Farmworkers, Private Equity Stakeholder Project, call on PRI to delist Instar as signatory, cite labor rights violations at Windmill Farms
October 7, 2024
Today, in partnership with the United Farmworkers of America, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) delivered a letter to the Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI) calling on the CEO to remove Instar Asset Management from the organization’s signatories. The group noted Instar’s violation of PRI’s commitment to responsible investing, as Instar continues to turn a blind eye to labor violations at Windmill Farms, a mushroom farm in Washington State owned by Instar.
As PESP outlines in the letter to PRI, for over two years, Washington-based Windmill Farms has faced legal challenges from various government agencies, private lawsuits, and public criticism in the media. Workers at the farm have joined the United Farm Workers, sought union recognition, and publicly complained of abusive working conditions, retaliatory firings, low wages, and discrimination.
In a May 2024 article covering the labor dispute, one Windmill Farms worker said “[t]he retaliation is there, and the harassment as well. We can go to HR but they won’t do anything about it. It’s like they’re laughing at us, saying ‘don’t you want to keep your jobs?’ There are a lot of my coworkers that want to join the union, but they feel threatened.”
PESP is calling on PRI to remove Instar as a signatory, citing reputational risks associated with PRI’s initiative and a departure from PRI’s own “serious violations policy,” which states that it will hold signatories accountable.
“For over two years, Instar has refused to engage with stakeholders to improve the working conditions at Windmill Farms,” said Justin Flores, Labor-Jobs Director at the Private Equity Stakeholder Project. “Instead, the farm has seen growing labor strife and workers report ongoing efforts to harass and terminate union supporters. PRI should delist Instar as a signatory to safeguard the reputation and integrity of the initiative.”
The issue was also raised at the Committee on Workers’ Capital Conference, where PESP spoke with union staffers and trustees about the immediate need for PRI to take action – to hold Instar accountable to its workers and to mitigate reputational risks to PRI’s signatories and initiative at large.
