Over the years, I've heard a lot of talk about fighting The Man. Most of this talk happened after a few drinks, and it rarely survived the hangover.
Last summer, a group of Rochester activists went far beyond drunken table-pounding. They took on the biggest Man in town: Wegmans. Some of them ended up in court and out of work.
Since I freely admit that I don't have the guts to take on The Man, I wondered whether they thought it was worth the effort. So I caught up with one of them and asked.
First, a little background. Wegmans' Cruelty was big news last summer. It all started with three activists who broke into Wegmans' egg farm with a video camera. The resulting movie, which can be downloaded from their site, was an hour-long journey into the shit, stink and pain at that farm, which was supposedly a showplace producing eggs worthy of special "Animal Care Certified" recognition.
Wegmans' response to the film and its attendant publicity was swift. The three activists who had entered the farm were arrested and brought up on felony charges. Another activist who wasn't involved in the break-in was fired from her job at Deloitte and Touche, Wegmans' accountant. Wegmans issued press releases denying that conditions at the farm were that bad, and argued that some of the video was taken at other locations.
Despite their denials, Wegmans quietly removed the "Animal Care Certified" label from its eggs last month. Even so, the ultimate goal of the activists -- moving the chickens from cages into a more open environment -- has yet to be realized.
Since at least one of the activists who broke into the farm is still under indictment, I didn't try to contact any of the three who broke in. The Man isn't finished with them yet. But I was able to get hold of Jodi Chemes, the person who was fired, and ask her a few questions:
Rotten: Are you still in Rochester, and are you still active in Wegmans' Cruelty (WC)?
Jodi: I am living in Tampa, Florida. I'm not active in the Wegmans campaign but I am still plugging it down here, handing out DVDs, and working on egg factory farm issues. I'm currently helping some students down here in requesting that their dining halls use solely cage-free eggs.
R: Did you find a new job? If so, do you think your work on WC made it harder or easier to do so? If not, do you think that your association with WC had any effect?
J: I was offered two jobs within the week after I was fired. Both knew about my termination as a result of the newspaper article, thought it was unfair to me, and wanted my expertise at their firms regardless of my outside activities. The article in the newspaper is why they contacted me so I guess I had jobs available
to me before I even started looking.
R: When you began your work with WC, did you know that you were risking your job? Did that affect your decision on your level of involvment?
J: I knew that Wegmans was a client of my employer, but I didn't do any direct work on them so I didn't think it would be a problem. I considered it, but figured the risk was too small for it to effect my decision to help with WC.
R: Do you believe that what you did made a difference? How?
J: We have educated thousands of people about battery cages and opened a lot of people's eyes to thinking about the way farmed animals are treated. We have
distributed over 5,000 copies of our DVDs. I know, because people have told us, what a difference our film made in their lives.
R: If you had a "do over", what would you change, if anything, about your involvement in WC?
J: Not a thing.
R: What about your family and friends: How did they take your firing?
J: They were all mad at my employer for being so unfair to me. But they were proud of me for standing up for what I know is wrong, and trying to expose the torture of animals to the public. No matter how difficult it would be for Rochester to hear that Wegmans isn't perfect.
R: How would you characterize yourself: vegan, vegetarian, meat-eater, something else?
J: I am vegan in order to avoid contributing to animal suffering in any way.
R: Do you think there's a place for meat eaters in the WC and Compassionate Consumers' cause?
J: Definitely. Our goal is not to get others to go vegan but merely to consider how they are affecting animals when making purchases. We are asking Wegmans to go cage-free, not to shut down the egg farm. I think most meat and egg eaters care that the animals they are eating are not being tortured. The people who are
purchasing these products have the ultimate power over how the animal is treated. The power of where they spend their dollar will determine how these animals are treated.
So there you have it: she went up against The Man, and she did fine. Food for thought for your next barstool rant.
[New Information: Today's New York Times has an update on the activists. Two plead to lesser charges. One remains up on felony charges.]
