Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) calls on McDonald’s to Work with the to Address Wages and Working Conditions in the Fields

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Office of the General Assembly
100 Witherspoon St. ~ Louisville, KY ~ 40202
502-569-5424 ~ ckirkpat@ctr.pcusa.org
www.pcusa.org

 
The Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk
 
November 23, 2005
 
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) calls on McDonald’s to Work with the to Address Wages and Working Conditions in the Fields
 
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is proud to work as a partner with the Coalition of Immokalee (CIW), a human rights award winning, worker-led community organization of Mexican, Guatemalan, and Haitian laborers, to establish socially responsible purchasing in the corporate food industry, guarantee the human rights of farmworkers and end modern day slavery in the fields.  We do this because scripture calls us to be stewards of God’s creation, which includes our economic life, and because we follow Jesus Christ who, as a poor man himself, inaugurated his own ministry by bringing “good news to the poor.” 
 
The decisions and practices of large corporations have enormous impact on our lives.  Through its work on animal welfare and environmental safety, McDonald’s has illustrated that it understands it has a responsibility to ensure that its practices build, rather than diminish, well-being.
 
However, McDonald’s reputation for social responsibility will be undermined if it continues to pursue the Socially Accountable Farm Employers (SAFE) program as if it alone were an adequate solution to the grievous conditions and sub-poverty wages of farmworkers.  It is time for McDonald’s to work with the (CIW) to directly increase workers wages and to put an end to human rights violations in the fields.
 
In March of 2005, Yum Brands, the largest fast food company in the world and the parent company of Taco Bell, reached a ground-breaking agreement with the CIW which enhances the human rights of farmworkers.  The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its congregations across the country were proud to work with the CIW to achieve this historic gain.  Taco Bell is now paying a penny more per pound of tomatoes it purchases and ensuring that this increase goes directly to the Florida farmworkers – nearly doubling their wages.  Yum has also crafted a substantial Code of Conduct in partnership with the CIW which ensures expert and independent enforcement.  The Yum-CIW agreement is now being rolled-out and workers are already receiving the wage increase and other concrete benefits.  
 
For the last six months, the CIW and its allies in the faith, student, and NGO communities have asked McDonald’s to work with them to implement the principles of the Yum-CIW agreement in McDonald’s own supply chain.  But instead of building on this proven solution and working with the CIW to ensure just wages for farmworkers, McDonald’s has chosen to work with a grower-led initiative called SAFE that does not include any independent farmworker labor  organizations, including the CIW. 
 
A close look at the language of SAFE’s mission and code of conduct shows that its goal is to ensure that growers follow the law.  Of course the PC(USA) believes growers should follow the law.  It is such a minimal expectation that it is revealing that an organization should need to be created to make sure growers do what is already legally required ofthem. 
 
The Yum-CIW agreement assumes compliance with all applicable laws but recognizes that corporations must go even further.  Because of their high-volume, year-round, demand for low-cost tomatoes, corporate food buyers like McDonald’s and Yum actually have a hand in depressing workers’ wages as growers who supply them seek to contain costs.  But corporations also have the power and ability to change these conditions as has been evidenced in the Yum Brands – CIW agreement. 
 
Currently farmworkers picking tomatoes in Florida for McDonald’s are still earning 40-45 cents for every 32 pound bucket they pick and haul; the same wage they received more than 25 years ago.  Further farmworkers are explicitly excluded from the National Labor Relations Act which denies them the right to organize, the right to negotiate with their employers, and the right to appeal grievances to the National Labor Relations Board.  Current law does not provide farmworkers with overtime pay or secure other benefits such as health care. 
 
McDonald’s has a clear moral responsibility to take leadership to assure just working conditions and compensation for the very persons who provide the products which are at the heart of its operation.  Any corporation which benefits through the exploitation of others is gravely implicated in such exploitation and has a moral and ethical responsibility to end that exploitation.
 
As the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, on behalf of  the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I call upon McDonald’s to work with the CIW and:

* pay an increase per pound for the tomatoes McDonald’s purchases and ensure the increase is passed along to the workers who harvest

* establish an enforceable code of conduct to ensure safe working conditions

Recently McDonald’s announced that it will serve “fair trade” coffee in its restaurants across the northeast, a development which we heartily support.  If McDonald’s can do this in the coffee industry, it can do it in the tomato industry aswell.  Yum Brands has already taken leadership to implement a substantial and concrete model together with the CIW.  It is time for McDonald’s to do the same.   

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