Join GA Attendees in Sign on Letter to Subway, Chipotle and Whole Foods

General Assembly attendees in San Jose will have the opportunity to sign on to a letter urging the CEOs of SUBWAY, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Whole Foods Market to work with the CIW to improve wages and working conditions for farmworkers harvesting tomatoes in Florida.  You can add your signature by emailing your full name, church and city/state to Noelle Damico. Download the letter.

Stated Clerk: CIW-Burger King agreement a ‘plumb line of justice’

May 2008 - Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, the Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, commends the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Burger King Corporation upon reaching an historic agreement to improve farmworkers' wages and working conditions in the fields of Florida. Dr. Kirkpatrick writes, "The agreement stands as a plumb line of justice, granting a needed wage increase, establishing zero tolerance for illegal acts and involving farmworkers in the creation and enforcement of a strong code of conduct for suppliers." Dr. Kirkpatrick commends the CIW for leading a "principled campaign" and goes on to applaud BK CEO John Chidsey's apology for his company's derogatory statements about the CIW as "necessary and appropriate" and as "setting a new bar for integrity among corporate leaders." He concludes, "Together let us press onward with hope and determination, toward that soon-coming day when these gains for human rights and socially responsible purchasing will be realized throughout the food industry."  [Read full statement]

CIW and BK To Work Together!

Members of CIW, Representatives from Burger King, Senator Bernie Sanders and allies of Fair Food including the Rev. Noelle Damico (third from right) representing the PC(USA) at the press conference in the U.S. Capitol on 5/23/08. Photo by Fritz Meyer

May 23, 2006 – Today, the CIW and Burger King Corporation signed an agreement to improve farmworkers’ wages and enforce human rights standards in the fields! 

A signing ceremony and press conference took place in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. Capitol, hosted by Senator Bernie Sanders.

Your prayers, your participation in marches, the incredible number of signatures you garnered in the petition campaign, and your ongoing letters and emails to Burger King made this victory possible.  

We read in Hebrews 11:1 that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Through faith we know that this agreement is a harbinger of that soon-coming day, when the entire fast-food and grocery industry will embrace these human rights standards, and farmworkers will enjoy a fair wage and humane working conditions.  As we celebrate this human rights victory, let us also renew our comittment to keep walking together with the CIW until we see that day dawns.

• Read a related story by the Presbyterian News Service: Burger King and CIW strike deal – PC(USA)-backed farmworkers will receive higher wages, improved work conditions

Peace River Presbytery Gives Portion of Peacemaking Offering to CIW’s Community Center

Members of CIW stand outside their new community center. Photo by Noelle Damico.

May 2008 — For the Presbyterians in Peace River Presbytery, peacemaking is about living in a right relationship with your brothers and sisters.  What better way to work towards that end than to support the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW)?  The Mission and Justice Committee of Peace River Presbytery voted to disburse our peacemaking funds totaling $4,000 to our farmworker neighbors to help with the new CIW Community Center.  The radio station, which is housed in the Community Center, received a grant from Self Development of People (SDOP) in 2007 to help upgrade their equipment that enabled them to reach more people in the Immokalee area. [Read more]

U.S. Senate Hearing Exposes Farmworker Exploitation;
Florida Growers, Fast Food Industry Called to Account

Left to right: Senator Sanders, Senator Kennedy and Senator Durbin at the U.S. Senate hearing.

April 2008 – On Tuesday, April 15, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of the U.S. Senate held the first-ever hearing into the labor conditions of farmworkers in Florida.  These historic proceedings involved testimony from the CIW, the Collier County Sherriff’s Department Human Trafficking Division, the Southern Poverty Law Center, author Eric Schlosser, Reggie Brown of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange and Roy Reina of Granger Farms as well as statements and questions from Senators Edward Kennedy, Bernie Sanders, Dick Durbin and Sherrod Brown.  The Senators lambasted the FTGE for obstructing the penny-per-pound payments to farmworkers that are a part of the CIW’s agreements with Yum! Brands and McDonald’s.  Senator Durbin called on all present to “do the math” as he devastated the FTGE’s claim that workers could be paid $12.46 an hour when that would mean a farmworker would need to accomplish the unimaginable task of harvesting 3,000 tomatoes per hour.  Fast-food corporations who profit from farmworker exploitation were also scrutinized and criticized for their knowing ignorance and complicity in both perpetuating and benefiting from poverty and slavery in the tomato fields.  To read the full report, see pictures, press accounts and link to full coverage of the Senate hearing, visit the Coalition of Immokalee Workers Online Headquarters.

Congressional Leaders Sign CIW Petition and Call Hearings

Rep. John Conyers, Sen. Bernie Sanders. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Sen. Richard Durbin. Photo by Fritz Meyer.

March 2008 — On Thursday, March 13, Congressional leaders and representatives from the human rights, labor, religious and student communities gathered on Capitol Hill to sign the CIW’s Petition to End Modern-Day Slavery and Sweatshops in the Fields.  Political leaders announced Congressional Hearings and sent letters to major grocery chains that supply the federal government. [Read more]

Slavery Indictment Released as Senator Sanders Visits Immokalee

Slavery Indictment Released as Senator Sanders Visits Immokalee; Photo courtesy of CIW.

February 2008 - One day after a federal grand jury indicted six people in Immokalee for their part in what US Attorney Doug Molloy called, "Slavery, plain and simple," (Ft. Myers News Press, 1/18/08).US Senator Bernie Sanders declared:

"The headline in today’s newspaper says all that has to be said.  In the year 2008, in the United States of America, slavery exists.  Human beings are being forced to work against their will, are being beaten, are being denied their most basic freedoms.  This should not be happening in the United States in 2008.  This exploitation must end." 

The Rev. Noelle Damico met with Senator Sanders while he was in Immokalee to brief him on the PC(USA)’s ongoing work with the CIW.  Read about Senator Sanders’ visit and see a video of the 1/19/08 press conference.

Burger King hears from farmworkers and PC(USA)

Protesters march through Miami to picket HQ of fast-food giant

People carry signs as they join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in a protest march against Burger King on Nov. 30 in Miami. Photo by Fritz Myer

LOUISVILLE — Presbyterians from across the country joined more than 1,500 church-backed farmworkers and their supporters, many chanting and waving signs, in a peaceful protest outside Burger King’s Miami corporate headquarters on Friday (Nov. 30).

The fast-food giant is the latest target in an ongoing campaign by the Florida-based Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a farmworkers organization that receives support from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and other religious organizations.

The CIW’s goal is to get Burger King to follow McDonald’s and Taco Bell parent Yum! Brands Inc., who have agreed to pay an additional penny per pound for tomatoes picked by Florida farmworkers. [Read more]

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