Sample Letter to Publix

Dear Mr. Crenshaw:

I am writing to ask Publix Super Markets to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to ensure fair wages and conditions for the farmworkers who pick your tomatoes.

Florida tomato pickers are among this country's most exploited workers: they earn sub-poverty wages, lack most standard rights and benefits and have not received a significant raise in 30 years. At the current rate, one must harvest over 2.5 TONS of tomatoes to earn minimum wage for a 10-hour workday. In extreme cases, workers are held in modern-day slavery rings. In December 2008, four people were sentenced in federal court in a case that involved beating, chaining, and enslaving tomato pickers who worked on some of Florida's major tomato farms. As a purchaser of tomatoes from the two farms where the victims in this slavery case were taken to work, it is especially important that Publix work with the CIW to ensure that slavery can never again happen and that farmworkers are treated with dignity and respect.

Yum Brands, McDonald's, Burger King, Whole Foods, Subway, and Bon Appetit have all reached precedent-setting agreements with the CIW to improve wages and enforce a code of conduct for fair conditions in their tomato supply chains, including zero tolerance for modern-day slavery.

As a conscientious consumer, I urge Publix to work together with the CIW to ensure human rights and fair wages for those who harvest the tomatoes sold in your stores.

Sincerely,

(Feel free to add information about your personal connection to Publix and why it is particularly important for you as a consumer that Publix do this.)

Send your letter to:
Mr. Ed Crenshaw, CEO
Publix Super Markets Corporate Office
PO Box 407
Lakeland, FL 33802-0407