Balance and other companies to send this message to the president of Peru:

While we celebrate Peru’s success under your leadership, we are also concerned that Decree Law 22342, which allows ‘non-traditional’ exporting companies to employ workers on fixed-term contracts, acts to encourage and condone violations of labor rights and therefore poses an obstacle to the proper application of our codes of conduct.

The International Labor Rights Forum (one of my go-to resources on acting to support global farmers and factory workers) has joined the Make Fruit Farm campaign to put pressure on the agribusiness company Tal S.A.  They recently fired all 9 union leaders after refusing to negotiate renewal of their collective bargaining agreement. And in an uber-dick move the company had the gall to seek out criminal charges against the leaders for  getting paid time off for work related to the union and publicizing the company’s labor violations.

Please join me and using the tool on the ILRF’s page to send a letter to Tal S.A..