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The simple truth is that silence and inaction are unacceptable responses in the face of forced labor. In the most recent forced labor prosecution, US v. Moreno, et al., workers were held against their will in Pahokee, Florida, their passports taken, their families threatened if they spoke up. Those workers broke through the silence and inaction of the powerful buyer companies named by the DOL in that investigation — Kroger, Walmart/Sam’s Club, and Schnucks — by escaping from a labor camp in the trunk of a car and calling the CIW for help. The multi-state forced labor conspiracy that produced watermelons sold in the stores of companies was entirely preventable but for the silence and inaction of those with the power to prevent it.

Indeed, of the companies named by the DOL, Kroger stands out as a particularly concerning example of a corporation repeatedly failing to protect farmworkers from the most egregious worker and human rights violations. This failure is all the more disturbing because of Kroger’s own supposed zero tolerance policies against forced labor and the apparent failure of their auditing and certification requirements to detect, let alone address or prevent, a trafficking ring within their own supply chain. And as if one case of forced labor weren’t enough to move the company to comment — much less join the Program recognized by law enforcement agencies across the US government today as the best program for fighting modern-day slavery — what are consumers to think about Kroger when they realize that the Pahokee case was not the first instance in which Kroger was connected to a law enforcement action against forced labor, but the second since December 2021?

Instead of silence, we offer an alternative: join the Fair Food Program, and expand it to all your produce suppliers’ operations.

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