Take action to support the Windmill Mushroom boycott

UFW is asking supporters to join Labor Day delegations, leveraging their purchasing power to urge local grocery stores to stop stocking Windmill Mushrooms

SEATTLE, WA (August 25, 2025) — Heading into Labor Day weekend, the United Farm Workers (UFW) is calling for Labor Day delegations to take direct action at local grocery stores on Thursday, August 28, speaking with grocery managers about the Windmill Mushroom boycott and urging them to stop stocking Windmill Mushrooms in solidarity with the workers.

Windmill Mushrooms are sold at Safeway, WinCo, Grocery Outlet, Yoke’s, and some local pizza parlors in the region. The Labor Day delegations are targeting Grocery Outlet stores throughout the PNW, including Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Yakima Valley, and Portland metro area, but supporters are encouraged to speak with management at any of the above grocery stores near them.

Windmill Mushroom workers, UFW members, and labor supporters at a boycott action in Vancouver, WA in July. Photo: Owain Waszak

Workers at Windmill Farms have been fighting for their union with UFW for four years, despite intense pressure and retaliation from first Ostrom Farms, and now Windmill, which purchased the operation after workers won a $3.4 million settlement against the company for harassment and discrimination.

Farm workers are excluded from many federal and state labor laws, and in Washington, there is no legal mechanism to force the employer to recognize the workers’ union, making community pressure all the more essential. Most of the workers at Windmill are immigrants, and face heightened threats to their safety under the Trump regime. Nonetheless, workers are speaking out about conditions at Windmill, and standing up for their dignity as workers and human beings. Over the course of their organizing fight, workers have detailed dangerous, highly pressurized working conditions, zero respect for their rights as human beings, and experiences of violence and harassment, including sexual assault.  

Today, Windmill Mushroom workers still face unfair quotas, retaliation for seeking medical treatment, and union-busting tactics. The company’s ongoing refusal to recognize the workers’ union and collectively bargain underscores Windmill’s disrespect for the workers and the essential work they do putting food on tables. Workers launched a boycott, and the Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) endorsed that effort in May of this year.

“The union-busting and disrespect that Windmill Farms has subjected our farmworker siblings to is both shameful and unacceptable,” said WSLC President April Sims, in announcing the WSLC’s support for the boycott. “Washington is a union state, and over half a million union members statewide are putting our money where our mouths are. No Windmill Farms mushrooms until the workers’ demands are met.”

As supporters prepare to join the Labor Day action, the Farm Worker Ministry Northwest has shared a quick guide for taking part:

1. Locate your nearest Grocery Outlet: or, identify your local Safeway or WinCo
2. Form a small group (about 3-5): Ask friends, neighbors, faith community members, or whoever is sympathetic to the farm workers’ plight.  In the Portland metro area, team up with Farm Worker Ministry Northwest President, the Rev. Connie Yost, click here to email her.
3. Gather resources and information: Click here to print and bring a copy of UFW President Teresa Romero’s letter to Instar Investments (owner of Windmill Farms) with you to hand over to the manager. Click here to print copies of the leaflet to inform other customers not to buy Windmill mushrooms.
4. Ask to speak to the manager of the local grocery store and share why you support the boycott and ask them to not buy the mushrooms.  Hand over the printed copy of President Teresa Romero’s letter to Instar Investments on behalf of the farm workers at Windmill Farms. Do not block aisles or be in the way of employees.  Questions or concerns, contact boycottwindmill2025@gmail.com