Ben & Jerry's signs agreement promising to improve pay working conditions of its dairy farmers
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Ben & Jerry’s is promising to improve the pay and working conditions of the dairy farmers who provide milk to the Vermont-based company — but it comes more than two years after they initially expressed interest in doing so.
The ice cream makers and the Migrant Justice Group announced on Tuesday that they had signed an agreement in support of the new Milk With Dignity Program  a worker-driven initiative to bring together farmworkers  farmers and dairy buyers to ensure just and dignified working conditions in Ben & Jerry's dairy supply chain  according to a press release.
The agreement comes several months after  dairy workers and activists marched to the Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury  Vt . to protest what  they  say were "slow negotiations" in reaching the Milk With Dignity deal  and more than two years since the company initially agreed to implement the campaign.
According to the Will Lambeck of Migrant Justice  Ben & Jerry's had first committed to work with Migrant Justice in 2015 to implement changes to their supply chain  but had not not actually implemented any of the programs as of the April 2017
A post shared by Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) on Sep 20  2017 at 2:21pm PDT
“In 2015  the commitment that was signed [between  Ben & Jerry’s and Migrant Justice ] was a commitment to work with Migrant Justice to implement that program in  their  supply chain  and that’s what  they ’ve yet to do ” said Will Lambek of Migrant Justice in an April 2015 statement to Huffington Post.
The new agreement  however  requires Ben & Jerry’s to acquire its milk from farms that adhere to the standards of the Milk With Dignity program  which ensures workers are paid at least $10 an hour  Vermont’s minimum wage. Workers will also be guaranteed one day off a week  at least eight consecutive hours of rest between shifts and housing accommodations that include a bed and access to electricity and clean running water  New York Times reports.
"It's an agreement that puts the worker in charge of workers' rights " he said. "It's a worker-led movement  but it's a very clever system. It's a system that really does create a win  win  win " said Jostein Solheim  Ben & Jerry’s CEO.
But while  Ben & Jerry’s  has committed to sourcing 100 percent of  its  dairy ingredients through this program “over a period of years ” it won’t affect the purchase price of the final product. Stolheim said the extra money paid to farmers would not result in more expensive ice cream and the company will absorb the cost as a part of doing business.
[TGT] is promising to improve the pay and working conditions of the dairy farmers who provide milk to the Vermont-based company — but it comes more than two years after they initially expressed interest in doing so.
The ice cream makers and the Migrant Justice Group announced on Tuesday that they had signed an agreement in support of the new Milk With Dignity Program  a worker-driven initiative to bring together farmworkers  farmers and dairy buyers to ensure just and dignified working conditions in [TGT] dairy supply chain  according to a press release.
The agreement comes several months after  dairy workers and activists marched to [TGT] factory in Waterbury  Vt . to protest what  they  say were "slow negotiations" in reaching the Milk With Dignity deal  and more than two years since the company initially agreed to implement the campaign.
According to the Will Lambeck of Migrant Justice  [TGT]'s had first committed to work with Migrant Justice in 2015 to implement changes to [TGT] supply chain  but had not not actually implemented any of the programs as of the April 2017
A post shared by [TGT] (@benandjerrys) on Sep 20  2017 at 2:21pm PDT
“In 2015  the commitment that was signed [between  Ben & Jerry’s and Migrant Justice ] was a commitment to work with Migrant Justice to implement that program in  their  supply chain  and that’s what  they ’ve yet to do ” said Will Lambek of Migrant Justice in an April 2015 statement to Huffington Post.
The new agreement  however  requires [TGT] to acquire its milk from farms that adhere to the standards of the Milk With Dignity program  which ensures workers are paid at least $10 an hour  Vermont’s minimum wage. Workers will also be guaranteed one day off a week  at least eight consecutive hours of rest between shifts and housing accommodations that include a bed and access to electricity and clean running water  New York Times reports.
"It's an agreement that puts the worker in charge of workers' rights " he said. "It's a worker-led movement  but it's a very clever system. It's a system that really does create a win  win  win " said Jostein Solheim  [TGT] CEO.
But while  [TGT]  has committed to sourcing 100 percent of  [TGT]  dairy ingredients through this program “over a period of years ” it won’t affect the purchase price of the final product. Stolheim said the extra money paid to farmers would not result in more expensive ice cream and the company will absorb the cost as a part of doing business.