Farmworker Group Says Hannaford's Ethics Help Line Hasn't Fixed Living Conditions

Feb 15, 2023

By Elodie Reed

A Vermont farmworker advocacy organization says Hannaford supermarkets' complaint system has not resolved poor housing and labor conditions among the company's dairy suppliers.

Migrant Justice says farmworkers have filed complaints about nine farms through Hannaford’s Speak Up Line, and none of those conditions have been improved as a result.

The complaints include a supervisor threatening violence with a machete, ten workers sharing a house with four rooms and inadequate heat, and 12- to 14-hour work days without meal breaks.

Hannaford did not immediately respond to a request for comment as of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The company has previously said it was conducting due diligence to make sure its dairy suppliers were meeting a code of conduct that includes treating workers fairly and humanely.

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Video: 2026 T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science - Dan Weary

T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science: "Using science to assess and improve the welfare of dairy cattle"

Dan Weary is a Professor at the University of British Columbia. Dan did his BSc and MSc at McGill and Doctorate at Oxford before co-founding UBC’s Animal Welfare Program where he now co-directs this active research group. His research focuses on understanding the perspectives of animals and applying these insights to develop methods of assessing animal welfare and improving the lives of animals. His work has helped drive changes in practices (including the adoption of higher milk rations for calves and pain management for disbudding) and housing methods (including the adoption of social housing for pre-weaned calves). He also studies cow comfort and lameness, social interactions among cows, and interactions between cows, human handlers and technologies like automated millking systems that are increasingly used on farms. His presentation will outline key questions in cattle welfare, highlight recent UBC research addressing them, and showcase innovative methods for improving the lives of cattle and their caretakers.