SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., June 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.), a vegan food justice organization, is pleased to announce that the protracted boycott of Amy’s Kitchen products called by the company’s workers and F.E.P. has ended. The boycott, which began in January 2022, was called to improve workplace safety, increase wages, and provide better health insurance.
“Working to improve working conditions and increase wages for all Amy’s Kitchen workers has had a great impact,” said Cecilia Luna Ojeda, an Amy’s employee for 20 years. “With the help and support of Food Empowerment Project, we’ve seen safety improvements, and we hope these changes will remain and keep improving. Thank you to Food Empowerment Project for their patience, commitment, and dedication to the workers since the beginning of the campaign. And thank you to Amy’s Kitchen for listening to us.”
During the boycott hundreds of consumers, including vegan and food justice advocates, labor organizations, and grocery cooperatives, lent their voices to those of Amy’s line workers to demand better treatment and conditions.
After eight months of discussions between Amy’s Kitchen food line workers in Santa Rosa, California, representatives of F.E.P., and executives at Amy’s Kitchen, agreements were made to not only improve the working conditions for the food line workers in Santa Rosa, but the company also acknowledged those who were abruptly let go at the now-closed Amy’s Kitchen facility in San José.
“Over the past eight months of collaboration with the Food Empowerment Project, Amy’s is pleased with the learnings and progress we’ve made together,” said Paul Schiefer, President of Amy’s Kitchen, Inc. “This collaboration has facilitated productive discussions about how we can better meet our workers’ needs and enhance our communication. We look forward to continuing this positive dialogue and making meaningful improvements for our workforce.”
F.E.P. will remain in contact with the workers at Amy’s to ensure the permanence of these decisions and their treatment, and in a year, F.E.P. will revisit to see if the wages of the workers have increased and to see if employees will be receiving a cost-of-living increase.
In addition, Amy’s Kitchen has agreed to increase the number of vegan foods produced.
“We have such a deep admiration for the line workers at Amy’s Kitchen who spoke their truth to the executives at the company and never wavered and who constantly advocated for their fellow workers who were not at the table,” said lauren Ornelas, F.E.P. founder and general programs collective member. “This journey has once again taught us the power of the workers and community when we stand together to make our food system more just and compassionate as we work toward a more sustainable food system for all.”
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About Food Empowerment Project
Food Empowerment Project (http://www.foodispower.org), founded in 2007, seeks to create a more just and sustainable world by recognizing the power of one’s food choices. In all of its work, Food Empowerment Project seeks specifically to empower those with the fewest resources. Its advocacy areas include fair conditions for farm workers; the availability of healthy foods in Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities; and the protection of animals. A vegan food justice organization, Food Empowerment Project also works to expose negligent corporations, such as those that push unhealthy foods into low-income areas, those that perpetuate food deserts (or food apartheid areas), and those that sell chocolate derived from the worst forms of child labor. Food Empowerment Project is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
For more information:
Alejandra Tolley (408) 963-8096
[email protected]
SOURCE Food Empowerment Project
