Presbyterians and farmworkers deliver petitions to Burger King
[5-7-08]

A May 6 report from Presbyterian News Service begins: A delegation of Presbyterians joined a group of farmworker advocates in delivering 85,000 signatures to Burger King’s Miami headquarters last week urging the fast-food giant to join McDonald’s Corp. and Taco Bell to help increase the wages of Florida tomato pickers and improve working conditions in the growing fields.

The signatures from all 50 states and 42 countries were gathered as part of a national petition campaign launched in February by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a community-based labor rights group in Immokalee, FL that works in partnership with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and other faith-based, human-rights and student organizations.

An update from Noelle Damico, of the PC(USA) Campaign for Fair Food
[5-2-08]

Presbyterian leaders joined farmworkers in delivering petitions with 85,000 signatures from all 50 states and 42 countries to Burger King headquarters in Miami on April 28, calling for an end to slavery and sweatshop conditions in Florida's fields. Petition signers pledged they are "prepared to boycott Burger King." Is your signature on the petition? You can add it by visiting http://fairfoodnation.org/petition .

That morning the Fort Myers News Press broke that Burger King vice president Steve Grover had used his middle-school aged daughter's email address to post unfounded and derogatory information about the CIW on web sites.

The VP's online postings included claims that CIW was taking money from Yum and McDonald's. Burger King told the Associated Press Mr. Grover's comments were not the company's official position. However, these comments quite accurately reflected the company's position this past fall – a position they've never publicly retracted, despite calls from Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and The Carter Center.

Addressing the press on Mr. Grover's postings, Gerardo Reyes Chavez of the CIW noted, "In these commentaries, he has called us "the lowest form of life," "bloodsuckers," and has accused us of being ourselves "exploiters". How is it possible, in Mr. Grover's eyes, that a community of farmworkers struggling precisely to defend our fundamental human rights can be considered something without humanity, "the lowest form of life"? "Exploiters"? For bringing six cases of slavery to federal court? "Bloodsuckers"? For demanding publicly that the fast-food industry -- which is worth over $100 billion -- take measures to end human rights abuses?"

"Burger King has the obligation to clarify if the words of their vice president reflect also Burger King's position as a corporation. If that is in fact the case, then they should have the courage to declare it openly, now, and not like cowards hiding in the shadows of the internet. And if their position is different, they must clarify that today, and not with words, but with concrete actions," concluded Reyes-Chavez.

In light of the enormous number of signatures on petitions and the urgent human rights crisis in the fields, the Rev. Dr. Arlene Gordon, Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Tropical Florida stated during the press conference on Monday, "It is my sincere hope that Burger King will heed the call of its customers and the farmworkers who make its business possible, and use its considerable power together with the CIW to advance human rights for farmworkers without delay."

May it be so! Let the company hear from you by signing the petition today http://fairfoodnation.org/petition .

Read the PC(USA) report with photos, quotes and links to speeches and more information about our delegation at www.pcusa.org/fairfood

Read the CIW's report with photos and narrative at www.ciw-online.org

Read Clifton Kirkpatrick's fall 2007 public letter to BK to retract false statements http://www.ciw-online.org/images/CKirkpat to SGroverBK.pdf

The Rev. Noelle Damico Campaign for Fair Food Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
noelle.damico@pcusa.org
NY Office: 631-751-7076
Mobile: 631-371-9877
www.pcusa.org/fairfood

Last chance to s

Immokalee Workers and allies deliver 85,000 signed petitions to Burger King as the press traces online attacks to BK’s VP

An update from Noelle Damico, of the PC(USA) Campaign for Fair Food

Presbyterian leaders joined farmworkers in delivering petitions with 85,000 signatures from all 50 states and 42 countries to Burger King headquarters in Miami on April 28, calling for an end to slavery and sweatshop conditions in Florida's fields. Petition signers pledged they are "prepared to boycott Burger King." Is your signature on the petition? You can add it by visiting http://fairfoodnation.org/petition .

That morning the Fort Myers News Press broke that Burger King vice president Steve Grover had used his middle-school aged daughter's email address to post unfounded and derogatory information about the CIW on web sites. See http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID 08804280351

The VP's online postings included claims that CIW was taking money from Yum and McDonald's. Burger King told the Associated Press Mr. Grover's comments were not the company's official position. However, these comments quite accurately reflected the company's position this past fall– a position they've never publicly retracted, despite calls from Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and The Carter Center.

Addressing the press on Mr. Grover's postings, Gerardo Reyes Chavez of the CIW noted, "In these commentaries, he has called us "the lowest form of life," "bloodsuckers," and has accused us of being ourselves "exploiters". How is it possible, in Mr. Grover's eyes, that a community of farmworkers struggling precisely to defend our fundamental human rights can be considered something without humanity, "the lowest form of life"? "Exploiters"? For bringing six cases of slavery to federal court? "Bloodsuckers"? For demanding publicly that the fast-food industry -- which is worth over $100 billion -- take measures to end human rights abuses?"

"Burger King has the obligation to clarify if the words of their vice president reflect also Burger King's position as a corporation. If that is in fact the case, then they should have the courage to declare it openly, now, and not like cowards hiding in the shadows of the internet. And if their position is different, they must clarify that today, and not with words, but with concrete actions," concluded Reyes-Chavez.

In light of the enormous number of signatures on petitions and the urgent human rights crisis in the fields, the Rev. Dr. Arlene Gordon, Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Tropical Florida stated during the press conference on Monday, "It is my sincere hope that Burger King will heed the call of its customers and the farmworkers who make its business possible, and use its considerable power together with the CIW to advance human rights for farmworkers without delay."

May it be so! Let the company hear from you by signing the petition today http://fairfoodnation.org/petition .

Read the PC(USA) report with photos, quotes and links to speeches and more information about our delegation at www.pcusa.org/fairfood

Read the CIW's report with photos and narrative at www.ciw-online.org

Read Clifton Kirkpatrick's fall 2007 public letter to BK to retract false statements http://www.ciw-online.org/images/CKirkpat to SGroverBK.pdf

The Rev. Noelle Damico Campaign for Fair Food Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

noelle.damico@pcusa.org

NY Office: 631-751-7076

Mobile: 631-371-9877

www.pcusa.org/fairfood

ign petition to Burger King to end slavery in the Florida fields
[4-25-08]

On Monday, the CIW and its allies, including a national delegation of Presbyterians, will be presenting signed Petitions to End Modern-Day Slavery and Sweatshops in the Fields to Burger King in Miami. Please keep this historic action and all who are involved in your prayers. If you haven't signed the petition or circulated it among your friends, now is the time! http://fairfoodnation.org/petition

In this update you'll find:

1. CIW Petition – sign online; delivery on 4/28
2. Congressional Hearings Expose Tomato Pickers' Exploitation
3. Is Burger King Spying on Fairfood Group?
4. Interfaith Action is seeking interns for summer and fall

A delegation of Presbyterians will join the farmworkers and other religious, human rights and student leaders at the ceremonial delivery, including Dr. Arlene Gordon (Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Tropical FL, where BK is headquartered); the Rev. Greg Bentley (President of the National Black Presbyterian Caucus); Ms. Nelia Senti (Treasurer of the National Hispanic Latino Caucus); Rev. Miguel Estrada (Pastor of the Immokalee-based Mision Peniel church); and the Rev. Kennedy McGowan (Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, FL). We hope they'll be able to carry your petition signature! The ceremony will take place at Burger King's Miami headquarters on 4/28 from 3:30-5:30pm. For more information on how to participate in this event, visit www.ciw-online.org .

Thank you to everyone who has already mailed petition signatures that you have collected to CIW or who has signed online! If you have not yet sent your petitions, please call CIW at 239-657-8311 to arrange a way for them to arrive so that we can ensure they are included in the delivery to BK Headquarters. You can also fax petitions to 239-657-5055.

2. CONGRESSIONAL HEARING EXPOSES TOMATO PICKERS' EXPLOITATION On Tuesday, April 15, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of the U.S. Senate held the first-ever hearing into the labor conditions of farmworkers in Florida. The Senators lambasted the FTGE for obstructing the penny-per-pound payments to farmworkers that are a part of the CIW's agreements with Yum! Brands and McDonald's. You can see photos as well as listen to the Senators remarks and testimony from CIW, the Collier County Police officer responsible for Human Trafficking, the Southern Poverty Law Center, as well as Reggie Brown of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange and Roy Reina of Granger Farms at www.ciw-online.org . Read the Presbyterian News Service story: http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2008/08309.htm .

3. IS BURGER KING SPYING ON FAIRFOOD GROUP? Amy Bennett Williams of the Ft. Meyers News-Press has published a chilling article that ties Burger King to email and web attacks on the CIW and which further alleges that Burger King may have hired a private security firm to infiltrate the Student Farmworker Alliance. The story was picked up and developed by Democracy Now, the Center for Media and Democracy as well as The Nation. Read and listen to the reports which include responses from Burger King.

For all links visit www.ciw-online.org and scroll down.

Link to the original story at http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080412/NEWS01/80412019/1014  and the 4/23/08 Nation editorial at http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20080423/cm_thenation/7314827

4. INTERFAITH ACTION SEEKING INTERNS FOR SUMMER/FALL

Interfaith Action, the Immokalee-based group that coordinates religious support for the CIW, is looking for summer and fall interns to work in Immokalee on the Campaign for Fair Food. Applicants may apply for Summer, Fall, or both, and should be flexible to organize with both Interfaith Action (http://interfaithact.org ) and Student Farmworker Alliance (http://sfalliance.org ) – in partnership with the CIW. For more information, and to apply, visit http://www.sfalliance.org/internship.html or contact info@interfaithact.org or 239-657-8311. 

We have reported earlier on the Senate hearing on April 15 on working conditions for tomato pickers in Florida. Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation, has now published a more detailed story on that event. She and co-author Greg Kaufman write: 

The hearing revealed that even when multibillion-dollar corporations like McDonald’s and Yum! Brands (whose subsidiaries include Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silver’s and A&W) attempt to do the right thing — and pay the workers more — powerful agribusiness interests have stood in the way. These corporations agreed to supplement the workers at a rate of an additional penny per pound for the tomatoes they purchase. Doesn’t sound like much — and it isn’t for the corporations — but it would result in about a 75 percent salary increase for workers who a 2001 US Department of Labor report described as “a labor force in significant economic distress… [with] low wages, sub-poverty annual earnings, [and] significant periods of un- and underemployment.”

As some growers began to implement the Yum/McDonald’s agreement — an extra paycheck cut to the farmworkers by the buyers, not the growers, mind you — the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange (FTGE), representing 90 percent of the state’s growers, said any members who adopted this policy would be fined $100,000 per worker benefiting from the agreement.     The whole story >>

And don’t miss the report from the Coalition of Immokalee Farmworkers >>

[4-17-08]

The Palm Beach Post reported on April 16 about the testimony given to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee about the realities of “slavery” in the tomato fields of Florida. For the hearing, held on Tuesday, April 15, no Republican committee members were in attendance.

Collier County Sheriff’s Detective Charlie Frost said that “Today’s form of slavery does not bear the overt nature of pre-Civil War society, but it is nonetheless heinous and reprehensible,” explaining that workers are held in “involuntary servitude” through threats and actual violence against them and their families – often in Latin America – and in a system of “perpetually accruing debt,” in which they are overcharged for housing, food, water and transportation.

Lucas Benitez, a co-founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, told the panel that tomato pickers regularly are abused, harassed, intimidated and kept so deeply in debt that they are virtually in bondage. Benitez said female pickers additionally are subjected to sexual harassment and abuse.

But Reginald Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, disputed the characterization as slavery in the commercial tomato industry. Isolated cases have occurred among private growers, he said, but “Florida’s tomato growers abhor and condemn slavery. . . . We are on the same side on this issue.”

The staff of Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida sent their own report, with links to reports from CNN/AP, and The Nation.

Hello everyone,

During yesterday's U.S. Senate hearing, Lucas Benitez of the CIW; Detective Charlie Frost of the Collier County Sheriff's Department Anti-Trafficking Unit; Mary Bauer, Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center; and author Eric Schlosser testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee about the poverty and abuses faced by Florida tomato pickers.

Reggie Brown of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange (FTGE) also testified before the committee, where many of the FTGE's claims came under intense scrutiny. Senator Richard Durbin asked those in attendance to "join me in doing the math" to examine the growers' claim that farmworkers earn an average of $12.46/hour. He pointed out that to do so workers would have to fill and empty a 32-pound bucket of tomatoes about every two minutes all day long. "Is that possible?" Senator Durbin asked, "I don't think it is." Senator Sanders subsequently asked Mary Bauer of the Southern Poverty Law Center about how easy it is for agricultural employers to falsify wage and hour records. “Very easy,” she replied. After repeated requests, Brown reluctantly agreed to turn payroll records over to the General Accounting Office.

Senator Sanders also questioned Brown about the FTGE's threatened fines for tomato growers that participate in the McDonald's and Yum Brands agreements. Sanders explained that two top law firms found the agreements sound and legal and entered into the record a letter from 26 legal professors specializing in labor law – including antitrust dimensions of labor standards, who found that "The growers' ostensible concerns over antitrust law are flatly mistaken. The only real antitrust concern would arise if several growers agree among themselves to not participate in the CIW-Yum or CIW-McDonald's monitoring program."

Senators Kennedy, Durbin, and Sanders all remarked that the hearing marked "just the start" of Congressional inquiry into the wages and conditions faced by Florida tomato pickers.

You can see the full report, a link to the hearing and testimonies, and the extensive press coverage at www.ciw-online.org

Read the CNN/AP article >>

We can help by circulating the petition, too.
[3-17-08]

Dear Friends:

Congressional leaders are doing their part to sign and circulate CIW's petition. Please do yours! Visit www.ciw-online.org to download a copy of the petition, learn more about modern-day slavery and the role of consumers in holding the food industry accountable for bringing about change.

And check out our new Burger King Campaign webpage which provides a chronology of the PC(USA)'s engagement with Burger King and frequently asked questions at www.pcusa.org/fairfood (link to it from the right margin!)

Peace,

PC(USA) Campaign for Fair Food

Congressional Leaders Sign CIW Petition and Call Hearings

On Thursday, March 13th Congressional leaders and representatives from the human rights, labor, religious and student communities gathered on Capitol Hill to sign the CIW's Petition to End Modern-Day Slavery and Sweatshops in the Fields.

A press conference overlooking the Capitol building was organized by Senator Bernie Sanders who was joined by Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, and RFK Center Director Monika Kalra Varma. The Rev. Noelle Damico, National Coordinator of the PC(USA) Campaign for Fair Food, was among religious leaders who participated in the signing ceremony.

In addition to decrying the exploitative conditions under which farmworkers in Florida labor and the refusal of Burger King to work with the CIW as McDonald's and Yum! Brands have done, Senator Sanders also announced that a Congressional Hearing into the business practices of Burger King and other food industry leaders and the role of those practices in creating adverse conditions for men and women harvesting tomatoes in the Florida fields, has been scheduled for later this spring.

Senators Durbin and Sanders also sent letters, along with Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), to seven of the largest grocery and food service companies urging them to participate in a proposed initiative to increase the piece rate that tomato workers in Immokalee, Florida are paid. These companies supply produce to the US government.

Read an account of proceedings from Senator Sanders' website.

Stay tuned for CIW's update on www.ciw-online.org

Top officials of the PC(USA) sign CIW petition to end modern-day slavery and sweatshops in the fields

On Monday, March 10th, the Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, and Ms. Linda Bryant Valentine, Executive Director of the General Assembly Council, signed the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' National Petition to End Modern-Day Slavery and Sweatshops in the Fields.

"It is my sincere hope that by my signing this petition other people of faith and conscience will be inspired to make this commitment to advance human rights as well," Dr. Kirkpatrick said. "And that Burger King, which has worked so assiduously to avoid responsibility for shameful conditions in the tomato fields of its suppliers, would change course now and work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers."

Read the Presbyterian News Service story, "Petition drive to end 'modern-day slavery' launched by church-backed farmworkers: Campaign threatens boycott of Burger King."

Read Dr. Kirkpatrick's public statement on the signing

Read the CIW's petition and about the most recent slavery case

Dr. Kirkpatrick and Ms. Valentine join Presbyterians across the country who are already at work collecting signatures for this petition which calls on Burger King and other food industry leaders to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers now to end exploitation in the fields and indicates that signatories are prepared to boycott Burger King now if the company fails to do so.

The Presbyterian News Service story also describes the context of the petition and the creative signature campaigns underway at First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, FL and at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Check out the links above and be inspired to circulate this important petition creatively within your own congregation, presbytery and community. Be sure to let us know how you're circulating the petition by writing to noelle.damico@pcusa.org .

Peace,

Taking a page out of abolitionist history, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has launched a petition campaign calling on Burger King and other food industry leaders to work with the CIW to pay a penny more per pound to farmworkers harvesting tomatoes and to establish a enforceable, human-rights based code of conduct to end modern-day slavery and other abuses in the fields. The petition puts the industry on notice that signatories "are prepared to stop patronizing Burger King now and other food industry leaders in the future, should they fail to do so." The petitions will be presented to Burger King later in the spring during a peaceful action at the company's Miami headquarters.

Presbyterians across the country are already hard at work collecting signatures and drawing attention to the exploitative effect that the purchasing practices of Burger King and other retail food corporations are having on the men and women who harvest our tomatoes. [Read more and take action www.ciw-online.org ]

The launch of this petition campaign comes on the heels of a January 2008 federal indictment for the seventh case of modern-day slavery to emerge from Florida's fields in the past ten years. Petition campaigns and consumer actions by British citizens helped hasten the abolition of the British slave trade in 1807. The CIW petition campaign honors the 200th anniversary of the US ban against the importation of slaves (1808), and echoes the petition strategy of the early abolitionist movement.

The PC(USA) Campaign for Fair Food encourages Presbyterians to circulate this petition and to do so in creative ways! For example, the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, in Tropical FL Presbytery where Burger King is headquartered, plans to collect thousands of signatures on petitions designed as tomatoes, then assemble them into a plant that will be part of the procession to present the petitions to Burger King later in the Spring. Students and faculty at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary are gathering signatures at their upcoming alumni event and plan to hold a press conference and action highlighting the petition in light of the fact that Louisville was a stop on the US slave depot 200 years ago.

The New York Times, in a report on the struggle of Florida farmworkers for fair wages, features the role of religious groups, and specifically that of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

The report begins: 

In a colorful, often clamorous pressure campaign that has relied on support from college campuses and church groups, a group of farmworkers has persuaded McDonald’s and Taco Bell to have their tomato suppliers pay their pickers more.

But the workers’ efforts have recently collided with two big obstacles. Burger King has rejected the demands to have its tomato suppliers pay higher wages, and the main group of Florida tomato growers — calling the farmworkers’ tactics “un-American” — has threatened a $100,000 fine against growers that cooperate with McDonald’s or Yum Brands, the parent of Taco Bell, to pay their pickers more.

The only way you can describe this industry is the way it was described 40 years ago: It’s a harvest of shame,” said Lucas Benitez, a co-founder of the farmworkers’ group, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. “The wages are so low that a lot of workers are just surviving.

The closing paragraphs: 

But the Rev. Noelle Damico, national coordinator of the Campaign for Fair Food for the Presbyterian Church, said the church planned to continue putting pressure on Burger King and the Tomato Growers Exchange to increase wages.

“For years we’ve provided charity to farmworkers in South Florida, and we started asking, ‘Why are farmworkers who work six days a week and often 10 or 12 hours a day still needing help from charity?’” she said.“We saw that something was very wrong.”

March on Burger King -- an update

from The Rev. Noelle Damico, PC(USA) Campaign for Fair Food

[12-3-07]

This past Friday, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers led over 1,500 people in a powerful, peaceful march on Burger King. Presbyterians were prominent throughout the event. Just to name a few:

•           The Rev. Kennedy McGowan, speaking on behalf of Tropical Florida Presbytery, gave a stirring speech at the rally saying, reminding Burger King that they needed to have it "God's way, which is the way of justice!"

 •          The Rev. Miguel Fernando Estrada Salvador of Beth-El Farmworker Ministry, a Reformed spiritual presence in Immokalee that is supported by the Peace River and Tampa Bay Presbyteries, led marchers in fervent prayer during the concluding candlelight vigil for farmworkers' human rights.  

•           Amy Robinson of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary announced that Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary had joined the Alliance for Fair Food and was standing with the CIW  

•           Jim McDonald, Education Director of Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church in Naples, drove the church's bus at the tail of the massive march providing needed relief for weary or ill marchers.  

•           Liz Theoharis, Ph.D. student at Union Theological Seminary in NYC, brought a delegation of students to march

While marchers made their way to Burger King's world headquarters in Miami, former President Jimmy Carter released a letter to the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, noted Burger King (and other corporations) "standing silent" as the "modest gains (for farmworkers) are deliberately rolled back." Former President Carter joins Stated Clerk of the GA, Clifton Kirkpatrick, as well as over one hundred religious leaders in speaking out against these efforts to undermine the CIW's agreements with Yum! Brands and McDonald's.
 

Tomato growers blast the workers' movement -- and those who support them:

Professional Activists Continue to Mislead Public and Farm Workers About 'Penny-Per-Pound' Deals That Don't Exist

The following new release is posted here just as it came (apparently) from the industry group, the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, on Nov 30, 2007.

[posted here 12-3-07]

MAITLAND, Fla., Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange issued the following statement today about the scheduled protest in Miami organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW):

"CIW is using today's march in Miami to mislead the public about Florida's tomato industry in a desperate attempt to pressure Burger King into adopting a "penny-per-pound" deal that does not exist. There is no such arrangement in effect between producers and fast-food companies, which continue to buy Florida tomatoes.

The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange is concerned that the penny-per-pound scheme may violate federal and state laws related to antitrust, labor and racketeering, so our members have chosen not to participate in any pact in which a third party sets wages for their employees.

Growers who sold tomatoes to Taco Bell under the penny-per-pound deal last season are not participating in the deal this year. The now moot arrangement netted workers a small weekly amount so insignificant that many chose not to even cash the checks. The McDonald's deal never went into effect.

This season's payroll records show that Florida tomato harvesters' hourly pay ranged from $10.50 to $14.86, with an average of $12.46 per hour. The harvesters earn more than double the current federal minimum wage of $5.85 per hour and nearly double Florida's minimum wage of $6.67 per hour.

The farmworkers harvest tomatoes an average of 25 to 30 hours per week in addition to other tasks on the farm. For most workers, the tomato harvest in Florida is only part of the work they do during the year. Many move on to other regions to harvest other crops throughout the growing season.

There are more impactful ways to make a difference for tomato harvesters. Florida's tomato producers demonstrate social accountability by participating in comprehensive programs that certify employment, health, housing and safety practices. They undergo audits by third-party companies to ensure they provide a work environment for their employees that is free of hazard, intimidation, violence and harassment."

The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange is a private, voluntary and member-driven agricultural cooperative of Florida tomato growers. For more information, go to www.floridatomatogrowers.org and www.safeagemployer.org.

SOURCE Florida Tomato Growers Exchange

A little observation from your WebWeaver:

We find it interesting that the label "labor activist," which the Tomato Growers Exchange is presumably applying to Presbyterian staff member Noelle Damico, is the same label used by Jim Berkley, Director of Presbyterian Action, which is a part of the Institute for Religion and Democracy.  For both groups, it's pretty clearly not a term of endearment.

Presbyterians join with Coalition of Immokalee Workers in march on Burger King     [12-1-07]

Presbyterians from Florida and across the country joined hundreds of farmworkers and their supporters in a peaceful march on Burger King headquarters in Miami Friday, November 30. Marchers demanded that the fast-food giant join McDonald’s and Yum! Brands in working with farmworkers to improve wages and working conditions for tomato pickers.

Immokalee leader addresses shareholders

As shareholders arrived at Burger King’s annual meeting on Thursday, Nov. 29, they were greeted with a large banner that read “Burger King Exploits Farmworkers.” Meanwhile, inside the meeting Lucas Benitez, a farmworker and one of the founders of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, addressed the shareholders during their open question portion of the meeting (which is required of all public companies by the S.E.C.). Read Lucas’ address.

New York Times op-ed writer calls the action of Burger King, in concert with the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, “penny foolish.”

The two groups are acting to undo the penny-a-pound raise for tomato pickers, which the CIW has won Taco Bell and McDonald’s over recent months. The author, Eric Schlosser, concludes:

Telling Burger King to pay an extra penny for tomatoes and provide a decent wage to migrant workers would hardly bankrupt the company. Indeed, it would cost Burger King only $250,000 a year. At Goldman Sachs [one of three private equity firms that control most of Burger King’s stock] that sort of money shouldn’t be too hard to find. In 2006, the bonuses of the top 12 Goldman Sachs executives exceeded $200 million — more than twice as much money as all of the roughly 10,000 tomato pickers in southern Florida earned that year. Now Mr. Blankfein should find a way to share some of his company’s good fortune with the workers at the bottom of the food chain.

Read Schlosser’s column >>

For more background on this campaign against justice >>

And whadda ya know – The Institute for Religion and Democracy is joining in on the attack!

Director of Presbyterian Action (part of IRD) Jim Berkley offers the lead quote: “That the Presbyterian Church actually discharged many missionaries in 2004 at the same time it hired a labor activist to promote this action is a travesty.”

Were you in Miami for the action on Thursday?
Do you have thoughts about this struggle for justice, and the resistance it has aroused?
Just send a note, to be shared here!

This comes to us from the Rev. Noelle Damico, of the Campaign for Fair Food program of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

On the heels of public revelations that Burger King and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, the growers' lobby, have been cooperating to roll-back the CIW's agreements with Yum! Brands and McDonald's, The Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, has released a public statement decrying these actions. To read the full text of this powerful statement visit www.pcusa.org/fairfood. An excerpt is below.

Dr. Kirkpatrick writes:

In the course of history there have always been those who have opposed the advancement of human rights. But the fundamental truth of human dignity has always triumphed, if not immediately, then eventually. Burger King and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange (FTGE) are using their power to try and turn back the inevitable progress of human rights for farmworkers. And their coordinated tactics, which squarely target some of the poorest, most vulnerable members of our society, are as morally repugnant as they are in vain….

Fair Food and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers are under attack by Burger King

Now is the time to act – join the farmworkers in Miami on this Friday for the march on Burger King

We have just received this urgent call from the Rev. Noelle Damico, the PC(USA) liaison to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.    [11-27-07]

As the 2007 March on Burger King rapidly approaches, a flurry of articles on the Campaign for Fair Food has hit papers across the country. The recent surge in coverage was sparked by the revelation that Burger King has joined forces with the most conservative elements of the Florida tomato industry to launch an aggressive assault on the CIW's groundbreaking agreements with fast-food leaders Yum Brands and McDonald's.

Click here to see the articles and our analysis of the revelations.

As outrageous as it sounds, it appears that BK is no longer just resisting progress, the world's second largest fast-food chain is actually working with the Florida tomato growers' lobby to take the few pennies farmworkers have won over the past several years -- through hunger strikes, marches, and protests -- away.

The news makes one thing perfectly clear: If you care about Fair Food, it is time NOW to act. If you were on the fence about coming to Miami, it is time NOW to get on the bus.

We are clearly going to have to fight for every inch of progress in this campaign, and even fight to keep the ground we've won. So if you think farmworkers deserve fairer wages and working conditions, you need to join us in Miami this Friday for the March on Burger King.

Go to http://www.ciw-online.org  for all the information on how you can join a caravan to Miami from your community.

At a penny per pound, a little adds up to a lot
[11-27-07]

St. Petersburg Times columnist Robyn Blumner reports on the Coalition of Immokalee Farmworkers’ struggle for decent wages, and their success in gaining support from Yum Brands and McDonald’s. The latest wrinkle, she writes, is that “a huge roadblock has been erected. The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange is warning its members not to participate in a deal [with Yum Brands and McDonald’s] that it says is illegal.

But she notes that “consumers tend to respond well to a company they think is socially responsible, and the converse is true. A new study by researchers Michael Hiscox and Nicholas Smyth at Harvard University confirms that consumers not only say they're willing to pay more for products made under decent working conditions but act that way too.”

New hope, new challenges.

Farmworkers rights group has sights set on Burger King  [11-13-07]

Anti-Slavery International, a non-governmental organization based in Great Britain, has announced that it is presenting its 2007 Anti-Slavery Award to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a Florida-based farmworkers rights group that has been strongly supported by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The PC(USA) nominated the CIW for the prestigious award, said the Rev. Noelle Damico, who heads the denomination’s “Fair Food” campaign, a project of the Presbyterian Hunger Program.

The CIW is best-known for its consumer boycotts that have resulted in groundbreaking agreements with Yum! Brands (the parent company of Taco Bell) and McDonalds to improve wages and working conditions in Florida's produce fields.

The PC(USA) was among the first U.S. religious groups to support the Taco Bell boycott -- the 2002 General Assembly endorsed it -- and the celebration of the March 2005 settlement between Yum! Brands and the CIW was held at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville.

Anti-Slavery International is recognizing the farmworkers group for what many consider even more important work: documenting the cases of trafficking Mexican and Central American farmworkers for forced labor.

Having secured agreements with Yum! Brands and McDonalds, the CIW is now pursuing an agreement with Burger King. Damico will speak at a march and rally at Burger King's headquarters in Miami on Nov. 30-Dec. 1.

BK exec’s remarks called a ‘disservice’    [10-6-07]

The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly, is publicly calling on a Burger King executive to retract comments he made recently about the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a group of church-backed farm workers who pick tomatoes in Florida used by the fast-food giant.

Steven Grover, Burger King’s vice president of food safety, quality assurance and regulatory compliance, inflamed Kirkpatrick last month when he raised concerns in two Florida newspapers about a CIW proposal for improving farmworker wages and working conditions.

Kirkpatrick said Grover inaccurately portrayed the Florida-based CIW as receiving payments directly from McDonald’s Corp. and Taco Bell, payments that are earmarked for farm workers harvesting for these companies. He also asserted that the CIW asked Burger King to sign a check to them and sought to benefit monetarily from a "secret agreement."

"These claims are false and not only do a disservice to CIW, but to Burger King as well,"Kirkpatrick wrote in a Sept. 21 letter to Grover. "I respectfully ask you to swiftly and publicly retract these statements . . . "

Kirkpatrick, who participated in meetings that led to the agreements with Taco Bell parent Yum! Brands, Inc. and had also engaged McDonald’s on these issues, told Grover in his letter that the Coalition specifically "rejected any and all proposals" that might direct a corporation’s increased payment to farm workers through the CIW.

PHP grants help build more socially responsible food supply
[9-5-07]

Presbyterian News Service reports that the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) has awarded grants totaling $196,300 to 26 organizations around the country working to alleviate hunger by creating a more just and healthier food system.

Funding for the grants, which represents a portion of awards given each year by PHP, comes from the One Great Hour of Sharing offering.

The grants will help support projects that focus on such issues as food accessibility for low-income families, justice for farm workers, strengthening local food economies, sustainable development, community organizing, and education and advocacy around food issues.

1. Labor Day Sunday (Sept. 2nd) lectionary resources
2. Email Burger King and ask them to work with the CIW
3. Children write to Burger King / K-5 Curriculum

1. LABOR DAY SUNDAY (SEPT 2) LECTIONARY RESOURCES

2. E-MAIL BURGER KING

3. CHILDREN WRITE TO BURGER KING / K-5 Curriculum

As your congregation prepares for a new year of church school, consider lifting up the work of the church and the key role children and youth are playing in convincing fast-food corporations to become partners in justice with the farmworkers who harvest their tomatoes. You may wish to make use of a great new K-5 curriculum prepared by students at Princeton Theological Seminary. Click here to read and download the material and stay tuned for Jr. High and Sr. High curricula  (be sure to scroll down the page).

Peace,

Yum! Brands expands deal with tomato pickers to all its restaurants   [5-31-07]

Taco Bell parent company Yum! Brands Inc. recently announced that it has expanded its agreement with a group of church-backed tomato pickers to cover all of its restaurant chains: Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silver's and A&W All-American Food Restaurants.

From the Presbyterian Witness in Washington Weekly for April 30, 2007   [posted here 5-1-07]

"Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread" – Matthew 6:11

Seated at the table with his friends, Jesus breaks bread and calls on the disciples to love God by loving each other and all of God’s children. This ancient meal is a summons to Christians to serve one another with great tenderness, compassion and eagerness for justice.

In 2007, Congress will reauthorize, and hopefully reform, the farm bill. Since its inception, this law has embodied the United States’ dedication to the men and women who grow our food and work the land. Each reauthorization of the bill since 1933 has changed the way federal policy addresses our food system. The last farm bill (2002) has nine titles, including programs as diverse as direct payments to farmers, nutrition programs like Food Stamps, conservation incentives to protect the environment, and food aid to poor nations in times of crisis. People of faith are working to ensure that the next farm bill will be responsive to God’s call to build healthy communities. Congress must produce a bill that offers viable solutions to ending hunger at home and around the world, protecting creation and rebuilding rural communities, while being mindful of the impact U.S. policy has on our neighbors abroad.

FLOC thanks everyone who voiced their outrage at the brutal murder of Santiago Rafael Cruz.

YOUR MESSAGE WAS HEARD!

The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC, AFL-CIO) announces that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has granted it preventive measures petition, following the brutal assassination of union organizer Santiago Rafael Cruz in Monterrey on April 9. The IACHR has instructed the Mexican government to "adopt the necessary measures to guarantee the life and physical security" of FLOC staff in Mexico and to keep the IACHR informed of the judicial process to bring Santiago’s killers to justice.

The approval letter addressed by the IACHR Executive Secretary’s office to FLOC stipulates that the Mexican government has seven (7) days to implement these instructions, beginning April 23. FLOC awaits contact from the government to negotiate what preventive measures are needed and how soon they can be implemented. It is urgent that FLOC staff in Monterrey be afforded all necessary security measures and that FLOC’s office in that city be fortified against any further attacks.

The IACHR’s support comes after an inspiring international solidarity campaign initiated by FLOC’s staff and supporters. Politicians, labor leaders, union members, human rights groups, churches, community organizations, and FLOC supporters came together from all over the world to voice their outrage at the brutal murder of Santiago. FLOC sincerely thanks everyone who communicated their solidarity with Santiago. Your solidarity fills our hearts. It is with your added strength that we will continue to fight for justice.

The assassination of Santiago Rafael Cruz came after more than two years of media attacks, deportation threats, robberies and violent intimidation of the FLOC office and its staff in Monterrey. FLOC believes that the murder was a targeted political attack on the union. In 2004 FLOC won a historic collective agreement with the North Carolina Growers Association to represent nearly 10,000 farmworkers who travel each year from Mexico to North Carolina on H2-A guest worker visas to harvest tobacco, cucumbers and Christmas trees. This agreement provides the only recruiting program with integrity for "guestworkers" traveling from Mexico by giving them a grievance process to defend their labor and human rights. FLOC also recently won a historic Federal lawsuit which dealt a blow to corrupt recruiters in rural areas of Mexico who overcharge workers by several hundred dollars to find them jobs in the U.S. We eliminated those fees for nearly 70,000 H2A workers. While we are heartened by the support of the NCGA and their commitment to regularizing the recruitment process through union agreement, our victories clearly anger other recruiters outside of our agreement who benefited from exploiting and cheating Mexican workers.

Baldemar Velasquez, President of FLOC, insists this new development be viewed with caution."While I applaud the IACHR for obligating the Mexican federal government to protect our staff and take Santiago’s case seriously, nevertheless, I’m concerned by the slow, incomplete steps taken by the Nuevo Leon authorities in their criminal investigation." "Last week our lawyers met again with the Nuevo Leon attorney general’s office," Velasquez continued, "and it’s clear that the authorities are still not considering the economic-political motive behind Santiago’s murder."

In February, Santiago Rafael Cruz joined the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) office in Monterrey México. His job involved helping H2A "guest workers" going to work in the fields of North Carolina and other locations. He investigated and helped resolve grievances concerning abuses in the recruiting systems and employment conditions.

On Monday, April 9, Cruz was found tied up and beaten to death in the FLOC office. Testimony by witnesses who found the body, indicate that he was tortured by more than one individual in the early hours of the morning. There were no signs of robbery.

Since opening the office in Monterrey, there has been constant harassment. The office has been broken into several times when files and equipment were destroyed. FLOC staff has been threatened with deportation by Mexican authorities. Their operations have been attacked in the local media for "destabilizing" Mexican businesses (labor recruiters).

The United Farm Workers urges our supporters to respond to FLOC's plea to ensure a prompt and thorough investigation of the murder of Santiago Rafael Cruz, one of FLOC’s staff members in Monterrey, Mexico.

Click here to send an email to the government of the State of Nuevo Leon >>

News release from Noel Damico, Campaign for Fair Food, PC(USA)

The Rev. Noelle Damico, Associate for Fair Food
Campaign for Fair Food, PC(USA)