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

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

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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