Final photo-report from the Milk with Dignity Month of Action!

The Milk with Dignity Month of Action has wrapped up! Throughout October, farmworkers and allies held fifteen actions at Hannaford Supermarkets in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont to connect with customers and build support for Milk with Dignity.

In the final week, farmworkers held pickets around Vermont in Bennington, Brattleboro, and Burlington, and across the Connecticut River in West Lebanon, New Hampshire. Students and youth swelled the ranks of the picketers, with participation from college students from Dartmouth and Bennington Colleges, high schoolers from the Putney School in southern Vermont, and even elementary school students from the Sustainability Academy in Burlington.

See the beautiful photos from the final week below!

The Month of Action made headlines wherever it went, with press coverage in papers and on TV. Last week, South Burlington’s newspaper covered the farmworker pickets and Hannaford’s response, referencing the grocery chain’s implementation of a “complaint hotline, standards of engagement and farmer self-assessments” as “‘knock-off Milk with Dignity programs’ that offer no real positive changes for workers.”

At each action, picketers called on potential Hannaford customers to show support by not crossing the picket line. Many would-be shoppers turned around after hearing workers’ messages. In hundreds of conversations over the course of the month, farmworkers and allies distributed consumer pledges asking consumers to show solidarity with farmworkers by pledging to never cross a picket line and – if, in the future, workers call for a full store boycott – to stop shopping at Hannaford entirely. To date, over 500 customers have signed the pledge, with more coming in every day!

Are you a Hannaford customer? Have you signed the pledge? Take a minute to sign today!

Farmworker Jose Gamaliel kicks off the Burlington picket, framed by a giant cow puppet...

...while in Brattleboro, organizer Thelma Gómez leads the crowd in a chant

Elementary school students from Burlington's Sustainability Academy rolled deep at the Burlington picket. Students had participated in a "social justice mentorship" program throughout the semester, learning about farmworkers' fight for human rights.

In West Lebanon, picketers bundled up against dropping temperatures...

...but neither cold weather nor injuries could keep supporters off the picket line!

"Get up! Get down! Milk with Dignity is coming to town!"

At each action, farmworkers and allies talk with potential Hannaford customers, educating them about the campaign and urging them not to cross the picket line. Many took the information and drove away, showing their solidarity with workers fight for Milk wtih Dignity!

What do we want? Milk with Dignity! When do we want it? Now!

As always, we wrap up each action with a home-cooked meal and an opportunity to connect over food to build power for the next steps in the campaign

Hannaford hired security to ring the store at each of the fifteen actions, spending untold sums of money trying in vain to keep workers and consumers apart. Rather than investing in attempts to silence workers, Hannaford should sit down with them and join Milk with Dignity!