Mike Vail: Don't be a Scrooge!

For many dairy workers, this Christmas will be like any other day: up before dawn for a long, unbroken shift of dangerous work for little pay, then home to crowded and drafty housing. For workers on Milk with Dignity farms, Christmas is a paid holiday, just one of the many guarantees provided by our worker-driven human rights program.

The program's dignified conditions recently inspired an endorsement from the National Farm Worker Ministry, a faith-based organization comprised of dozens of congregations and religious communities around the country. The Ministry wrote this week to Hannaford President Mike Vail, urging the supermarket chain to join Milk with Dignity:

Milk with Dignity aligns with our values in the way that the program gives farm workers oversight regarding their living and working conditions. We believe that, like everyone, farm workers deserve to live and work in safety and dignity with just compensation. By signing on to Milk with Dignity, Hannaford has the opportunity to be a leader in taking responsibility for the rights and well-being of workers in your supply chain.

Join with the National Farm Worker Ministry in calling on Hannaford to join Milk with Dignity. This Christmas, tell company President Mike Vail: "Don't be a Scrooge!"

(Hannaford President Mike Vail as Ebenezer Scrooge)

Last week, farmworkers rallied outside a Hannaford supermarket in Middlebury, VT demanding Milk with Dignity. Workers and allies braved the cold and snow to tell the company that this Christmas, we want Milk with Dignity. Over a year has passed since farmworkers first invited Hannaford to the table, and the company has failed to respond to the just demands of workers, consumers, and organizations like the National Farm Workers Ministry. But just like Ebenezer Scrooge, it's not too late for Mike Vail to have a change of heart!

Take a minute to send Mike Vail an email, asking him to sit down with farmworkers and join Milk with Dignity!

And then take a look at the great photos from last week's action outside the Middlebury Hannaford! Let Hannaford know you support farmworkers by posting the link to the photos as a comment on Hannaford's facebook page!