The Wine Industry Equity Pledge

Vero commits to the following Wine Industry Pledge:

· Promoting zero tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind. The commitments and definitions herein promote the creation and strengthening of workspaces that uphold equitable treatment for all people – regardless of their various identities and positionalities. This includes race, gender identity, sexual orientation and identity, age, ability, ethnicity, culture, immigration status, class position and economic background, past incarceration, and religious beliefs in all wine business workplaces. It further promotes but is not limited to ending the resulting inequities in pay, hiring practices, incidents of sexual harassment, and bullying.

· Acknowledging that the history of working individuals in the wine industry has included discrimination and behaviors most of us would condemn and that this has impacted careers, making the path to success more difficult for some than for others in its creation of consistent barriers to employment, business opportunities, and belonging. Acknowledging that, on the whole, our industry’s history has been grounded in structural white supremacy, colonialism, and heterosexism.

· Calls for individuals to understand their privilege and to commit, as wine professionals, to sharing privilege-derived assets with those not favored by the systems that shaped our industry. To work to create lasting changes across the wine industry’s institutions, practices, policies, and attitudes that will make it a safer and more equitable space for all.

· Marking the beginning of a new way of doing business that prioritizes workers' rights, uplifts marginalized communities, addresses intersectional oppression, supports regenerative and progressive environmental policies, and most of all, equity. This is a movement to dismantle white, heteropatriarchal structures within the wine industry.

Everyone who signs this Pledge agrees to do their part in creating equitable, anti-racist, and brave spaces in their work lives. Signing this Pledge is just a first step, making you part of a community where we will hold each other accountable in a safe and respectful manner, and contribute to and learn from one another. As individuals and as a community, our work will always be ongoing. We are not only trying to create an industry that reflects our values but one that lays the groundwork for future generations of wine professionals to carry the torch of equity, justice, and belonging.