Note #9217 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06180 March 24, 2006
Presbyterians urged to pray for McDonald's, Florida farm workers
Special observance scheduled to augment tomato pickers' latest 'truth tour'
by Evan Silverstein
LOUISVILLE - Presbyterians and other people of faith are being asked to keep fast-food giant McDonald's and Florida farm workers in their prayers and thoughts on March 31.
That's the Day of Prayer and Meditation to Advance Real Rights for Farmworkers, an occasion timed to coincide with a prayer vigil and demonstration led by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and religious leaders outside McDonald's corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, IL.
The aim is to pressure the hamburger company to work with the CIW to improve wages and working conditions for tomato pickers.
"Prayer and meditation have the ability to change hearts and minds, offer sustenance to those who are suffering, and open paths toward justice," said the Rev. Noelle Damico, who represents the Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on matters of fair food.
The CIW is an organization of agricultural workers based in Immokalee, FL, that says it seeks justice for farm workers and promotes their fair treatment in accordance with national and international labor standards.
The Coalition wants McDonald's, the world's largest restaurant chain, to work with the CIW to improve workers' wages, ensure farm workers' full participation in establishing and protecting their own rights, and establish an enforceable code of conduct based on universally established labor standards.
The pickers now earn 40 to 45 cents per 32-pound bucket, a rate essentially unchanged for nearly 30 years. Farm workers say they must pick two tons of tomatoes to earn $50. They get no overtime pay and no benefits.
"The regularized exploitation faced by farm workers picking tomatoes for McDonald's suppliers is a glaring example of social sinfulness," said Dave Robinson, executive director of Pax Christi (U.S.A.), a Catholic social-justice organization that is urging members to observe the call to prayer and meditation. "As people created by a loving God, we are called to ensure that our economic systems work for the well-being of all, not just some."
The workers are sponsoring a 10-day McDonald's "Truth Tour" to raise awareness of egregious conditions in the fields where tomatoes are picked for McDonald's, the world's largest restaurant chain.
In addition to the PC(USA) and Pax Christi, the day of prayer and meditation is being observed by the National Council of Churches, the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, the Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ, and the National Farm Worker Ministry.
"Presbyterians and other people of faith really understand the urgency of human rights to be respected, and they also understand the necessity of their participation in that," said Julia Perkins, a CIW organizer. "For us to create a better world together, we all need each other, and we all need to take part in making it a better world."
Other groups calling for observance of the day of prayer and meditation: Interfaith Worker Justice, the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, and the American Friends Service Committee Great Lakes Region.
The PC(USA) and other religious bodies have faithfully supported the CIW's efforts to ensure that the food served by fast-food corporations is produced fairly.
Many U.S. faith groups supported the CIW-sponsored national boycott of Taco Bell. The PC(USA)'s 214th General Assembly in 2002 voted to support the boycott and called for discussions involving the Mexican-style fast-food chain, its suppliers and CIW representatives.
uring the boycott, the PC(USA) helped arrange meetings between Taco Bell's parent company, Louisville-based Yum! Brands Inc., and members of the Coalition. In February 2004, an eight-mile protest march to Yum! headquarters started at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville.
The nearly four-year-long campaign led to a groundbreaking agreement in March 2005 that improved farm worker wages and established the first code of conduct for Florida agricultural suppliers that guarantees a meaningful role for farm workers in the protection of their own rights.
"We've been calling on McDonald's to do what Taco Bell has already done, namely to work with the CIW to improve wages and advance farm workers' rights in its own tomato-supply chain," said the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches. "As people of faith, we are united not only in consumer advocacy, but also in prayer and meditation."
Presbyterians are also part of the new Alliance for Fair Food (AFF), which will join the coalition on the tour. The formation of the AFF was announced on March 8 - the one-year anniversary of the historic agreement with Yum!.
The group's first objective is to reform McDonald's tomato supply chain, but it plans to expand its efforts to other fast-food restaurant companies.
Joining the PC(USA) as founding members of the alliance are the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative. Those groups have joined the coalition in its previous truth tours.
The day of prayer and meditation comes during the CIW-led McDonald's truth tour, which is making stops in 17 cities in the Southeast and Midwest, starting on March 26, educating and mobilizing consumers.
The event, which concludes on April 4, will feature a peaceful rally on April 1 outside a McDonald's restaurant in downtown Chicago. (See the rally schedule).
During the tour, about 50 farm workers are expected to travel by van to Chicago from the CIW's offices in Immokalee, FL. On the way, they will bring their stories of abuse and exploitation to cities including Atlanta, Nashville, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Louisville, Cincinnati, Madison, WI, and Ann Arbor, MI.
They will be joined at each stop by supporters including Presbyterians and other people of faith, student activists, farmers, labor groups and community leaders.
"The Truth Tour is an opportunity for Presbyterians to meet the farm workers face to face, to hear their stories, and to bear public witness together, as we insist (that) McDonald's work with the CIW to improve farm workers' wages and advance the real rights of farm workers in their tomato supply chain," Damico said.
For more information about the 2006 McDonald's Truth Tour, visit the CIW's Web site, http://www.ciw-online.org, or the PC(USA)'s Fair Food site, www.pcusa.org/fairfood.
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