Migrant Justice Justicia Migrante

On June 17th Vermont farmworkers led about 250 people on a pilgrimage through Vermont’s working rural landscapes with a powerful national call to action for human rights in hand, walking 13 miles from Vermont’s State House to the Ben & Jerry’s plant in Waterbury.  The march placed dairy workers’ campaign for human rights in Ben & Jerry’s supply chain on the national center stage piquing interest from coast (Washington Post) to coast (San Francisco Chronicle) under one banner:

“Scores of farm workers, activists march on Ben & Jerry’s”

Now, on the heels of the march, Vermont farmworkers’ tireless efforts and sacrifices for justice and dignity in the dairy industry are inspiring prominent leaders in faith communities across the nation and moving them to stand in solidarity with Vermont dairy workers.

Summer is on its way. It’s heating up in Vermont and farmworkers are calling on allies and consumers across the nation, as we roll into ice cream season, to turn up the heat on Ben & Jerry's by joining us on the March for Milk with Dignity on June 17th!

Please sign up for the march here and share on facebook here.

Saturday, June 17th marks the two-year anniversary of Ben & Jerry’s commitment to join Migrant Justice’s Milk with Dignity Program.  Unfortunately however, for two years there’s been lots of talk, but no action by Ben & Jerry’s to do what they said they would do--protect the human rights of dairy workers in their supply chain!

As you will see below, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, right now, is not just packed full of chocolate, marshmallows, nuts and pretzels--it’s main ingredient--cream, is also made with wage theft, inhumane housing, and dangerous working conditions.  And farmworkers have not only been alerting Ben & Jerry’s for nearly eight years now about these conditions. They have also provided, in the Milk with Dignity Program, Ben & Jerry’s an opportunity to take effective action to both protect the rights of dairy workersand alleviate the markets downward pressure on the whole farm by providing farmers a premium for milk.

December 22, 2009

Young farmworker José Obeth Santiz Cruz, from Chiapas, Mexico, is killed in a horrific--and wholly preventable--workplace accident on a Vermont farm that supplies milk to a cooperative that supplies milk to Ben & Jerry’s.

In case you missed the news, a group of determined Vermont farmworkers and their allies were waiting at the front door of Ben & Jerry’s South Burlington, VT headquarters on Tuesday and Wednesday, as B&J’s board members arrived for a two-day meeting, in order to deliver a clear message: dairy workers’ human rights cannot wait.  We need your support to ensure Ben & Jerry’s follows through on its 2015 commitment to join the Milk with Dignity Program now. Farmworker member of Migrant Justice Yessica kicked off the day addressing board members, many of whom have never met a Vermont dairy worker before, saying, “We work hard, every day, putting the cream in your ice cream. And we want our rights protected, dignified wages, respect, a voice. I want to repeat what others have said. We will not give up. We will continue this fight until Ben & Jerry’s signs the Milk with Dignity agreement as it promised nearly two years ago.”

Workers and allies then kicked off a roving picket line in front of the corporate headquarters that continued for the next two full days chanting and rallying and converting Ben & Jerry’s parking lot into a colorful and inspiring center for inter-organizational dialogue about our shared human rights work in Vermont.  For two days, every couple of hours, a new organization would arrive to listen to farmworkers share about their struggle, to join in on the picketing and singing, and to share their own social justice campaigns and work for human rights that intersect with the dignity for which farmworkers have been fighting.  

Springing into action upon their release from prison, after an ICE crackdown on farmworker rights leaders, Enrique Balcazar, Zully Palacios and Migrant Justice are calling for a national day of action on April 4th at Ben & Jerry's scoops to educate and activate consumers, while they wait for free ice cream, to tell Ben & Jerry's that dairy worker's human rights cannot wait. The dairy worker leaders call to action comes just days after hundreds of supporters flooded Ben & Jerry's phone lines, marking Cesar Chavez day on Friday 3/31, demanding Ben & Jerry's join and implement the worker-led Milk with Dignity Program as promised dairy workers nearly two years ago.

Click here to take action on April 4th!

La Lucha continues to #FreeAlex and Call on Ben & Jerry’s to Commit to the Milk with Dignity Program

Download the April 4th #MilkWithDignity Free Cone Day Action Pack by clicking here.

Monday’s freezing rain across Northern New England could not chill the spirits of a people hungry for justice.  The public space in front of the cold stone federal building where Boston's Immigration Court sits was alive with colorful banners, chants, songs, a brass band, roving picket lines, and compelling words from faith leaders and community members. Hundreds of people, including Cosecha members and allies, the ACLU of Massachusetts, many union workers, and a bus full of friends and family from Vermont, came together to support the call for freedom for Migrant Justice leaders Enrique Balcazar, Zully Palacios and  Alex Carrillo who were inside the JFK Federal building with their fate in the hands of our nation’s inhumane and brutal immigration system.