Commentary: Ben & Jerry's is not living up to its values
When President Trump issued the first iteration of his "immigration ban," Ben & Jerry's [said]...the policy was an "assault on the American values of inclusion and respect," and [emphasized] the importance of immigrants to our global economy. But close to home, the Vermont-based ice cream maker is not fully living up to those values. Across Vermont, ice cream's key ingredient, milk, is sourced from numerous farms where the largely immigrant workforce endures harsh conditions and human rights violations...This month marks two years since Ben & Jerry's made a public commitment to join a program to change these conditions...The program includes a code of conduct for dairy farms to ensure workers' human rights and improve conditions, as well as continuous and independent monitoring....Unfortunately...while Ben & Jerry's has been willing to talk, it has not yet taken the necessary action to implement the program. Meanwhile, unjust and harmful conditions persist, and workers continue to bear the cost...Now, to make matters worse, the Trump administration is undermining Vermont dairy workers' efforts to organize and secure basic rights. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have directly targeted leaders of Migrant Justice..arresting two of its leading campaigners for immigration reasons ....