PC(USA) Becomes Founding Member of the Alliance for Fair Food

On Sept. 24th, the General Assembly Council (GAC) voted that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) become a founding member of the Alliance for Fair Food. The Alliance for Fair Food, which is 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 is a community-based organization of Mexican, Haitian and Guatemalan farmworkers who labor for Florida-based growers who own fields in the east coast and pacific regions. Immokalee is a town in southwest Florida, about 45 minutes east of Ft. Meyers. Members of the CIW were awarded the 2003 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for their courageous work in investigating and prosecuting five cases of modern day slavery -- freeing more than 1,000 slaves and for their innovative Taco Bell boycott which insisted that the company take responsibility for the conditions under which its food was harvested.

The boycott, which the General Assembly of the PC(USA) voted to support in June 2002, was called by the CIW and culminated in a ground-breaking agreement between the CIW and Yum Brands, Taco Bell's parent company, in March 2005. The March agreement marked the first time a corporation paid money down its supply chain to workers it did not directly employ, nearly doubling the sub-poverty wages of workers picking tomatoes for Taco Bell's Florida based suppliers. Significantly, the agreement established new principles of transparency and accountability that, taken together, represent a significant step toward social responsibility in the fast-food industry [more] Now the CIW is asking its supporters to send letters to McDonald's, Burger King and Subway inviting them to sit down with the CIW and implement these principles in their own supply chains [more]

The boycott was successful because the farmworkers brought together a diverse alliance of religious, student, NGO, grassroots, and international organizations whose support of the boycott demonstrated that consumers want the food they purchased to be produced fairly and to ensure human rights. The Alliance for Fair Food grows out of the practical experience, strength and community developed among the allies while working side by side with the CIW.

Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church of Naples, Florida, the closest PC (USA) congregation to Immokalee, with support from the Presbyterian Hunger Program, has engaged the Rev. Noelle Damico to help the Alliance grow. Noelle had been coordinating the PC(USA)'s participation in the boycott and its subsequent Campaign for Fair Food, Pastor, Rev. Tom Harp explained, "This gives our congregation an opportunity to develop an even deeper relationship with the CIW. We are delighted to be a partner in mission."

Damico explained, "The Alliance for Fair Food increases resources, capacity, and coordination in our ongoing work with the CIW. The Alliance is a growing network designed to allow organizations allied with the CIW to speak collectively and powerfully, to educate and mobilize the public at large, and to coordinate shared initiatives while providing support for member organizations' unique witness."

While voting to join the Alliance, members of the GAC celebrated the church's strong partnership with the CIW which not only helped to achieve the ground-breaking agreement with Yum, but also changed the church. "We are a different church than when we began this journey with the CIW in 2002," said Gary Cook, Associate Director of the Worldwide Ministries Division. Mark Lancaster, Coordinator of the Presbyterian Hunger Program agreed, "the faith of CIW, our shared risk in speaking truth to power, and the nation-wide hospitality and public witness extended by local congregations, has invigorated our proclamation of the gospel and provided a vibrant model of how the church can establish partnerships of dignity and equality with poor people who are organizing for their rights."

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