These notes come from the Rev. Noelle Damico, Associate for Fair Food of the PC(USA), sent on December 15, 2006

Dear Friends:

With the advent call to "prepare the way" echoing, socially responsible investors including the PC(USA), call on McDonald's to work with CIW. This week's Advent reflection is by Francisca Cortez. Francisca is a farmworker who was born in Mexico and who has been picking tomatoes in the fields of Florida for the last 10 years. Francisca is Catholic and she has been honored by Catholic Charities for her leadership in CIW's work for farmworkers' human rights.

PC(USA)'S Socially Responsible Investment committee writes McDonald's

The Chair of the Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was among the signatories of a letter to McDonald's CEO, urging him to work in partnership with the CIW to improve farmworker wages and working conditions. The Presbyterian Foundation and the Presbyterian Pension Boards hold shares in the McDonald's Corporation.

The MRTI was joined by the United Church Foundation, the Pension Boards- United Church of Christ, the Shareholder, Education and Advocacy of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Adorers of the Blood of Christ Investment Group.

The letter concludes:

It is our sincere hope that McDonald's will move swiftly to build a partnership with the CIW so that shareholders and consumers may be assured that abuses in the field are being dealt with effectively and respectfully. Because of McDonald's' history of being on the forefront of humane treatment for animals and recycling, we are confident that with concerted leadership from key executives within McDonald's, such a partnership cannot only be established but produce an innovative and lasting model for ensuring human rights in the agri-food industry.

You can find the complete letter at www.ciw-online.org/Investor_letter.html


ADVENT REFLECTION #3: Love and Christmas By Francisca Cortez, Coalition of Immokalee Workers

This is a time of happiness and peace in our hearts, when we give love to our loved ones. But, there are also moments of nostalgia and desperation in our hearts, even though we know that Christmas is coming and that peace shall reign.

For us, the farmworkers, we continue to work hard, struggling to achieve peace and harmony. During this season, we find ourselves again without our loved ones that we left behind to come to work in this land to better our lives. But instead, we found that in this land, there is no respect for our dignity.

Every one of us must walk step by step because, otherwise, we do not know what we may trip over. Sometimes, it is sickness because of our long hours of work. Still, you think of your family you left behind and continue walking forward without looking back, although we are always thinking of our loved ones.

The Lord, our Savior, will soon come to be with us. God says to share what little you have with the poor so that they may eat. In faith, we are confident that soon the good news will come, including a dignified life of peace, happiness, and tranquility for all farmworkers.

We do not demand more than what is set for us, only what we deserve as human beings. And the love of Jesus Christ will always reign in our hearts because he chooses to walk with each of us.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Amen.

Peace,

PC(USA) Campaign for Fair Food
The Rev. Noelle Damico, Associate for Fair Food
ndamico@ctr.pcusa.org
NY office: 631-751-7076
Cellphone: 631-371-9877
www.pcusa.org/fairfood

Also - A mobile church for Immokalee ministry

The Joining Hearts & Hands (MIJHH) campaign in Peace River Presbytery has enabled the Beth-El Farmworker Ministry at Immokalee to acquire a 31-foot motor home which functions as a mobile church for their ministry among the farmworkers.

Here’s the latest report from The Rev. Noelle Damico, PC(USA) Associate for Fair Food

A note from Noelle Damico, The Campaign for Fair Food

Labor Day Sunday is a great time to lift up themes of fair food and worker justice in your congregation.

New Labor Day Sunday preaching and liturgical resources are available from Interfaith Worker Justice. They include lectionary commentary and prayers featuring the CIW (Coalition of Immokalee Workers), fair food and human rights by the Rev. Noelle Damico, PC(USA) Associate for Fair Food. To access these resources and other worker justice resources visit http://www.iwj.org/outreach/labor_day.html .

You'll also want to let your congregation know of the 217^th General Assembly's support for ongoing work with the CIW and the Campaign for Fair Food. To get photos, a full report, and to take action in support of fair food visit www.pcusa.org/fairfood .

As you travel this summer you will likely pass many McDonald's restaurants. So be sure to carry some manager's letters with you which call on McDonald's to work with the CIW to end exploitation in the fields. Download the letter and access other actions at http://www.pcusa.org/fairfood/action.htm .

Peace,

NFWM Young Adult Leadership Development & Farm Worker Solidarity Summit

JULY 14, 15, & 16 of 2006
NATIONAL CHAVEZ CENTER
KEENE, CALIFORNIA

Youth and Young Adult Network of the NATIONAL FARM WORKER MINISTRY

REGISTER TODAY!

ONLY $50.00
Goes towards meals, lodging and conference costs.
We encourage you to pay more if you can to help cover expenses and scholarships.
(Scholarships available based on need.)

YAYA c/o Adrian Acosta
4430 E. 60th St.
Maywood, CA 90270

Online at: www.nfwm.org/yaya/yayamain.shtml

Alliance for Fair Food Calls on McDonald’s to work with farmworkers to end exploitation in the fields of its suppliers

News release from the Alliance for Fair Food, May 25, 2006    [5-26-06]

As McDonald’s shareholders gather for the company’s annual meeting today, farmworkers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and members of the Alliance for Fair Food (AFF) are calling on the company to commence immediate and serious dialogue with the CIW to address exploitative wages and human rights concerns in McDonald’s tomato supply chain.

Farmworkers picking for McDonald’s suppliers earn 40-45 cents for every 32 pound bucket of tomatoes they harvest, a wage that has remained stagnant for more than 25 years. In partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI, the CIW has successfully prosecuted five cases of slavery in the agricultural fields and freed more than one thousand slaves. More cases are under investigation.

"Consumers of conscience care that the food we purchase at McDonald’s be produced fairly and insist that the farmworkers harvesting the tomatoes be partners with the company in advancing their own human rights," said the Rev. Noelle Damico, Associate for Fair Food with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) a founding member of the Alliance for Fair Food. The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Presbyterian Foundation are institutional shareholders in McDonald’s Corporation. "Exercising such moral responsibility is also sound business practice," Damico added, "increasing consumer and shareholder confidence in the provenance of McDonald’s products and the integrity of the company." To wit, Yum! Brands’ stock soared following the company’s March 2005 decision to work with the CIW which ended a four year boycott of its subsidiary Taco Bell.

In April, McDonald’s released a study, "Economic Impact: Tomatoes in Florida, Part I", authored by the Center for Reflection, Education, and Action, in an attempt to deflect criticism of their current practices. The study has been denounced by labor experts and thirty social scientists who concur with Dr. Bruce Nissen, Director of the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy at Florida International University, that the study is "so riddled with errors both large and small that it cannot be accepted as factually accurate on virtually any measure."

"It’s beyond time for McDonald’s to stop treating a human rights crisis as a public relations campaign. This attitude not only perpetuates the exploitation of the farmworkers but threatens to discredit McDonald’s own reputation in the area of social responsibility," said Todd Howland, Director of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights. "We expect the company to sit down and craft a meaningful solution with the farmworkers who are uniquely positioned to create a strong and enforceable code of conduct to protect their human rights."

The Alliance for Fair Food is a broad network of human rights, religious, student and labor leaders and institutions that work in partnership with the CIW to promote principles and practices of socially responsible purchasing in the corporate food industry that advance the human rights of farmworkers. AFF endorsers include Amnesty International USA, the AFL-CIO, "Fast Food Nation" author Eric Schlosser, the Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., Julian Bond, Board Chairman of the NAACP, and United Students Against Sweatshops.

Founding Organizations of the Alliance for Fair Food

RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Interfaith Action
Student Farmworker Alliance
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative

The Florida tomato pickers are 1,000 miles into their latest "truth tour" when NPR airs a story about Americans taking to the streets to protest an immigration bill that would put up a West-Bank-and-Gaza-style barrier between Mexico and the United States, all across California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas.

The purpose of this Great Wall would be to keep out hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and others desperate to get into this country to take "the jobs Americans workers won't do."

Jobs like picking tomatoes. Here's the truth of that:

Leave home and family far behind to live in an alien culture in an un-air-conditioned high-rent dorm with dozens of strangers. Get up well before sunrise every morning to go stand in a dusty lot with throngs of other men and women, all hoping to be chosen to put in a 14-hour day of bend-at-the-waist labor under the searing tropical sun - toil for which, if you are young, strong, male and relentless, you might be paid $50. You have no health insurance or benefits, you get no overtime pay, you haven't had a raise in 30 years, and your hosts are talking about building a 1,000-mile-long wall between the likes of you and the American dream.

The story from Presbyterian News Service >>

Presbyterian News Service reports a group of Florida farmworkers will embark on a weeklong regional tour through the Southeast and Midwest next month to carry their struggle for higher wages and better working conditions to fast-food giant McDonald's.

During the tour, about 30 farmworkers are expected to travel by van to Chicago from Immokalee, FL. On the way, they will take 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, organizers say, by supporters including Presbyterians and other people of faith, student activists, farmers, labor groups and community leaders.

Urge McDonald’s to follow Taco Bell in respecting for farmworkers’ human rights
[2-7-06]

The Campaign asks consumers to deliver letter to their local McDonald’s manager, calling for decent wages and working conditions for farmworkers.

Dear Friends:

Many of you have actively sent letters to McDonald’s encouraging them to “follow Taco Bell’s lead” and work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to implement the principles achieved in the historic agreement reached with Yum Brands in March 2005. Your letters have made it clear that Presbyterians want to advance the human rights gains for farmworkers throughout the fastfood industry.

Unfortunately, McDonald’s has responded by announcing that instead of working with the CIW, the company is working with a newly-minted group of growers. This group has presented an anemic code of conduct, developed without worker input that does not address stagnant, sub-poverty wages. Many religious bodies and human rights leaders, including Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk, stepped forward to decry this approach at the end of the year. You can see these statements and read background news at www.pcusa.org/fairfood and www.ciw-online.org .

Now, in honor of the anniversary of the signing of the XIIIth Amendment which abolished slavery, the CIW asks Presbyterians to please join consumers across the country in visiting your local McDonald’s and delivering a letter to the manager, that encourages the company to work with the CIW to address exploitation in its tomato supply chain. Download the letter by visiting the following link:
http://www.ciw-online.org/mcd_manager_letter.pdf A message from CIW is below.

-PC(USA) Campaign for Fair Food

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A message from the CIW:

On this day, February 1, in the year 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment into law, officially abolishing slavery in this country. Yet today, in Florida, federal prosecutors still rely on laws derived from the 13th Amendment to put farm labor employers behind bars for holding their workers in modern-day slavery.

There is today a human rights crisis in Florida's fields. But this human rights crisis does not begin and end with slavery. Rather, slavery is only the most extreme form of the sweatshop conditions that exist throughout Florida's agricultural industry – where workers toil from dawn to dusk for sub-poverty wages at a piece rate that hasn't changed significantly in nearly 30 years, with no right to overtime pay, no health insurance, no sick leave, no paid vacation or pension, and no right to organize if they would hope to improve these conditions.

On this anniversary of the signing of the 13th Amendment, the CIW is announcing an important new action in our campaign to abolish slavery and sweatshops in Florida agriculture.

Over the next several weeks, we ask that you take this simple action to help end the human rights crisis in Florida's fields: Drop a letter at your local McDonald's calling on the fast-food giant to stop sidestepping the real issues and work with the CIW for real farm labor reform, and ask the manager to make your feelings known to corporate headquarters in Chicago.

Download the letter by visiting the following link: http://www.ciw-online.org/mcd_manager_letter.pdf

No right to overtime pay, no right to organize, sub-poverty wages... it's worth thinking about those conditions again. They are the rule, the unquestioned norm in Florida agriculture. This environment of powerlessness and exploitation is the fertile ground from which case after case of modern-day slavery is born.

That's why farmworkers with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers are organizing to make sweatshops a thing of the past in the fields of Florida. The agreement with Taco Bell was an important first step toward corporate accountability in the food industry and gave hope that other major retail food corporations would follow suit and help clean up human rights violations in their suppliers' operations.

By paying a fairer price for its tomatoes, Taco Bell helped workers earn a fairer wage. And by working with the CIW on making its code of conduct stronger, Taco Bell helped open the door to farmworkers playing a meaningful role in the protection of their own rights.

But Taco Bell can't do it alone. Nearly one year later, fast-food industry leader McDonald's still refuses to take these simple steps for justice. Click here, read the letter that follows, and if you agree, print it out, take it to your local McDonald's, and ask that it be sent to Corporate Headquarters. It's one small step toward a fairer future for Florida's farmworkers, and one giant step for the fast-food industry as a whole.

Here are some highlights – but get the whole story >>www.pcusa.org/fairfood

The General Assembly Council of the PC(USA) voted to become a founding member of the Alliance for Fair Food, a growing network of religious, NGO, student, labor, community, celebrity, and international allies and institutions, works with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to establish socially responsible purchasing in the corporate food industry, guarantee the human rights of farmworkers and end modern day slavery in the fields.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers are visiting Europe to spread the word about fair food. They're meeting with representatives from the World Council of Churches, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Lutheran World Federation as well as representatives from the UN, the ILO, and the government of Norway.

Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), speaks to leaders of the 75 million member-strong WARC at their annual meeting in Evian, France on the significance of the victory in the Taco Bell boycott in light of neo-liberal economic systems.

And keep sending those letters and postcards to McDonald's, Burger King, and Subway! As consumers and people of faith, the CIW is counting on you to encourage these companies to sit down with the CIW and discuss how they can implement socially responsible purchasing within their own supply chains.

For sample letters >> 

After years of hard work and an incredible victory for Taco Bell tomato pickers, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has announced their new target: the Fast Food World, including McDonalds and Burger King!

Background on the Taco Bell struggle ... and the victory.

Sunday, Sept. 4, is the day before Labor Day and a great time to involve your congregation in the Campaign for Fair Food. 

There are new biblical and worship resources available at www.pcusa.org/fairfood to assist in preaching and teaching on the history of the Taco Bell boycott, the ground breaking agreement with the company which was achieved in March, and the next steps in reaching out to other major fast food corporations.

Specifically the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has asked us to write letters to McDonald's, Burger King, and Subway asking them to meet with the CIW and to ensure the human rights of workers in their supply chain. Background and sample letters are available at http://www.pcusa.org/fairfood/action.htm