Outpost Natural Foods announced today on its website that it will no longer carry any Palermo's Pizza products at all three of its Milwaukee locations. There's still a link to "vendors we love" for the local pizza make on the Outpost site.Palermo's has been a shameful corporation with the exploitation of illegal immigrants, multiple violations of federal labor laws and an alarming amount of safety violations resulting in heavy fines from OSHA.
The Outpost joins grocers like Madison's Fresh Madison Market that have discontinued sales of the frozen pizza brand.
The Outpost decision comes after more than a year of steady pressure from members of the Palermo Workers Union and community allies.
"We commend Outpost Natural Foods for finally making the right decision to stop selling Palermo's Pizza products," said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera. "Outpost has long-held policies that ensure their animal products are humanely raised and that Fair Trade practices govern the treatment of workers in the global south. So it's only reasonable that Outpost has a means of holding their vendors accountable for any exploitation of workers rights or safety regulations here in Milwaukee."
Among Outpost's new ethical standards for vendors is an expectation of compliance with all state and federal laws.
Kudos to Outpost for taking pride in their reputation and in setting a good example for other businesses.
Tell me if I got this right, according to the article the "palermos workers union" has pressured the grocer to not carry palermos products?
ReplyDeleteIs Palermos unionized? Is it in the unions best interests to directly affect sales negatively?
Just wondering.