In Vermont, the Ongoing Fight for Justice in the Dairy Industry
This piece covers an event that took place before Ben and Jerry’s signed on to Migrant Justice / Justicia Migrante’s “Milk with Dignity” pledge. Ben and Jerry’s has since agreed to sign on.
Ben & Jerry’s is known for wacky ice cream flavors and a commitment to corporate social responsibility. Their website touts that during the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011, the Board of Directors issued a statement of solidarity with the fight against income inequality and company employees went to Zucotti Park to serve ice cream to protestors. Speaking at an Ezra Stiles College tea Thursday September 14, however, Enrique “Kike” Balcazar and Zully Palacios, two representatives from Migrant Justice, poked a hole in Ben & Jerry’s reputation and their alleged support for decent wages, pointing to a lack of action in support of the dairy workers who supplied their milk. “When we look at their work, they’ve never done anything for farm workers,” noted Balcazar.
Migrant Justice is a grassroots organization advocating for fair treatment of dairy workers in Vermont. Yale is the third stop on their “Human Rights Can’t Wait” speaking tour, aimed at generating public pressure on Ben & Jerry’s to sign the activist group’s Milk With Dignity program, a legally binding commitment for the company to use milk solely from farms with fair working conditions.
During the talk, Balcazar and Palacios spoke about current conditions on dairy farms and the history and work of Migrant Justice, and outlined their current, worker-led strategy to effectuate change in the workplace of dairy workers in Vermont, the organization’s main focus.
Migrant Justice represents the 1,200–1,500 migrant dairy workers in Vermont. It was formed following the death of José Obeth Santi Cruz, a dairy worker who was pulled into a mechanical gutter scraper and strangled. According to Balcazar, the death was completely preventable, and even now, migrant dairy farmers continue to work in dangerous, dirty workplaces for 12–13 hours a day, often in the middle of the night, 365 days a year. Many are paid less than minimum wage.
Balcazar emphasized the importance of worker-driven social responsibility as opposed to corporate social responsibility. Migrant Justice’s work consists of a multi-step process. First, migrant dairy workers are surveyed about their experiences. The organization looks for problems that seem to be patterns, which is followed by discussion of solutions and strategies for implementing the solutions. The organization has three regional farmworker assemblies, ensuring a constant connection with the workers they represent. “We need to create space for people to talk,” Balcazar said.
Initially, Migrant Justice targeted Vermont’s state government to enact change, a tactic that has been successful. In 2014, after three years of advocacy, the organization prompted the legislature to pass a bill allowing migrant workers to receive a driver’s license, regardless of immigration status. This was crucial in giving them the mobility needed to escape the isolation many of them experienced. Following this victory, when it was found that police were racially profiling drivers in collaboration with the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Migrant Justice campaigned to end the practice and won.
Since then, Migrant Justice has changed tactics and turned to pressuring corporations to effect change in the workplace. Modeled on the success of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida, where public demonstrations against corporations won across-the-board pay raises for farmworkers, Migrant Justice entered negotiations with Ben & Jerry’s, and in 2015 the CEO agreed publicly to work with the activist group towards an agreement. The company has since stalled and to this day has not signed off on a commitment to protect migrant dairy workers, which Balcazar suggested was related to the difference between corporate and worker driven responsibility.
Palacios also mentioned the challenge of advocacy under the current administration. The ICE has detained workers connected with the group, and in March, Palacios herself was detained. She remained defiant, however, saying that Migrant Justice was not letting the ICE stop their work. “We stand up, we speak out,” she said.
Balcazar finished the talk by inviting attendees to take part in the public pressure on Ben & Jerry’s. Postcards were passed out for people to send to Ben & Jerry’s asking the company to sign Milk With Dignity, and he alerted attendees of a protest outside the New Haven Ben & Jerry’s on October 5th, the National Day of Action. Balcazar even suggested, on a whimsical note, telling Ben & Jerry’s to adopt Milk With Dignity on the company’s “Suggest a Flavor” section on their website. He emphasized the importance of the support of the talk’s attendees. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t consume dairy or are lactose intolerant. We all have a responsibility to demand and protect human rights. Acting together, we hold the power,” he said.
