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This afternoon, representatives of a farmworkers’ union stationed themselves outside Costco to deliver the message they’ve been delivering up and down the West Coast: Boycott Driscoll’s Berries! Boycott Haagen-Dazs berry ice cream!

Why, you ask? Two labor unions — one based in Washington, the other in Baja California — have united to press the berry giant to sign union contracts that, they say, would “ensure fair wages, breaks, and protection from wage theft, poison, and abuse in the fields.” 

Union negotiations in Baja ran into a wall last year, and workers there went on strike for two weeks, protesting wages and working conditions. The Los Angeles Times published a nice overview of the situation back then, in which protesters argued that Driscoll’s mostly positive reputation for social responsibility was not deserved, as workers there earned only $3.50 an hour and were denied days off during the harvest season, among other things. Company officials told the Times that they were “at the forefront of improvements benefiting Mexican farmworkers.”

If you’re interested in hearing more about this, you can attend a “meet and eat” at the Eureka Labor Temple (840 E Street) at 6:30 p.m. tonight. More details here. You can read more about the unions’ call for boycott at this website.