Southern California Religious Leaders Sign-on Letter to Trader Joe's CEO Dan Bane

October 2011

Dear Mr. Bane:

As religious leaders from Southern California, we urge Trader Joe’s to sign a Fair Food agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW).

Conditions of poverty, lack of rights, and cases of modern-day slavery in the fields are everyone’s responsibility. To address these grievous and systemic conditions requires that corporations, growers, farmworkers and consumers all do our part. Business as usual has condemned our sisters and brothers who labor in the fields to suffer needlessly. But there is another way.

Nine major retail food corporations and over 90 percent of Florida growers have signed Fair Food agreements with the CIW. Through these Fair Food agreements food buyers are using their power to elevate wages and advance rights for farmworkers while ensuring transparency and accountability to their customers through a third-party audit.

Trader Joe’s puzzling and misleading public statements about the Fair Food agreements and the company’s attempts to foist responsibility off on their wholesalers illustrates the extent to which Trader Joe’s has not yet even understood the basics. We find this inexcusable given that the CIW has been willing to meet in person with Trader Joe's, has shared the template of the Code of Conduct, and has an indisputable track record of working conscientiously and successfully with other major corporations. The Fair Food agreements are being implemented now and dramatically improving the lives of farmworkers. That Trader Joe’s would scorn these agreements and their achievements is, frankly, unconscionable.

As people of faith we believe that all people are created by God for good purpose: to dwell justly with one another and to care for all creation. Farmworkers, corporate executives, growers and consumers depend upon one another to grow, harvest, sell and obtain the food we need for ourselves and our families. Trader Joe’s has a reputation as an ethical company; it is one of the reasons members of our congregations shop at your store. You have an opportunity here to do what is right and good; to make an historic contribution to transforming this part of our food system into one that ensures well-being for all. This is not the first time corporate executives or growers have had to decide what to do. We hope that you will follow the example of Jon Esformes, a principle of Pacific Tomato Growers, when at a press conference he said, “you wake up and you realize that maybe this is something we could have done yesterday, but I am certainly not going to wait until tomorrow.”

Mr. Bane, do not wait. Work now with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to forge a Fair Food agreement of which you, your company and your customers can be proud. Use your power to help rectify rights of farmworkers long trampled so that the dawn of a new day in the Florida tomato fields might blaze into bright morning light.

Sincerely,

Rev. Dr. Rick Schlosser, Executive Director, California Council of Churches

The Most Reverend Gabino Zavala, D.D., J.C.L, Bishop of the San Gabriel Pastoral Region of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Rev. Felix Villanueva, Conference Minister, Southern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ

Rev. Dr. David Alicea, Pastor, UCC Paradise Hills, San Diego

Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greater Los Angeles Area

Rev. Carissa Balwin, Director of Peace and Justice, All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena

Rev. Erin Beardemphl, Riverside

Fr. Wilfredo Benitez, Pastor, Saint Anselm's Episcopal Church, Garden Grove

Rabbi Linda Bertenthal, Managing Congregational Representative, Union for Reform Judaism, Los Angeles

Pastor AJ Blackwood, Progressive Interfaith Alliance, Orange County

Rev. Susie Bjork, Associate Pastor, Bayshore Community Church, Long Beach

Rev. Eugene Boutilier, United Church of Christ, Pilgrim Place

Rev. Mary Jo Bradshaw, Pastor, All Peoples Church, Los Angeles

Rev. Nancy Brink, Director of Church Relations, Chapman University Orange

Rev. Jim Burklo, USC Chaplain

Dr. John B. Cobb, United Methodist Church

Rev. Anne Cohen, Interim Pastor, San Marino United Church of Christ

Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, American Jewish University, Los Angeles

Rev. Dr. Gary Collins, Pastor, St. Mark Presbyterian Church, Newport Beach

Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels, Beth Shir Shalom, Santa Monica

Rabbi Susan Conforti, Chaplain Hoag Hospital, Newport Beach

Rev. Jim Conn, the Church in Ocean Park, United Methodist

Rev. Dr. Art Cribbs, Executive Director, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, California

Rev. Linda L. Culbertson, General Presbyter, Presbytery of the Pacific

Suzanne Darweesh, Elder, Co-Moderator of Peace and Justice, St. Mark Presbyterian, Newport Beach

Sherri Davison, Co-Moderator, Brea Congregational Church, United Church of Christ

Rev. David Doss, retired pastor, United Church of Christ

Rabbi Stephen J. Einstein, Congregation B'nai Tzedek, Fountain Valley

Rev. Charles Ensley, Pastor, Bayshore Community Church, Long Beach

Rev. Jeanne Favreau-Sorvillo, Pastor, Diamond Bar United Church of Christ

Frank Forbath, Lay Leader, Sts. Simon and Judd Catholic Parish, Costa Mesa

Jean Forbath, Lay Leader, Sts. Simon and Judd Catholic Parish, Costa Mesa

Rev. John C. Forney, Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, Claremont

Rev. Heidi Worthen Gamble, Mission Advocate for Hunger, Presbytery of the Pacific, Los Angeles

Marian K. Gerecke, Progressive Christians Uniting

Rabbi Susan Goldberg, Los Angeles

Rev. Elizabeth Griswold, Associate Pastor, Irvine United Congregational Church, Irvine

Father Michael Gutierrez, Pastor, St. John the Baptist, Baldwin Park

Rev. Dr. Sarah Halverson, Pastor, Fairview Community Church, Costa Mesa

Rev. Frank Hamilton, First Christian Church, Ontario

Imam Taha Hassane, Islamic Center of San Diego, San Diego

Rev. Dr. Jane Heckles, former Conference Minister of SNCC-UCC; National Staff, United Church of Christ

Rev. Dwight Hoelscher, retired Pastor

Rev. Dr. Michael Holland, Pastor, Church of the Foothills, Tustin

Rabbi Sarah Beth Hronsky, Temple Beth Hillel, Jewish Valley Village

Harold H. Jackson Jr., San Dimas, United Church of Christ

Rabbi Steven Jacobs, Kol Tikvah, Jewish Woodland Hills

Rabbi Jim Kaufman, Temple Beth Hillel, Jewish, North Hollywood

Rev. Dr. Mary Ellen Kilsby, Senior Minister Emerita, UCC Long Beach, United Church of Christ

Rabbi Jonathan Klein, Executive Director, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, Los Angeles

Keren Klein, Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles

Rev. Peter Laarman, Executive Director, Progressive Christians Uniting

Rev. Petra Malleis-Sternberg, Pastor, First Congregational Church of San Bernardino

Thomas Nixon, Evangelical Covenant Church, Fullerton

Robin Kol Ami Podolsky, Los Angeles

Rev. Winston Presnall, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Orange

Rev. Dr. Rebecca Prichard, Pastor, Tustin Presbyterian Church, Tustin

Rev. Holly Reinhart-Marean, Pastor, Christ Church by the Sea, Newport Beach

Rev. Tom Reinhart-Marean, Ordained Elder, First United Methodist Church, Newport Beach

Rev. Dr. Sharon Rhodes-Wickett, Pastor, Claremont United Methodist Church

Rev. Sandie Richards, Minister, First United Methodist Church of Los Angeles

Aviva Rosenbloom, Cantor Emerita, Sun City Jewish Congregation, Los Angeles

Rabbi Josh Samuels, Temple Beth Hillel, Jewish Valley Village

Rev. Karen Sapio, Pastor, Claremont Presbyterian Church, Claremont

Rev. Elaine Schoepf, Interim Pastor, First Christian Church of Santa Barbara

Rev. Katherine Schofield, Minister, United University Church, Los Angeles

Rev. Andrew Schwiebert, Lead Pastor, First Congregational Church of Pasadena

Rev. Madison Shockley, Pilgrim United Church of Christ, Carlsbad

Rev. Dr. Dennis Short, retired Pastor

Rev. Dave Sigmund, Pastor, North Long Beach Christian Church

Rev. Dan Smith, Pastor, West Hollywood Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles

Rev. Dr. Stan Smith, retired Pastor, First Christian Church of Orange

Stan Springer, Claremont Presbyterian Church

Rev. Jerald M. Stinson, Senior Minister, First Congregational Church of Long Beach

Rev. David Stoner, Associate Pastor, First United Methodist Church of Costa Mesa

Rev. Dr. Karen Stoyanoff, Pastor, Anaheim Unitarian Church

Shakeel Syed, Executive Director, Islamic Shura Council of Southern California

Rev. Rachel Allen Tabutol, Associate Pastor, the United Methodist Church of Simi Valley

Rev. Maria Tafoya, Pastor, Delhaven Community Church, La Puente

Wendy Tarr, Director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, Orange County 

Rev. Dr. Paul Tellstrom, Senior Pastor Irvine United Congregational Church

Betty Thompson, Elder, First Presbyterian Church, Santa Ana

Rev. Erin Tomayo, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, Los Angeles

Rev. Dr. Roché Vermaak, Associate Pastor, Brentwood Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles

Rev. Joe Zarro, Pastor, United Church of the Valley, Murrieta