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First Objective: Reform McDonald’s Tomato Supply Chain
March 8, 2006
Press Contacts: RFK Memorial Center
for Human Rights (Amanda Shanor, 203-247-2195); the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) (the Rev. Noelle Damico, 631-371-1629); Interfaith
Action (Brigitte Gynther, 239-986-0688); Student Farmworker Alliance
(Melody Gonzalez, 239-986-0847); National Economic and
Social Rights Initiative (Cathy Albisa, 917-407-0857).
Immokalee, FL — Human rights, religious, student, labor,
and grassroots organizations that work in partnership with the
Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) announced today the creation
of a new network dedicated to advancing the human rights of farmworkers
who toil at the bottom of the country’s vast agri-food
industry.
The Alliance for Fair Food (AFF) will work to promote socially
responsible purchasing practices among the major retail food
corporations, with a particular focus on practical measures for
improving farm labor wages and for guaranteeing farmworkers a
meaningful role in the protection of their own labor rights.
Founded by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights,
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the National Economic and Social
Rights Initiative (NESRI), Student Farmworker Alliance and Interfaith
Action, the AFF has been endorsed by nationally and internationally
respected organizations and individuals, including: Congressman
John Lewis (D-GA), Amnesty International USA, United Students
Against Sweatshops, the AFL-CIO, author Eric Schlosser (Fast
Food Nation), NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond, Grammy Award-winning
singer/songwriter Bonnie Raitt, and Rev. Dr. Robert Edgar, General
Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the
U.S.A.
Launched on the first anniversary of the historic March 2005
agreement between Yum! Brands Inc. and the Coalition of Immokalee
Workers, the AFF will endeavor to extend the critical precedents
achieved in that ground-breaking agreement throughout the fast
food and agricultural industries. Three of these key precedents
are economic responsibility for ending farmworker poverty, supply
chain transparency, and the participation of farmworkers in the
protection of their own rights. The agreement brought a successful
end to the four year, CIW-led, consumer boycott of Taco Bell.
“The significance of this agreement is in the promise
it holds for transforming the entire fast-food industry and the
responsibility it confers on each one of us as consumers to walk
with CIW into this future. Together we must ensure that this
momentous first step charts a sure and clear path for other major
buyers to follow” said the Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick,
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.).
In collaboration with fast-food giant McDonald’s, the
Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, a grower lobby group,
has formed Socially Accountable Farm Employers (SAFE). SAFE combines
a minimalist Code of Conduct with a suspect monitoring and certification
process that will mislead consumers into believing that human
rights abuses in the fields have been addressed.
“We decided to launch the AFF at this moment, because McDonald’s
is resisting these critical precedents established in the Taco
Bell agreement and instead is promoting a plan for ‘social
responsibility on the cheap’ that will bring no significant
change to the lives of the workers whose voices were thoroughly
excluded from its development and implementation,” explained
Todd Howland, Director of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center
for Human Rights.
“The Alliance for Fair Food will demand real social responsibility
and real rights for farmworkers throughout the retail food industry
through the sustained, creative, non-violent action of consumers.
Through the Taco Bell boycott we took the first step toward eliminating
the market conditions that have deprived and dehumanized farmworkers
for decades,” said Melody Gonzalez of the Student Farmworker
Alliance.
Farmworkers picking tomatoes for McDonald’s Florida suppliers
earn 40-45 cents for every 32 pound bucket, a rate that has remained
stagnant for almost 30 years. Workers receive no overtime, health
insurance, sick leave or other benefits. The CIW has worked with
the US Department of Justice and FBI to investigate and prosecute
five cases of modern-day slavery in recent years, freeing over
1,000 workers held against their will.
“The abuse of farmworkers’ fundamental human rights
is a shameful part of this country’s history, and it remains
an inexcusable reality hidden behind the $100 billion fast-food
industry today. But a new day is dawning. Consumer awareness
of that abuse has grown exponentially in the past several years,
and public relations magic alone can no longer cover up the urgent
need for real change,” said Lucas Benitez, a leader of
the CIW and 2003 RFK Laureate for Human Rights. “Only when
farmworkers, growers, food retailers, and consumers come together
in a genuine partnership built on respect can the human rights
crisis in the fields today be effectively addressed and resolved.
The CIW’s partnership with the Alliance for Fair Food is
a crucial step in that direction.”
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