wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Stated clerk calls on McDonalds to talk higher wages for

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #9036 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05629
Nov. 23, 2005

Stated clerk calls on McDonald's 
to talk higher wages for tomato pickers

Kirkpatrick challenges fast-food giant to follow the lead of Taco Bell

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is urging fast-food giant
McDonald's to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to address
wages and working conditions in the tomato fields.

	The CIW is a Florida-based group of farmworkers who sponsored the
recent successful boycott of Taco Bell and negotiated with leaders of Yum!
Bands, Inc., which, in addition to Taco Bell, owns Long John Silvers,
Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and A&W Root Beer restaurants.

	The denomination's 214th General Assembly in 2002 endorsed the
boycott and called for negotiations between Taco Bell, its tomato suppliers
and CIW representatives.

	Kirkpatrick said in his statement, dated Nov. 23, that workers who
pick tomatoes in Florida for McDonald's still earn just 40 cents to 45 cents
for every 32-pound bucket they pick and haul - the same wage they received
more than 25 years ago. 

	"Farmworkers are explicitly excluded from the National Labor
Relations Act, which denies them the right to organize, the right to
negotiate with their employers, and the right to appeal grievances to the
National Labor Relations Board," Kirpatrick wrote. "Current law does not
provide farmworkers with overtime pay or secure other benefits such as
healthcare."   

	The text of Kirkpatrick's statement:

	The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is proud to work as a partner with
the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a human rights award-winning,
worker-led community organization of Mexican, Guatemalan and Haitian
laborers, to establish socially responsible purchasing in the corporate food
industry, guarantee the human rights of farmworkers and end modern-day
slavery in the fields. We do this because scripture calls us to be stewards
of God's creation, which includes our economic life, and because we follow
Jesus Christ who, as a poor man himself, inaugurated his own ministry by
bringing "good news to the poor."  

	The decisions and practices of large corporations have enormous
impact on our lives.  Through its work on animal welfare and environmental
safety, McDonald's has illustrated that it understands it has a
responsibility to ensure that its practices build, rather than diminish,
well-being.

	However, McDonald's reputation for social responsibility will be
undermined if it continues to pursue the Socially Accountable Farm Employers
(SAFE) program as if it alone were an adequate solution to the grievous
conditions and sub-poverty wages of farmworkers. It is time for McDonald's to
work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to directly increase
workers wages and to put an end human-rights violations in the fields.

	In March of 2005, Yum! Brands, the largest fast-food company in the
world and the parent company of Taco Bell, reached a ground-breaking
agreement with the CIW which enhances the human rights of farmworkers. The
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its congregations across the country were
proud to work with the CIW to achieve this historic gain. Taco Bell is now
paying a penny more per pound of tomatoes it purchases and ensuring that this
increase goes directly to the Florida farmworkers - nearly doubling their
wages. Yum has also crafted a substantial Code of Conduct in partnership with
the CIW which ensures expert and independent enforcement. The Yum!-CIW
agreement is now being rolled out and workers are already receiving the wage
increase and other concrete benefits.	

	For the last six months, the CIW and its allies in the faith,
student, and NGO communities have asked McDonald 's to work with them to
implement the principles of the Yum!-CIW agreement in McDonald's own supply
chain. But instead of building on this proven solution and working with the
CIW to ensure just wages for farmworkers, McDonald's has chosen to work with
a grower-led initiative called SAFE that does not include any independent
farmworker labor  organizations, including the CIW.  

	A close look at the language of SAFE's mission and code of conduct
shows that its goal is to ensure that growers follow the law. Of course the
PC(USA) believes growers should follow the law. It is such a minimal
expectation that it is revealing that an organization should need to be
created to make sure growers do what is already legally required of them.  

	The Yum!-CIW agreement assumes compliance with all applicable laws
but recognizes that corporations must go even further. Because of their
high-volume, year-round, demand for low-cost tomatoes, corporate food buyers
like McDonald's and Yum actually have a hand in depressing workers' wages as
growers who supply them seek to contain costs. But corporations also have the
power and ability to change these conditions as has been evidenced in the
Yum! Brands-CIW agreement.  

	Currently, farmworkers picking tomatoes in Florida for McDonald's are
still earning 40-45 cents for every 32-pound bucket they pick and haul - the
same wage they received more than 25 years ago. Further, farmworkers are
explicitly excluded from the National Labor Relations Act which denies them
the right to organize, the right to negotiate with their employers, and the
right to appeal grievances to the National Labor Relations Board. Current law
does not provide farmworkers with overtime pay or secure other benefits such
as healthcare.	

	McDonald's has a clear moral responsibility to take leadership to
assure just working conditions and compensation for the very persons who
provide the products which are at the heart of its operation. Any corporation
which benefits through the exploitation of others is gravely implicated in
such exploitation and has a moral and ethical responsibility to end that
exploitation.

	As the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, on behalf of the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I call upon McDonald's to work
with the CIW and 

	- pay an increase per pound for the tomatoes McDonald's purchases and
ensure that the increase is passed along to the workers who harvest 

	- establish an enforceable code of conduct to ensure safe working
conditions 

	Recently McDonald's announced that it will serve "fair trade" coffee
in its restaurants across the Northeast, a development which we heartily
support. If McDonald's can do this in the coffee industry, it can do it in
the tomato industry as well. Yum! Brands has already taken leadership to
implement a substantial and concrete model, together with the CIW. It is time
for McDonald's to do the same.

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