The Vermont-based Migrant Justice secured a victory this week when the Dutch government allowed an international human rights complaint against Hannaford supermarket’s parent company to move forward.
The complaint filed in April 2025 “highlights the grave human rights violations in the supply chain of Ahold Delhaize” and says the failure of the company to align with international governmental recommendations for business responsibility must be addressed.
Will Lambek, an organizer with Migrant Justice, explains that their complaint was filed in the Netherlands rather than the U.S. because that’s where Hannaford’s parent company is based.
“Hannaford is owned by a multi-national corporation based in the Netherlands called Ahold Delhaize. This is a hundred billion dollar a year company that owns many of the supermarkets along the east coast of the U.S. Ultimately it’s the responsibility of the corporate owners to make sure that their subsidiary Hannaford is playing by the rules and is respecting worker’s human rights.”
Following a 13-month investigation, the Dutch National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct, a unit of the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague, issued a finding that the Migrant Justice complaint meets the criteria for further investigation.
Lambek calls the decision a victory for farmworkers and a major step forward for their Milk With Dignity campaign.
“Over the years farmworkers have extensively documented significant and systemic human rights abuses on the farms supplying Hannaford brand milk. Those include endemic pay below minimum wage; 80-hour work weeks without days off, sick time, vacation time or holidays; widespread sexual harassment and even cases of violence by employers against workers. There are preventable workplace injuries that are happening every day on farms supplying Hannaford, including serious injuries.”
Lambek hopes upcoming mediation will lead to Hannaford joining Milk With Dignity, in which companies pledge to get milk from farms that comply to a code of conduct.
“The goal of filing the complaint is to demonstrate that Ahold and its subsidiary Hannaford Supermarket are violating guidelines by allowing for human rights abuses to occur in their supply chain and rather than solving the problems they’re actually promoting false solutions designed to cover the problem up. We want an end to those false solutions and we want Ahold and Hannaford to finally take responsibility for insuring protection for rights of dairy workers in their supply chain by joining the Milk With Dignity program.”
Maine-based Hannaford Supermarkets referred WAMC to its parent company. An email to WAMC from Ahold Delhaize said, in part, the company is “aware of the initial assessment by the Netherlands National Contact Point for OECD guidelines and we look forward to engaging with Migrant Justice during the mediation process. Ahold Delhaize, along with our local U.S. brand Hannaford, strongly supports the fair and dignified treatment of all workers in the supply chain.”
Mediation meetings have not yet been scheduled.
