Dive Brief:
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A group of workers in New York Sunday protested in front of a Costco store in an attempt to pressure the retailer to end its business with two suppliers they say are violating workers' rights.
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Women taking part in the “Ain’t I A Woman?!” campaign say that Pactiv and Reynolds, two food packaging companies, have forced them to work in sweatshop conditions and illegally fired workers who attempted to organize a union.
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Costco hasn’t yet commented on the workers’ demands.
Dive Insight:
Costco has a reputation for paying and treating workers well. These workers say that in order to keep that reputation intact, the retailer should live up to promises they say it made regarding its suppliers' working conditions as well. Sunday's protest came after a similar demonstration last July. While the retailer hasn't commented so far, it may have to address the workers' assertions in some way.
“By continuing to do business with Pactiv and Reynolds, [Costco] is in violation of its own supplier code of conduct that expressly forbids it to contract with companies that violate labor laws,” Wendy Cheung, one of the Ain’t I A Woman?! Campaign’s organizers, told the New York Daily News.
The New Jersey Pactive factory has since closed, but workers say they want to see it reopen and operating under better conditions, the paper reports.
