DAPHNE, Ala. — The Mobile Progressive Student Alliance and the Workers Solidarity Alliance will picket the grand opening of Publix Supermarket in Daphne.

The Workers Solidarity Alliance said the picket is in response to Publix’s stance to refuse to improve working conditions for farm workers in its supply chain.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ campaign for Fair Food is requesting food retailers to pay 1 cent more per pound of Florida tomatoes to improve workers’ wages, and the alliance said Publix has not agreed to the proposal.

According to the coalition’s website, Florida tomato pickers work for 50 cents per 32-pound bucket of tomatoes with no benefits; that rate has not changed since the 1980s. The website states that most Florida farm workers earn less than $12,000 per year in wages.

“The farm workers are daily laborers. They probably make about $50 a day doing about 10 to 12 hours of labor,” association representative Lee Pryor said.

He noted that an extra cent per pound of tomatoes would increase the pickers’ daily wages to around $70.

“Nothing about the decades-long plight of Florida farm workers should come as a surprise to Publix since these workers have always lived in the very communities where Publix claims to be so deeply involved as a positive force.”

Publix responded that the issue does not involve the supermarket chain company.

See the rest of this story in the Dec. 10 edition of The Bulletin.