Online petition calling on Trader Joe’s to sign Fair Food agreement latest indication that patience with “ethical grocer” is growing short among concerned consumers…

Sum of Us, the “movement of consumers, workers and shareholders speaking with one voice to counterbalance the growing power of large corporations,” has stepped into the ring in the battle to win Trader Joe’s commitment to the Fair Food Program, and they’ve done so with a sharply-worded new online petition out today. Here’s an excerpt:

“You know Trader Joe’s – the grocery chain that bills itself as an ethical alternative to the big-name stores? Well, it turns out they’re not so friendly to the workers who pick the tomatoes they sell to us. Trader Joe’s CEO is refusing to sign the Fair Food Agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a group of farm workers in Florida who have successfully pressured corporate giants like Taco Bell and McDonald’s to agree to ensure that farm workers in their supply chains get treated humanely and get paid at least one penny more per pound of tomatoes they pick. That’s right, we’re talking about just a couple of pennies more per pound of tomatoes — an insignificant cost increase for Trader Joe’s and its customers — could help thousands of farm workers get paid a fair wage. But Trader Joe’s is digging in its heels.” read more

The webpage — featured today at the top of the Sum of Us homepage — then provides an electronic petition form that you can sign to express your support for the Fair Food movement to Trader Joe’s CEO Dan Bane.

Online petitions like this one, and those housed at change.org, have quickly become a remarkably powerful tool for consumer organizing, with several important victories under their belt in the last year alone (Remember that Bank of America debit card fee? An onslaught of emails from outraged consumers turned that particular injustice back in record time!).

So visit the Sum of Us website today and add your voice to those reaching out to Mr. Bane, so that he may reconsider his company’s inexplicable intransigence and support the Fair Food Program for farmworkers in the Florida tomato industry.

Also: Press release for Feb. 10th action now online… Speaking of people getting tired of Trader Joe’s foot dragging, the press release for the February 10th action at the grand opening of Trader Joe’s first Florida store — on Immokalee Road in Naples! — is out and organizing is underway for what should be an eventful first couple of days for the new supermarket. Here’s an excerpt from the release:

“Trader Joe’s is famous for employees’ quirky Hawaiian shirts; it’s a key component of their brand identity. In Immokalee, we also have an iconic shirt that embodies what we are about,” explained CIW member Oscar Otzoy, who will bike to the grand opening. “Years ago, a young worker named Edgar was beaten bloody by his crewleader for simply getting a drink of water, and this shirt, indelibly stained with Edgar’s blood, was carried by a crowd of hundreds of farmworkers to the house of his crewleader along with a collective declaration from our community that we would no longer tolerate abuse in the fields. That moment helped launch the Campaign for Fair Food, and we want to share that bit of our history with Mr. Smathers and to discuss how his company can support the Fair Food Program, a groundbreaking Code of Conduct and monitoring program that today, in partnership with growers, is helping improve farmworkers’ lives and making abuses like those a thing of the past.” read more

Things are heating up quickly on the Trader Joe’s front in the new year! Stay tuned for much more in the weeks ahead…