Sorrento Refuses to Meet with Farmworkers!

Take Action Over Sorrento 's New Display Of Ignorance

Information in this alert comes from the United Farm Workers.
Posted December 20, 2004

Included in this alert:

1. Update on Sorrento campaign
2. Action Alert: Write Sorrento CEO!

Update on Sorrento campaign

On Nov. 19, officials at the headquarters of cheesemaking giant Sorrento Lactalis Inc. in Buffalo , New York refused to meet with a delegation of farm workers and supporters or accept their online petition. It was signed by more than 12,000 consumers backing dairy workers at Sorrento ’s supplier, Threemile Canyon Farms in Oregon .

To add insult to injury, Sorrento Lactalis President Erick Boutry issued a statement claiming his company "supports a level playing field for both labor and management. We have faith in the labor laws of the United States to strike a fair balance between their interests."

Boutry didn't mention that Oregon farm workers have no legal right to organize or compel their employers to negotiate union contracts that would bring a better life for themselves and their families. California is the only state with a law granting such rights to farm workers. Farm workers have been excluded from the national labor laws since the 1930s.

The absence of a law guaranteeing basic labor rights for Oregon farm workers forces the workers to ask firms that purchase milk from Threemile Canyon Farms to take a stand against the abuse and discrimination they endure. A number of major companies that buy from Threemile Canyon Farms have taken a stand. Sorrento Lactalis has refused.

Sorrento Lactalis is the leading manufacturer of soft Italian-style cheese in the U.S. under its Sorrento and Precious brands. Tell Sorrento Lactalis that it can't continue to let ignorance and insensitivity close its eyes to the suffering of farm workers at the Oregon dairy that supplies the milk used to make its cheese.

Go to: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/SorrentoNR/76gww52f77tt87 to send the message printed below (or your own message) to Erick Boutry, the President of Sorrento Lactalis.

Action Alert: Write Sorrento CEO!

WEB MESSAGE:

After refusing to even meet with the farm worker delegation or accept its petition on Nov. 19, you claimed in a company press release that "we have faith in the labor laws of the United States to strike a fair balance between" the interests of labor and management.

How can you and Sorrento Lactalis continue to allow ignorance and insensitivity to close your eyes to the suffering of farm workers at the Oregon dairy that supplies milk for your cheese? Don't you know that farm workers have been excluded from the labor laws of the United States since the 1930s? Aren't you aware that Oregon farm workers have no right to organize or bargain for the union contracts that would improve their lives and the lives of their families?

That is why the workers at Threemile Canyon Farms are asking major companies that purchase milk from this dairy to take a stand against the abuse and discrimination they endure. Many other companies have done so. Sorrento Lactalis has refused. How can you ignore the voices of more than 12,000 American consumers who signed the online petition you refused to accept?