Comments

1

You can always call OSHA to report any unsafe working condition 800-321-6742 (OSHA).

OSHA is very strict, like they legitimately tell you to move a fire extinguisher 3 feet to the right.

2

The Farm Workers union and organized labor obviously know about OSHA, that's not really the issue. The bosses (not just this job, but any job) also intimidate workers into not reporting injuries, harassment, etc., or retaliate when they do.

4

@1, @2, @3 - And we can also boycott Darigold products, nothing gets their attention more than hitting them in their bottom line. All the bad publicity doesn't help them much either.

5

Who exactly are the owners of the cooperative? Get them on the record here.

@3 proving retaliation can be tough though. Look, I don't think the issue here is workers just haven't heard of hotlines.

6

@4:

The problem is, or at least something to be aware of, is that Darigold makes a lot of alternate branded milk products for the local market. Pretty much any store-brand milk-based products (e.g. Safeway's Lucerne and O organic brands and Kroger's Kroger and Simple Truth brands) are actually produced on-contract by Darigold. It's still all NWDA milk going into the jugs and cartons, just with a different name on them.

8

Wow, now I really feel good about having given up Darigold and most dairy products (milk and ice cream, mostly) for dietary reasons. Is Organic Valley also on the bad list?

9

@8: I feel for the workers, however. Nobody should have to work under dangerous, unhealthy conditions.

10

How does the Darigold plant in Issaquah fit into this?

11

@7 According to information on Agropur's website, it produces Lucerne dairy products for sale in Canada (https://www.agropur.com/en-us/our-brands/lucerne). It is possible that Lucerne contracts with a U.S. based dairy to make Lucerne products for sale in the United States. It also makes sense that Safeway/Albertsons (recently purchased by Safeway) would contract with a company that has dairies located in various location around the U.S..

I could not find any information on the Darigold website about other brands it produces. Nor could I find the information elsewhere, although I did not spend a lot of time searching. . .

12

Farm workers in general are exploited and work in terrible dangerous conditions. Its cheaper to just use them up and dump them than to treat them fairly. And as usual it is the unskilled migrant workers who are doing the hardest and most dangerous work. Americans won't work for the low wages in those dangerous conditions so guess who takes those jobs?


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