Tag: SAFE

Coalition of Immokalee Workers > SAFE

Part Two: A 21st century Christmas Carol for the food industry?…

Posted on by CIW
[hupso title="Part 2: 21st century #Christmas Carol for the food industry?" url="https://ciw-online.org/blog/2014/12/21st-cent-christmas-carol-2/"] [caption id="attachment_19769" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Nely Rodriguez, a member of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, protests outside a Kroger shareholder meeting in Ohio earlier this year calling on the supermarket giant to join the CIW's Fair Food Program. Despite the unconscionable labor conditions in Mexico's fields exposed in this month's >> Read More
Shining a rotten apple

Shining a rotten apple

Posted on by CIW
Shining a rotten apple Two farms that used workers held against their will in the Navarrete slavery case were certified as “socially accountable” by the grower-controlled monitoring agency called "SAFE" (Socially Accountable Farm Employers) When news of Florida's latest slavery prosecution hit the headlines last December, one crucial bit of information went largely overlooked.   The paragraph below, tucked into >> Read More
RFK Statement on McDonald’s Partnership with SAFE

RFK Statement on McDonald’s Partnership with SAFE

Posted on by CIW
For several years, the RFK Center for Human Rights has followed with dismay the appalling wage and work conditions in the US agricultural industry. Over the last 25 years, farmworker wages have been stagnant, as large-scale corporate purchasers hold down the price of produce. Sweatshops in the fields have become the norm, and slavery has reemerged. As a representative workers >> Read More

Point-by-Point Comparison: Principles Established in Taco Bell Agreement vs McDonald’s SAFE and Additional Supplier Standards

Posted on by CIW
  Taco Bell Agreement McDonald's / SAFE WAGE INCREASE: Taco Bell’s increase of one penny more per pound means workers earn roughly 75 cents/bucket when picking tomatoes for Taco Bell, up from the going rate of 40-45 cents. At the current 40-45 cent rate for a 32-lb bucket of tomatoes, workers earn between 1.25 and 1.4 cents per pound. The >> Read More

GROWING SCRUTINY OF GROWERS’ “SAFE” PROGRAM!

Posted on by CIW
This past weekend, the Lakeland Ledger ran an intriguing article that provides further insight into the origins of the "SAFE" initiative, entitled "Growers Seeking SAFE Haven" (1/29/06): "WASHINGTON -- Jay Taylor recalls the seeds being sown last spring in a tomato packinghouse in Palmetto, where members of the restaurant industry and Florida agriculture met to discuss an escalating labor war. >> Read More

CIW RESPONDS TO McDONALD’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEW STANDARDS

Posted on by CIW
This past week, McDonald’s and a group of Florida growers announced what they are calling “rigorous new practices” to supplement the previously announced (and roundly criticized) “SAFE” initiative. We have responded to that announcement, and you can see the full response by clicking here. Here below is an excerpt: "None of what has been announced addresses the fact that farmworkers >> Read More

What have we learned?

Posted on by CIW
Two weeks, now, have passed since consumers across the country began calling on McDonald’s to work with the CIW to address sub-poverty wages and sweatshop conditions in its tomato supply chain. What have we learned in the course of the past two weeks? The following is a short list of some of the facts that have emerged since the CIW’s >> Read More

NESRI Statement on McDonald’s SAFE Code of Conduct

Posted on by CIW
The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) issues this statement to echo and affirm the concerns expressed by the RFK Memorial Center on Human Rights on the code of conduct created by growers of produce in Florida and McDonald’s through the newly formed Socially Accountable Farm Employers (SAFE) organization. McDonald’s has chosen to address human rights abuses against farmworkers >> Read More
STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT POURING IN FOR CIW McD’s INITIATIVE!!

STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT POURING IN FOR CIW McD’s INITIATIVE!!

Posted on by CIW
Events are moving quickly as the CIW's call for fast-food giant McDonald's to address wages and working conditions in Florida's tomato fields enters its third day (see urgent Action Alert below). Already McDonald's has made the first move, attempting to side-step the CIW's call for substantive change and instead throwing its lot in with a hastily cobbled-together grower-controlled initiative (which >> Read More