Amy’s Kitchen workers, executives reach agreement to end boycott

The boycott of Amy’s Kitchen products that began in January 2022 over labor violations and unsafe working conditions has ended, activists announced Wednesday.

Several grocers nationwide, including in the Bay Area, pulled Amy’s Kitchen products from their shelves after an employee filed a complaint with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health asking regulators to intervene at the organic food behemoth’s Santa Rosa production plant.

Nationwide food justice organizations Food Empowerment Project and Veggie Mijas supported the boycott that called to improve workplace safety, increase wages and provide better health insurance.

Alejandra Tolley, a spokesperson for Food Empowerment Project, announced an agreement had been reached to effectively end the boycott.

Representatives of Amy’s Kitchen did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Details about the agreement were not available Wednesday.

Amy’s Kitchen food line workers in Santa Rosa, FEP representatives and Amy’s Kitchen executives spent eight months in discussions. According to Tolley, Amy’s Kitchen agreed to improve working conditions for food line workers.

The collaboration fostered dialogue and learning, according to Paul Schiefer, president of Petaluma-based Amy’s Kitchen.

“We look forward to continuing this positive dialogue and making meaningful improvements for our workforce,” Schiefer said in a statement Wednesday.

According to Food Empowerment Project, the company committed to not use labor relations consultants now or in the future; to have bilingual employee service representatives at each plant to help employees navigate their benefits and to lead focus groups; to improve worker safety, specifically to achieve zero accidents or injuries; and to a 3% merit wage increase.

In January 2022, Amy’s Kitchen worker Cecilia Luna Ojeda filed a complaint with Cal/OSHA on behalf of her co-workers at the Northpoint Parkway plant in Santa Rosa.

A Teamster’s Union representative prepared the complaint, which cited prior Cal/OSHA violations and says regulators issued more than $100,000 in penalties from 2016 to 2019 after investigations into the facility. Prior complaints had not led to workplace conditions improvements, Ojeda said.

Food justice organizations and groceries nationwide subsequently launched a boycott on Amy’s Kitchen products.

Founded in 1987, Amy’s Kitchen produces organic vegetarian packaged foods and is the sixth largest U.S. maker of frozen dishes overall, according to the company. It employs about 630 people at its Santa Rosa site who cook, package, freeze and ship the prepared meals. Its corporate headquarters are in Petaluma.

To ensure the promised measures stick, Food Empowerment Project organizers say they will remain in contact with workers and check back