On a busy corner outside of Costco, the growl of SUVs and polished F150’s were drowned out by the voices of over 50 people protesting the sale of Sakuma Brother’s and Driscoll’s Berries by the wholesale distributor.
Costco, along with nearly every other major grocery distribution chain, sells Driscoll’s and Sakuma Brother’s berries.
Driscoll’s is the world’s largest berry processor and distributor and is notorious for systemic wage theft, unsafe working conditions and paying inadequate piece-rate wages to farmworkers. In San Quintin, Mexico, 70,000 workers went on strike and formed a union to endorse a boycott of Driscoll’s.
In 2014 Sakuma Brothers agreed to pay $850,000 back to farmworkers. The workers were denied rest breaks, worked without pay and were not given accurate information on wages and hours. Sakuma Brothers sells most of their berries under Driscoll’s label.
The demonstrators had gathered in solidarity with Skagit Valley farmworkers as a continuance of International Worker’s Day, which took place the weekend preceding the protest.
Democracy Now!, a national independent news organization, covered the protest and interviewed protest organizers and farmworkers.
Over the megaphone, organizers led chants and told personal stories. Children played with bucket drums on the grass. A chant leader lent the megaphone to one of my traveling companions, Greta.
“What’s disgusting?” She chants.
“Union busting!” The crowd responds.
“What’s outrageous?”
“Piece-rate wages!”
A police officer rolls down his window from across the intersection and tells the protestors that they are violating a noise ordinance and can’t use a megaphone, but when the light changes, he rolls up his window and drives off.
As the crowd move across the parking lot, demonstrators pass out fliers with boycott details to those in the parking lot. Several Costco customers laugh and tell protestors that they are more inclined to buy Driscoll’s simply because they are protesting, but many show support for the boycott and are sympathetic to farmworker rights.
After occupying the front of Costco for 25 minutes, the police show up, and after discussing with protest organizers, the protestors leave as peacefully as they came. This is a common boycott tactic. Once a crowd reaches critical mass it will mobilize and occupy a central space. They will wait for the police to show up, and after being told to leave, they will. This tactic is meant to bring as much attention to the issue as possible without causing reason for arrest.
Familias Unidas por la Justicia is a national organization that unites farmworkers and their families in their demands of fair labor laws, a living wage and respect in their work. FUJ just finished a West Coast tour protesting Driscoll’s in chains like Whole Foods, Costco, PCC in Seattle, and others. FUJ representatives have spoken at colleges and universities nationwide, including Western Washington.
FUJ has engaged in collaboration with and acts in solidarity with Filipino Campesinos in the Philippines for #ricenotbullets, farmworkers in San Quintin, Community to Community (C2C), as well as USW Steelworkers in their strike at Tesoro in Anacortes, Washington.
Here is a link to stores that sell Driscoll’s, and here is a list of brands to boycott.