Blogs

Thousands of workers at Vermont’s largest hospital are negotiating a new contract. As they push for liveable wages and safe staffing in the workplace, hospital workers are also negotiating a set of “Common Good” proposals. Among those demands: that the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) join the Milk with Dignity Program and buy its milk from farms that treat workers fairly.

Hospital workers at UVMMC are using their collective power to support the struggle of farmworkers for rights and dignity. Understanding that their employer is one of the most powerful and influential organizations in the state of Vermont, workers have committed to a strategy to “bargain for the common good,” to push the hospital to be a leader on a broad range of issues: quality patient care, healthcare for all, immigrant rights, and protections for worker organizing.

Read more to learn how hospital workers are organizing to support farmworkers, and take action to support the Common Good Bargaining platform!

The Milk with Dignity Program is expanding, bringing a new product to market. Last fall, we announced a partnership between Migrant Justice and organic brand Vermont Way Foods to produce Cheese with Dignity. The cheese is now for sale and available on store shelves!

This exciting expansion of Milk with Dignity comes on the heels of our recent breakthrough in the campaign to bring Hannaford Supermarket into the Program. We recently shared the news that the National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct in the Netherlands advanced our human rights complaint against the corporation. The decision will result in a direct dialogue with Hannaford’s Netherlands-based parent company, mediated by the Dutch panel, a campaign first. 

Even as Migrant Justice advances the work of holding multinational corporations accountable for the wellbeing of farmworkers in their supply chains, we are supporting the development of alternative food systems from the bottom up.

Read more to get the full story on Cheese with Dignity and find out where you can pick up a wedge!

In 2025, Migrant Justice submitted an international human rights complaint with an official Dutch panel over abuses on dairy farms supplying Hannaford Supermarket. After a year of consideration and deliberation, the National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct in the Netherlands has concluded that the complaint should move forward. In response, Hannaford parent company Ahold Delhaize has agreed to enter into mediation with Migrant Justice.

This major breakthrough in the Milk with Dignity campaign is just the latest blow against Hannaford, as the grocery chain attempts to stave off criticism over abuses in its dairy supply chain. Farmworkers have denounced the low pay and poor treatment on farms supplying Hannaford-brand milk, and have urged the company to take responsibility by joining the Milk with Dignity Program. As consumers have added their voices to the call for action, the campaign has gained momentum, with a recent picket resulting in a Hannaford store shutting its doors hours early.

Now, a Dutch body has sustained Migrant Justice’s complaint regarding Netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize’s violations of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The 76-page filing includes extensive documentation of human rights violations in Ahold’s U.S. dairy supply chain, as well as significant evidence of Ahold’s failure to exercise due diligence to stop abuses against farmworkers. The complaint points to Ahold and Hannaford’s false solutions – including a hotline that fails to investigate calls, and employer self-assessments that fail to uncover violations – and urges the corporation to join Milk with Dignity.

Read more to see the response to Migrant Justice’s international human rights complaint against Ahold!

On International Workers’ Day, farmworkers held a sixteen-hour picket of Hannaford Supermarket to demand Milk with Dignity. The campaign notched a new achievement, as Hannaford chose to close its Williston store hours early in the face of overwhelming pressure from farmworkers and allies.

Dairy workers spent May Day educating consumers about the systemic labor abuses in Hannaford’s supply chain and urging them not to cross the picket line. While past actions have proven successful in dropping stores’ sales – as hundreds of potential customers show their solidarity by turning away – May Day’s picket succeeded, for the first time, in closing the store itself. 

This is a powerful signal that so long as Hannaford continues to avoid responsibility for ensuring the rights and wellbeing of dairy workers in its supply chain, it will pay a higher and higher price. The company claims to want dialogue, yet they have not meaningfully come to the table to engage with farmworkers. The choice for Hannaford has never been more clear: join Milk with Dignity or face the consequences of inaction.

Read more for the full photo-report!

This Friday, farmworkers will lead an all-day picket of Hannaford Supermarket over labor abuses on farms supplying Hannaford-brand milk. Throughout the day outside of the Hannaford store in Williston, Vermont, workers and allies will call on consumers to respect the picket line and not shop at Hannaford. Together, we will show the supermarket chain that farmworkers and consumers are united demanding Milk with Dignity!

The action on International Workers Day comes on the heels of a recent trip to the Netherlands to participate in the shareholder meeting of Ahold Delhaize, Hannaford’s parent company. Migrant Justice brought the testimonies of dairy workers directly to Ahold’s CEO and Board of Directors – and into the company’s headquarters during a protest the following day. The pressure has forced a response, but more is needed to bring the $100 billion corporation to the table.

On International Workers’ Day, join farmworkers on the picket line at Hannaford in Williston any time from 7am-11pm to demand Milk with Dignity!

Read more for the full call to action!

Migrant Justice has returned from a week in the Netherlands, where we traveled to take the fight for Milk with Dignity to the corporate owners of Hannaford Supermarket. The visit marked a new set of achievements in the campaign, bringing us one step closer to expanding essential protections for farmworker rights. 

For years, farmworkers have called on Hannaford – one of the largest buyers of dairy in our region – to protect the rights of farmworkers in its supply chain by joining the Milk with Dignity Program. Thousands of workers and consumers have taken action to denounce abuses on farms supplying Hannaford-brand milk. As Hannaford has responded with denials and false solutions, farmworkers have expanded the campaign to its parent company, Ahold Delhaize, the Netherlands-based $100 billion grocery conglomerate.

The weeklong visit revolved around Ahold’s annual meeting of shareholders, where Migrant Justice representatives and allied investors shared farmworkers’ testimonies and demands directly with the company. While Ahold has not yet committed to join Milk with Dignity, the CEO and top executives repeatedly affirmed the importance of the issue and committed to dialogue with Migrant Justice.

Read more to see the full-photo report and press from the Netherlands’ delegation!

This week, Migrant Justice is taking action for Milk with Dignity on both sides of the Atlantic. A delegation is currently in the Netherlands, home of Hannaford Supermarket’s parent company Ahold Delhaize. And on Tuesday April 7th, another group will pay a visit to the headquarters of Ahold’s operations in the United States.

Tuesday’s event at the Ahold USA headquarters will mark the first time that Migrant Justice has taken action at the Quincy, MA offices. Farmworkers and allies will hold a press conference to demand that Ahold end the systemic human rights violations in its dairy supply chain.

April 7th at 1pm: join us in Quincy at the Ahold USA offices to demand Milk with Dignity!

Read more to learn about Migrant Justice’s trip to the Netherlands and take action to support Milk with Dignity!

In just one week, Migrant Justice will return to the Netherlands, home of Hannaford Supermarket’s parent company, to directly address corporate executives and directors. We will enter the annual shareholder meeting to share the stories of dairy workers enduring abuses on farms supplying milk to Hannaford Supermarket, to denounce Hannaford’s false solutions, and to urge the company to take action now by joining the worker-driven human rights program Milk with Dignity.

Add your voice today! Take a minute to call Hannaford President Mike Vail and demand Milk with Dignity!

Read more for an update on the Milk with Dignity campaign!

On March 11th, heavily armed ICE agents violently and illegally detained three community members in their home in South Burlington, Vermont. Agents broke down the door, entered with guns drawn, brutally handcuffed the non-resistant residents – including an 18-year-old U.S. citizen – and detained Cristian Jerez and sisters Johana and Camila Patin.

Following mass public outcry – and near constant rallies outside the Vermont federal courthouse last week – Johana, Cristian, and Camila have all been freed and reunited with their families. In orders releasing the three, federal judges excoriated ICE’s blatant constitutional abuses, writing in one ruling that they “had to confront the extraordinary context in which [the] arrest took place. The Government has adopted a policy of mass detention for immigrants despite the constitutional limitations on civil detention… [The] arrests are the product of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Judges concluded that “[o]nly immediate release could abate the constitutional harm.”

The sad reality is that arrests like these are not unique. Migrant Justice documented over 100 detentions of immigrant Vermonters last year, many of them violent and unlawful. Unconstitutional detentions have been the cornerstone of Trump’s national immigration policy. 

What was unique about 3/11 was not ICE’s unconstitutional policing but the mass community resistance to ICE’s assault – and the collaboration of state and local police aiding ICE in overcoming that community resistance.

Join Migrant Justice at the Vermont State House on Tuesday, 3/31 at 4:30pm. Speak out to say no to police collaboration with ICE in VT!

Read more to get the full story of the 3/11 ICE raid and learn about how police violated their own policy to aid ICE.

On Friday, March 20th, Camila won her release and walked out of the court a free woman. Camila had spent nine days in detention, separated from her family, following the brutal ICE raid of her home in South Burlington on March 11th. 

Camila's triumphant release caps a week of near constant rallies in support of detained community members. Hundreds of Vermonters spent hours chanting and singing in support of their neighbors' freedom – even withstanding yesterday's driving spring blizzard – and celebrated the releases of Camila, Cristian, and Johana, as well as of Jaime, a Winooski resident detained by ICE in a traffic stop the day before the South Burlington raid.

Now that all the detainees from the 3/11 ICE raid have been freed, the focus now turns to the fight for accountability. Read more for information on next steps!