The Rev. Dr. Robert Edgar, General Secretary
National Council of Churches USA

Every so often there comes a moment that holds out the promise of making the world a significantly better place, if only we take action. Today the McDonald’s corporation is presented with one of those moments–an opportunity to help transform the agri-food industry in ways that are fairer and more just. The question is, Will it seize this moment or will it retreat and protect the status quo?

In March of 2005, Yum! Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, achieved an historic agreement with the (CIW) that nearly doubled the wages of tomato pickers harvesting for Taco Bell and ensured them safe working conditions. The National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (NCC) was proud to work side by side with the CIW to bring about this momentous accomplishment and commends Yum! Brands for its leadership in the fast food industry. But we knew then that this was only the first step in changing the exploitative conditions under which farmworkers labor.

In June of 2005 the NCC wrote a letter to McDonald’s urging it to follow Taco Bell’s lead and work with the CIW to implement within its own supply chain the principles of social responsibility established in the Yum! agreement.

Now McDonald’s has announced it will be partnering with a newly minted, grower-dominated initiative called SAFE (Socially Accountable Farm Employers) rather than working with the CIW, a human rights award-winning farmworker organization that is internationally recognized for its groundbreaking work on labor issues. Instead of throwing its substantial weight behind the proven model of the Yum! Brands agreement that is already benefiting workers, McDonald’s has chosen to lift up SAFE’s anemic code of conduct, which was designed by growers without worker input and does not address stagnant poverty wages.

The SAFE organization was established in early November by the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association – apparently with substantial help from a public relations firm that counts McDonald’s among its important clients. While SAFE’s code employs sweeping language about “no forced labor” and “social accountability,” it only asks growers to obey current laws. Why should growers need an organization to do what is already legally required of them?

SAFE’s own website reveals the limitations built into the heart of this new so-called “independent” organization. The website indicates that the body intended to represent independent worker voices is a child-care agency–the Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA)–that receives regular and generous donations from the growers association.

McDonald’s, we at the National Council of Churches expect you to do better. You have acquired a strong reputation for social accountability. Now we expect you to build on that reputation to accomplish real change in partnership with the farmworkers who are so sorely abused by the current system. Now is the time for McDonald’s to become a partner with the in transforming those aspects of the agricultural and fast food industries that have exploited farmworkers for corporate profit. As a corporation that benefits in the form of low-cost tomatoes from the current system, you have a pressing moral responsibility to act now.

I call upon you to take immediate steps to work with the CIW to address poverty wages and exploitative working conditions in McDonald’s own supply chain. Do not delay. Choose today to help advance human rights by working with the farmworkers whose vision for justice is even now bearing its first fruits in the fields.

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