wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] NCC challenges McDonald's to do more for tomato pickers

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

Note #9048 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05654
Dec. 7, 2005

NCC challenges McDonald's 
to do more for tomato pickers

Edgar says farmworkers are ill-served 
by fast-food giant's 'anemic' code of conduct

by Cheryl Heckler
Ecumenical News International  

OXFORD, OH - The National Council of Churches (NCC) has joined human-rights
organizations and farmworkers in criticizing McDonald's Corp. for doing too
little to improve working conditions of its tomato pickers.

	"McDonald's, we at the National Council of Churches expect you to do
better," said the Rev. Robert Edgar, the council's general secretary. "You
have acquired a strong reputation for social accountability. Now we expect
you to build on that reputation to accomplish real change in partnership with
the farmworkers who are so sorely abused by the current system."  
  
	McDonald's officials announced recently that the fast-food giant had
endorsed a new code of conduct proposed by the Socially Accountable Farm
Employers (SAFE) initiative for farmworkers employed by its suppliers.	 
  
	"McDonald's suppliers will buy produce from growers that participate
in this program," company spokesperson Lisa Howard said.   
  
	But in his Dec. 1 statement, Edgar denounced what he called "SAFE's
anemic code of conduct, which was designed by growers without worker input,
and does not address stagnant, poverty wages."	
  
	Edgar said the SAFE initiative was a product of the Florida Fruit and
Vegetable Association, and, while its code "employs sweeping language about
'no forced labor' and 'social accountability,' it only asks growers to obey
current laws."	 
  
	The Rev. Noelle Damico, who coordinated the successful Taco Bell
boycott for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), said McDonald's position falls
far short of the agreement farmworkers reached earlier this year with Taco
Bell, a division of Yum! Brands, which nearly doubled the pay of tomato
pickers while ensuring safer working conditions.  
  
	"The biggest concern in the religious community for McDonald's is
they have chosen to work with only the growers, and no farmworkers' voices
are included," Damico told Ecumenical News International.  
  
	Just two months ago, CERES, a 16-year-old coalition of investors,
environmental organizations and other public interest groups, honored
McDonald's for implementing buying programs designed to protect animal
welfare and forest resources, offering healthier menu items and creating a
supplier code of conduct to ensure a safe work environment and fair pay for
employees.

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