Investigation from The Lever: “Multibillion-dollar retail giant Kroger Company defended its proposed takeover of rival Albertsons Companies, Inc. by highlighting its partnership with a blueberry grower that hired a labor contractor accused of orchestrating one of the largest human trafficking rings in modern U.S. history.”
“Kroger has not joined the Fair Food Program, and refused to let its shareholders vote on the Domini proposal.”
Lupe Gonzalo, CIW staff member and farmworker: “As long as there aren’t protections for workers, and workers are afraid to speak up, there are most likely going to be cases of forced labor.”
Kroger, one of the largest grocery retailers in the country, has been connected to modern-day slavery — yet once again — as detailed by an investigation from The Lever. This time, Kroger was linked to Maria Patricio, a lead suspect in the sprawling “Blooming Onion” human trafficking ring, whose own criminal proceedings are ongoing though several of her alleged co-conspirators have already either pled guilty or been sentenced.
As if one instance of modern-day slavery uncovered in its supply chain weren’t enough to motivate a meaningful conversation about the need to get serious about monitoring and enforcing human rights standards in its suppliers’ operations, this marks the third time in the past four years alone that Kroger has been linked to a forced labor operation when there is a ready-made, proven and highly-regarded solution standing right in front of Kroger: the Fair Food Program. In 2021, an investigation from the LA Times revealed Kroger to be buying tomatoes from a Mexican farm subject to a Withhold Release Order (WRO) from the U.S. Government due to findings related to forced labor, and in early 2023, the Department of Labor publicly outed Kroger as a buyer of watermelons harvested by modern-day slaves.
With a demonstrated pattern of human rights abuses in its supply chain, it is clear Kroger has a modern-day slavery problem. But rather than publicly commit to resolving this problem by joining the Presidential Medal-winning Fair Food Program, Kroger has refused to join the gold standard for human rights protection today, choosing instead to stand by its traditional audit-based approach to social responsibility and remain largely silent on this issue – offering no acknowledgement of the previous documented forced labor rings in its supply chain or this most recent connection to another forced labor prosecution.
The question before Kroger — its executive leadership, its board of directors, and its shareholders — is simple: Is having a case of modern-day slavery almost annually over the last 4 years an acceptable level of risk for Kroger, as long as the produce continues to arrive on shelves at the right time, in the right quality, and at the right price?
If the answer to that question is yes, then Kroger needs to break its silence and own the outrageous failure of its social responsibility approach so consumers can know the company’s true thinking when it comes to the human rights of the men and women who pick its produce.
But if not, then Kroger needs to join the Fair Food Program — the universally-recognized gold standard for preventing forced labor and protecting fundamental human rights in corporate supply chains today — without further delay.
To call attention to the urgent need to expand the FFP’s Presidential Medal-wining protections to as many farms as possible, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers will host the first-ever Farmworker Freedom Festival in Palm Beach from March 8-10, 2024. There, farmworkers and their allies will celebrate the unprecedented gains the FFP has brought to the fields throughout the US, and demand the corporations like Kroger, Publix, and Wendy’s — companies that are deeply responsible for the working conditions for farmworkers in their supply chains due to their unprecedented purchasing power — do what is right and join the Program. If you’re interested in volunteering for the festival, click here.
The investigative report from The Lever, which we are providing excerpts of below, deserves to be read in full.
