Scores of farm workers & activists march on Ben & Jerry's

a reply to: seasonal

Ben and Jerry's publicly supports liberal policies.

Workers complain and want more.



Put your money where your mouth is, Ben. You too Jerry.

a reply to: mOjOm

Some of the farm stories are from 2009, so the issue (true or made up) spans B and J and Unilever.

"Empty ya pockets son,


they got you thinkin' that


What ya need is what they selling


Make you think that buying is rebelling"

a reply to: seasonal

That does sound unfair if what that guy is saying is true.

I wonder if it's more of a situation where the Farm Owner is keeping the profit from himself.

I mean does Ben and Jerry actually own these dairy farms or do they just contract with them and the Owner of the farm is cheating the workers out of better conditions without Ben and Jerry knowing or having a say in how the Farm owner runs his operations???

Could be any number of issues here that don't make it as easy as what it seems.

a reply to: seasonal

You're probably right about #1.
All business is about making money. There's nothing wrong with earning money but it grates when they act all holier than thou while raking in the cash.
Its dishonest.
Like the term "job creator". No one thinks " I really want to create some jobs, I know, I'll set up a business". Durrrr.
We used to call them fat cats up until a few years ago when newspeak came to airstrip one.

I preferred Ben and Jerry when they used to chase each other around and hit each other with frying pans and drop anvils on their toes and stuff.....

a reply to: mOjOm

Yep,

I have a feeling this will role out like produce farmers. They get paid just enough to scrape by, and there is little left when the feed bill, vet bill, electric bill porperty tax.....bills get paid.

Like Tyson and chick farmers. You tube it-it will make you sick.

a reply to: Grambler

Anything is possible. But it seems like I remember them, or the company or whatever doing some really cool things in the past that were not made up. I just don't remember what it was as it was a while ago. It was more than once too because I remember thinking, "Well maybe that is why they are so popular and charge a bit more than others do for a similar product."

But who knows.

It could be just that I love Ice Cream so much I'll believe anything Ben and Jerry tell me while showing me Cold Creamy Delicious Ice Cream.

a reply to: Tulpa

Ahhh the marketing worked.

ANd new speak is a dangerous thing. Ben and J is super expensive and they can pay their help, but will they?

Here's the issue. Ben and Jerry's is a way cool SJW company. they treat their employees well. One of their raw materials is milk. They buy milk on the open market. They want to get a GOOD PRICE when buying their milk. Since they buy a lot of milk the figure they ought to get the best price. The dairies compete to sell milk to Ben and Jerry. They enter into long-term contracts to deliver milk at prices favorable to B&J. The dairies are the ones that pay the workers and treat them shabbily. But the dairies say, "Oh we can't help it because Ben and Jerry don't give us a fair price for our milk," so low wages trickle down to the workers.

Or so they say.

So the dairies say it's B&J's fault, so the workers protest B&J. Social Justice only goes so far when you want a good price for your raw material.

a reply to: schuyler

Yep,

Same thing for computers. If you have a problem Dell says hardware and microsoft says hardware problem.


Good way to avoid anyone having to pay the people who make our food.

a reply to: seasonal

I have googled it. I've decided not to ever do that again. It's too difficult to watch that stuff.

Especially since I enjoy those foods and know I won't be able to stop having them yet I don't know how to stop what they're doing either. So I just try not to deal with it even though I wish I could do something to change it.

I at least try and only buy from places that don't do that kind of corporate farming crap when I can. I buy eggs from organic normal chickens or whatever it's called. The brown eggs instead of the bleached white ones.

But ya, that's an issue I'm not ready to deal with currently so I admit I kind of ignore it and hide my guilt and shame in doing so in the hope I'll deal with it later on.

a reply to: seasonal

I suspect there will be more of this type of thing coming down the line in other areas.
A little "outside encouragement" from other agitators flexing their influence and resisting if you know what I mean.

a reply to: mOjOm

Our system is designed to exploit people for profit.

If you are enjoying a bowl of ice cream,
rest assured a poor bastard cut and processed the sugar
some poor bastard milked the cow
some poor bastard drove the product around
some poor bastard picked the fruit in the ice cream

it is a huge problem, and it is done in the name of more profits. Not a profit, but more profits.

a reply to: Tulpa

I cannot read if you are seeing this as a logical progression or a negative.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: Grambler

No worries, when I see the cig smoker, I know logic rules the post.

Well thanks.

A littl e off topic, but I find the business model of being a sort of leftists envriomental big business to be fascinating.

I mean places like Ben and jerries, whole foods, and Starbucks.

They have to keep the stock holders happy by making as big as profit as possible, but also convince the public that they are about so much more than money.

Zizek, a post modern philospher, has an interesting video on Starbucks. (i don't agree with him but he is fascinating)

He claims there is an inherent shame in capitalism, because you feel like someone is being exploited.

Starbucks charges more for their product, but tells you that a portion of the money goes to helping poor farmers. Hence the price of the shame is added directly in to the purchase, allowing people to fund a huge corporation guilt free.

a reply to: seasonal

Sure. For some reason I feel a little less empathy for people doing those jobs than when you're talking about animals in slaughter houses and that kind of thing though. That's what I was talking about in that other post, was the animals for food places. It's just incredibly brutal and wrong in many cases.

With people, in most cases anyway, but not all, they at least can refuse and leave if they really wanted. Not the poor animals though.

a reply to: seasonal

I was referring to those on the left and all their calls for resistance to Trump and how they want to make life unbearable for Americans in general until they can get their own way.
There's all sorts of things that might suddenly start to become problematic if they're given a little nudge from a certain angle.
I may be getting paranoid but I'm waiting for the EU to get more blatant in their attempts to derail Brexit.

I'm not saying this is the case with ice cream but I'd be very suspicious of any "activism" that springs up in the coming months.

a reply to: mOjOm

Yes the system is designed to minimize cost and max profit.

And the animals -pigs-chickens and beef are indeed a unit. Not an animal. The problem now is so is labor.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: rickymouse

True, do not bite the hand that feeds you unless you have to.

Ben and J is a very expensive ice cream.

From the other stories I have read the "farmers" are also housed. So I imagine a migrant work force. And let's not forget the Unilever bouth B&J in 2012.
Something does not add up. And I have a feeling the farmers may be getting exploited.
Will Ben and Jerry’s Help Improve Conditions for Dairy Workers?civileats.com...

Many times when the farmers provide housing, they also provide meat and dairy and stuff from the fields as part of the deal. Some of them also give a bonus at the end of the year if the workers are seasonal. I do not know how these farmers are or what packages they have.

a reply to: mOjOm

Let me first admit that I am biased, and a small government fan.

I think you will find that the worst of these farms are factory farms.

I married into a family that had a small pig farm, and I have known many small farmers in my life.

Although any butchering has some brutality in it, I can honestly tell you that every farmer I have met really cares about their animals and treats them well.

These farmers are being driven out of business because of insane regulations. Places like monsanto enforce regulations that say farmers can not reuse seeds. Farmers spend more time dealing with paperwork than in the fields.

And one by one they sell.

Regulations favor factory farms because they employ and army of lawyers to deal with it, and can lobby or pay fines to get out of them.

Its a very sad situation for the small farmer and the rights of animals.