A Kelowna man continues his five day hunger strike outside the B.C. Tree Fruits offices after being suspended from his packinghouse job for revealing company information.
On Wednesday, his employer spoke out about the man’s suspension and explains why the company chooses to important American apples.
To get the full story, watch the video above.
Jeff Bryde is not giving up as he speaks out against B.C. Tree Fruits importing American apples.
“They think if I’m going to lay down and say nothing, they’re wrong,” says Bryde, a suspended forklift operator from the Vaughan Avenue packing house operated by the Okanagan Tree Fruit Cooperative, which owns B.C. Tree Fruits.
“The company may think I’m a disgruntled employee. I’m not,” said Bryde. “I’m a frustrated employee, that’s what I am.”
The 57-year-old man has spent more than half his life at the fruit packinghouse in Kelowna’s North End and says he was recently angered when he saw a truckload of American Gala apples in the company warehouse.
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Bryde took his frustrations to a local paper where he wrote an editorial titled “Don’t buy U.S. apples”.
On Monday morning, Bryde learned he had been suspended for five days without pay from the Okanagan Tree Fruit Cooperative for breaching company confidentiality.
He embarked on a five-day hunger strike to protest his right to free speech, carrying a picket sign outside the B.C. Tree Fruit headquarters in downtown Kelowna.
The Cooperative did not return calls from CHBC News until Wednesday.
Jim Elliot, president of Okanagan Tree Fruit Cooperative and the B.C. Tree Fruits board, says Bryde revealed what the company considers private information to the public.
“He is relaying information about our business,” said Elliot. “He’s breaching the confidentiality there and he can’t seem to differentiate between the confidentiality so we’ve asked him to refrain from doing that. He has not.”
Elliot admits the company imports international fruit on occasion, generally when B.C. apples are not yet available.
He says providing their grocery store customers with a year long supply of apples, whether they come from Canada or the U.S., ensures its customer base doesn’t begin to source out international fruit year round.
However, he says international fruit imports account for just 2% of their business.
“We do make some money on it to pay for the bills and the overhead for buildings, for packinghouses,” said Elliot. “Any money that we make on that is returned to the growers.”
He also says the company does not mislead consumers and have never used the B.C. leaf logo on imported fruit.
In the meanwhile, Bryde remains off the job for speaking out but says he has received considerable support from local growers.
“I have growers come up to me and shake my hand and stuff like,” said Bryde. “There was a collection from the growers to collect money for my lost wages this week. Does that tell you something? It tells me something.”
His hunger strike will continue until Friday.
It is uncertain whether he will be allowed to return to his job as a forklift operator after his five-day suspension is over because Bryde vows to continue to speak out to protect B.C. farmers.
“Basically they wanted me to zip it and I said I’m not going to zip it,” he said.
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