NEWS ROUND-UP FOR MAY 28 2006

Tthe Communications Workers of America (CWA), America’s largest communications and media union, representing over 700,000 men and women, has joined the growing list of organizations endorsing the Alliance for Fair Food (AFF). Also joining the AFF in recent days are the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) and the International Labor Rights Fund. For a more information on the Alliance for Fair Food and a full list of the endorsers, click here. In other news:

  • AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney wrote a report on his trip earlier this month to Immokalee, entitled “America’s Values Left Behind,” where he describes the abuses and poverty he encountered in the farmworker community but concludes, “Despite the exploitation, Immokalee is charged with the excitement of dreams waiting to be fulfilled.” Read the whole article by clicking here, and while you’re there you can click on a link in the article to send McD’s an email calling on them to work with the CIW to bring an end to the exploitation in Immokalee — over 20,000 union members and allies from across the country already have!
  • The latest AP report on the campaign for Fair Food at McDonald’s — entitled “A Big McMess” in one paper and “Their Sweat, Your Burgers” in another — has made the rounds in newspapers from Ohio to the Netherlands and back. Read the full article here.
  • The McD’s campaign makes PR Watch’s “Spin of the Day” for May 19th. In a piece entitled “‘Independent’ Labor Report on McDonald’s Puréed in Tomatoland,” PR Watch takes a look at the recent “independent” study of farmworker wages paid for by McDonald’s, catalogues the firestorm of expert criticism of the study, and asks the question “When does an independent advocacy group’s work turn into corporate PR?” See the full PR Watch report here (scroll down to the May 19th posts). For more on the study and its critique, click here.