wfn.org | United Methodist agency joins Mt. Pickle boycott

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Jan. 12, 2004  News media contact: Linda Bloom7(646) 369-37597New
York7E-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org ALL{009}

By Gretchen Hakola and Linda Bloom*

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - The United Methodist Board of Church and Society has
joined a boycott of the Mt. Olive Pickle Co., based in North Carolina.

In a close vote Jan. 8, the agency's executive committee confirmed an earlier
decision of the full board to participate in the boycott, which also has been
endorsed by the National Council of Churches, United Church of Christ,
Alliance of Baptists, American Friends Service Committee and other
organizations.	

"The executive committee expresses its deep appreciation to the (United
Methodist) North Carolina Annual Conference for its efforts to bring the Farm
Labor Organizing Committee and the Mt. Olive Pickle Co. together," said
Bishop S. Clifton Ives, board president, in a statement, "but the executive
committee recognizes that significant movement toward resolution has not been
made since the board cast its vote last fall, and therefore implementation of
the boycott is an appropriate response."
 
The executive committee reiterated the ongoing concern that progress in
resolving the labor dispute be made as soon as possible and asked a
monitoring team to report back by July 1 as to whether conditions for the
farm workers have improved.  
 
During its General Assembly last November, the National Council of Churches
voted to officially boycott both Mt. Olive Pickle and Taco Bell, the
council's first boycott action in 15 years. The United Methodist Church is
among the council's member denominations. 

The council's action was aimed at pressuring Mt. Olive into negotiating for
improved wages and working conditions for the farm workers who produce the
cucumbers that Mt. Olive processes for its products.

The boycott against Taco Bell was launched in 2001 by the Coalition of
Immokalee (Fla.) Workers after the company refused to address charges of
exploitation in the fields of its tomato suppliers.

A Church and Society delegation, led by Bishop Joel Martinez, visited North
Carolina in 2000 to investigate the situation with Mt. Olive. The company,
owned by a United Methodist, produces the largest-selling brand of pickles in
the Southeast. Using the denomination's "Guidelines for Initiating a
Boycott," the team recommended that the agency join the boycott if Mt. Olive
retaliated against a grower or failed to negotiate "in good faith" with
growers and workers by March 15, 2001.

In its Jan. 8 statement, the Board of Church and Society identified several
key issues to be addressed: (1) minimum standards for living and working
conditions; (2) mechanisms for protection of workers; (3) ways to provide an
independent voice of workers; (4) collective bargaining; and (5) registration
and training of crew leaders.
 
The board's executive committee pledged to continue to work with the North
Carolina Annual Conference, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and the Mt.
Olive Pickle Co. to resolve the dispute.

# # #

*Hakola is program director of communications at the United Methodist Board
of Church and Society. Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer
based in New York.

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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