Whole Foods Market said Tuesday it has agreed to pay an additional penny per pound more for any tomatoes purchased in Florida, as part of a deal with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
The coalition has already signed similar deals with many of the major fast-food companies including Burger King, McDonald's and Taco Bell. Whole Foods becomes the first supermarket to agree to a deal with the CIW, which has been advocating for improved wages and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers.
''After carefully evaluating the situation in Florida, we felt that an agreement of this nature was in line with our core values and was in the best interest of the workers,'' Karen Christensen, global produce coordinator for Whole Foods Market, said in a statment.
Whole Foods said it hopes to be able to pass the additional money on to the workers. That issue could be challenging because Florida tomato growers are refusing to participate in any of these agreements.
Whole Foods wants to implement a domestic purchasing program, similar to the Whole Trade Guarantee program used in developing countries to ensure that producers and laborers get an equitable price for their goods and a healthy working environment. Whole Foods said it hopes to be able to purchase Florida tomatoes from growers willing to follow a similar program.
US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may be struggling to nudge ahead of his Republican rival in polls at home, but people across the world want him in the White House, a BBC poll said.
All 22 countries covered in the poll would prefer to see Senator Obama elected US president ahead of Republican John McCain.
In 17 of the 22 nations, people expect relations between the US and the rest of the world to improve if Senator Obama wins.
More than 22,000 people were questioned by pollster GlobeScan in countries ranging from Australia to India and across Africa, Europe and South America.
Source: ABC News
Plastic bottles are made from petroleum.
The bottles often go into the trash, rather than the recycle bin (in part because many states don't offer five-cent deposits to encourage recycling, as they do on soda and beer cans and bottles).
The water is pumped far from where it is sold, creating needless pollution as trucks and barges transport it across the country or around the world.
Some local communities have objected to the sale of their water, arguing that the water underground or flowing from natural springs is publicly owned and should not be exploited for profit.
Bottled water is rarely as closely monitored as tap water.
Tap water in the United States, when provided by a municipal system, is the most highly monitored and safe supply in the world.
Some of the water sold in little plastic bottles is tap water, but it costs an awful lot more per gallon.
