wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Immokalee workers reach agreement with Subway

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www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2008/08897<http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2008/08897

>Immokalee workers reach agreement with Subway

Four largest food chains have now agreed to better pay,
working conditions

>by Jerry L. Van Marter
>Presbyterian News Service

MIAMI - Subway, the third largest fast-food chain in the
world and the biggest fast-food buyer of Florida tomatoes,
reached an agreement yesterday (Dec. 2) today with the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-backed Coalition of Immokalee
Workers [www.ciw-online.org] to help improve wages and
working conditions for the workers who pick the sandwich
shop giant's tomatoes.

"Today, the fast-food industry has spoken with one voice,
said Gerardo Reyes of the CIW. "With this agreement, the
four largest restaurant companies in the world have now
joined their voices to the growing call for a more modern,
more humane agricultural industry in Florida."

The agreement with Subway follows on the heels of similar
wage and working condition agreements with Yum! Brands -
the parent of Taco Bell - as well as Burger King,
McDonald's and Whole Foods grocery stories.

Despite the timing of the agreement - which was signed here
as CIW members and supporters began a highly-publicized
trek [www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2008/08879] from Florida along
the Eastern seaboard to New England to press their case at
Subway headquarters in Milford, CT - Subway spokesman Les
Winograd said, "Subway strongly supports the farmworkers'
rights and has entered in an agreement with the (Coalition
of Immokalee Workers) to pay the additional 1 cent per
pound for tomatoes grown in the Immokalee region of
Florida."

Florida U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders issued a statement
saying, "The agreement between Subway and the Coalition of
Immokalee Workers is yet another blow to the scourge of
slavery that continues to exist in the tomato fields of
Florida. Subway is to be congratulated for moving to ensure
that none of its products are harvested by slave or
near-slave labor. Sadly, too many other companies continue
to tolerate this travesty."

Support for the CIW is part of the PC(USA)'s "Campaign for
Fair Food," which addresses justice issues in all phases of
the world's food production and distribution systems. "Fair
food" could become an industry watchword, said Sherri Daye
Scott, editor of QSR, a North Carolina-based food service
industry magazine.

"I haven't heard any rumblings yet beyond the tomato
pickers," Scott said, "but it could gain traction. Look at
food safety - five, 10 years ago, you didn't hear much
about it. Now it's everywhere. The same thing could happen
with transparency in the food supply chain."

[http://www.news-press.com/article/20081203/BUSINESS/812030388/1075]

CIW has announced that its Northeast Fair Food Tour, which
is scheduled to arrive in Milford on Dec. 10, will
continue.  "Now that Subway, the largest fast-food buyer of
Florida tomatoes, has joined Yum!, McDonald's, Burger King,
and Whole Foods Market in working with the CIW," the
farmworkers group said on its Web site, "it's time for the
rest of the grocery and fast-food corporations to join
their counterparts and partner with the CIW to elevate
human rights for farmworkers in their own supply chains."

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