Outpost Natural Foods announced today on its website that it will no longer carry any Palermo’s Pizza products at all three of its Milwaukee locations.  There's still a link to "vendors we love" for the local pizza makers on the Outpost site.

The Outpost joins grocers like Madison's Fresh Madison Market that have discontinued sales of the frozen pizza brand. 

The Outpost decision comes after more than a year of steady pressure from members of the Palermo Workers Union and community allies. 

"We commend Outpost Natural Foods for finally making the right decision to stop selling Palermo’s Pizza products," said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera.  "Outpost has long-held policies that ensure their animal products are humanely raised and that Fair Trade practices govern the treatment of workers in the global south. So it’s only reasonable that Outpost has a means of holding their vendors accountable for any exploitation of workers rights or safety regulations here in Milwaukee."

Among Outpost’s new ethical standards for vendors is an expectation of compliance with all state and federal laws.  

The "policy determination" regarding Palermo’s Pizza references recent OSHA citations levied against Palermo Villa Inc. last month for safety violations that resulted in a serious amputation incident last May. 

Palermo’s recently paid fines of nearly $106,000 in back pay for violations of federal labor law.  The company also was forced to rehire employees they illegally fired, as well as post a notice in the factory admitting to numerous violations of federal labor laws, this according to Voces de la Frontera, a worker rights group.