Hannaford Supermarkets won't sponsor Pride parade

Please donate to the Pride Center of Vermont, a vital community resource for LGBTQ Vermonters. The Pride Center has courageously chosen to stand with immigrant farmworkers, sacrificing $18,000 in corporate sponsorships. To thank them for this tremendous act of solidarity, we hope to replace the funds that Pride has lost from Hannaford Supermarkets.

Since 2019, farmworker organization Migrant Justice has campaigned to pressure northeast grocery chain Hannaford Supermarkets to protect the human rights of the dairy workers producing Hannaford-brand milk. Farmworkers labor long hours without rest, for below-minimum wage, in dangerous conditions, while living in inhumane housing. Workers lack protection from discrimination, harassment, violence, and unjust firings.

Migrant Justice has invited Hannaford to join Milk with Dignity, a worker-driven program that creates partnerships between dairy buyers, farms, and farmworkers to improve labor and housing conditions. Ben & Jerry's became the first company to join the Program in 2017, expanding Milk with Dignity's protections to hundreds of farmworkers. But Hannaford has refused to join – or even speak with workers!

Pride Center of Vermont publicly endorsed the Milk with Dignity campaign at last year's Pride Parade. On multiple occasions throughout the year, Pride has urged Hannaford to sit down with dairy workers, but Hannaford has ignored every request.

This year, Hannaford asked to endorse the Vermont Pride Parade and Festival at the highest possible level: $18,000. The Pride Center told the company that, as a condition for sponsorship, Hannaford must meet with farmworkers to discuss Milk with Dignity. Once more, Hannaford did not respond to the request.

Hannaford sponsors the Vermont Pride Parade every year. The company brags about its LGBT-friendly policies. But this year – faced with the Pride Center's principled stance – the company has ended its sponsorship. Hannaford Supermarkets would rather stonewall the farmworkers behind their store-brand milk than sponsor the Pride Parade.

We don't want the Pride Center to suffer for this act of solidarity with immigrant farmworkers. Please chip in to cover the funds the organization has lost from Hannaford's choice to end its sponsorship of the Vermont Pride Parade and Festival.