Farmworkers, Presbyterians Deliver Petitions with 85,000 Signatures to Burger King

Pile of signed petitions, creatively affixed to farmworkers clothing, tomato signs and posters. Photo by Brigitte Gynther

April 2008 – Presbyterian leaders joined farmworkers in delivering petitions with 85,000 signatures from all 50 states and 42 countries to Burger King headquarters in Miami on April 28 calling for an end to slavery and sweatshop conditions in Florida's fields. Petition signers pledged they are “prepared to boycott Burger King.”  That morning the Ft. Myers News Press broke that Burger King vice president Steve Grover had used his middle-school daughter’s email address to blog and email unfounded and derogatory information about the CIW on Web sites. [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.

Kirkpatrick and Valentine Sign CIW Petition to End Modern-Day Slavery

GAC Executive Director Linda Valentine (left) and General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick sign the anti-slavery petition circulated by the PC(USA)-backed Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Photo by Jerry Van Marter

March 2008 — On Monday, March 10, the Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly, and Ms. Linda Bryant Valentine, executive director of the General Assembly Council, signed the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ National Petition to End Modern-Day Slavery and Sweatshops in the Fields. 

“It is my sincere hope that by my signing this petition other people of faith and conscience will be inspired to make this commitment to advance human rights as well,” Dr. Kirkpatrick said. “And that Burger King, which has worked so assiduously to avoid responsibility for shameful conditions in the tomato fields of its suppliers, would change course now and work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.”

• Sign the CIW’s petition.
• Read Dr. Kirkpatrick’s public statement on the signing.
• Read the Presbyterian News Service story,  “Petition drive to end ‘modern-day slavery’ launched by church-backed farmworkers: Campaign threatens boycott of Burger King”.

Dr. Kirkpatrick and Ms. Valentine join Presbyterians across the country who are already at work collecting signatures for this petition which calls on Burger King and other food industry leaders to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers now to end exploitation in the fields and indicates that signatories are prepared to boycott Burger King now if the company fails to do so.

The Presbyterian News Service Story also describes the context of the petition and the creative signature campaigns underway at First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, FL and at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.  Check out the links above and be inspired to circulate this important petition creatively within your own congregation, presbytery and community.  Be sure to let us know how you’re circulating the petition by emailing us.

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]

CIW Launches Petition Campaign to End Slavery and Sweatshops in the Fields

February 2008 — The year 2008 marks the 200th anniversary of the U.S. ban on the importation of slaves.  And yet in November of 2007, the seventh instance of slavery in the agricultural industry was uncovered in Immokalee.  In November a grand jury indicted six people for slavery under the 13th Amendment.  At the close of the 18th century, abolitionists in Manchester, England, launched a petition campaign to demand the English parliament end the slave trade.  The volume of petitions nearly shut down the parliament and marked the beginning of the end of the transatlantic slave trade. 

Taking a page out of history, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has launched a petition campaign calling on Burger King and other food industry leaders to work with the CIW to pay a penny more per pound to farmworkers harvesting tomatoes and to establish a enforceable, human-rights based code of conduct to end modern-day slavery and other abuses in the fields.  The petition puts the industry on notice that signatories “are prepared to stop patronizing Burger King now and other food industry leaders in the future, should they fail to do so.” 

Presbyterians across the country are already hard at work collecting signatures and drawing attention to the exploitative effect that the purchasing practices of Burger King and other retail food corporations are having on the men and women who harvest our tomatoes. [Read more and take action.]

Like A Seed: A Community-based, Online Lenten Series

Through this Lenten series, Presbyterians across the country will have the opportunity to read and reflect on God’s Word together with Presbyterian farmworkers in Immokalee, Fla. [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.

Presbyterians prominent in march on Burger King

Presbyterians march on Burger King in Miami. Photo JJ Tiziou .

November 2007 — With shouts of determination and blessings from Roman Catholic and Jewish clergy, farmworkers and consumers took to the streets to demand Burger King work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to improve wages and conditions for farmworkers harvesting tomatoes in the fields of Florida.  Marchers from less than one year old to more than 80 cheered, sang and drummed their way through the sweltering streets of Miami, proclaiming the message “fair food will reign” across the city.

The march began at the offices of Goldman Sachs, a private equity firm that is heavily invested in Burger King.  By the time the marchers were in the final miles approaching Burger King headquarters, the police estimated that their ranks had swelled to 1,500! [Learn more]

• Campaign in brief
• Read the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' Web site for more photos and narrative.
• Read President Carter's letter to the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange

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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