back to breaking news page

August 14, 2007

AFF to retail food industry leaders: Help us end "forced labor, poverty wages, and human rights abuses faced by farmworkers"... In an open letter signed by over 60 member organizations of the Alliance for Fair Food (AFF) -- including Amnesty International USA, the AFL-CIO, United Students Against Sweatshops, and the Episcopal Church Executive Council -- the AFF wrote to 36 leading corporations in the retail food industry to demand that they too work "with the CIW to implement socially responsible purchasing practices, such as those exemplified by McDonald’s and Yum! Brands." Here below is an excerpt of the AFF letter:

"It is vitally important that your company take an active role in advancing human rights and fair wages for farmworkers because your company’s low-cost, high volume tomato purchasing practices help to create conditions in the fields where sub-poverty wages and other human rights abuses flourish...

Working with the CIW will enable your company to ensure to your consumers that your company’s tomatoes are not picked by farmworkers who are exploited or enslaved, but instead that your company is part of the movement for fair food...

At the table are a proven model, the expertise of the CIW, and a tremendous opportunity to join two major fast-food corporations in advancing fair food. We urge you to meet as soon as possible with the CIW to discuss how your company can become a leader in socially responsible practices that ensure the human rights of farmworkers in your supply chain."

You can read the AFF letter in its entirety here.