PUBLIC RELATIONS OR LABOR RELATIONS?
Students step into the fray and ask McD’s some hard questions!
Student and youth voices, so powerful in the successful Taco Bell Boycott, are joining the growing public demand for real action by McDonald’s to end sweatshops and slavery in Florida’s tomato fields.
United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) has added its voice to the chorus of religious and human rights organizations calling on McDonald’s to eschew empty gestures and to work with the CIW for substantive change. In a statement released today (11/28), USAS writes:
“It would have behooved McDonald’s to do its homework prior to entering into this partnership. Corporate controlled monitoring programs have never worked and are deemed as completely illegitimate by everyone involved in the implementation of worker rights… McDonald’s assertion that SAFE is an independent monitoring agency is nothing short of laughable. The board of directors of SAFE is made up of two organizations — one a corporate controlled lobbying institution (the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association) and the other, a children’s service organization that receives significant funding from that industry-controlled lobbying agency (the Redlands Christian Migrant Association). The Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association has a staunchly anti-worker record, and it cannot be expected that this organization would head up an auditing agency that would be any different.” see the full statement here
Meanwhile, at the University of Texas, in an article entitled “McDonald’s boycott next?” by Jordan Buckley, the question is posed: “Is McDonald’s more concerned with cleaning up human rights violations in the 
fields or their reputation in the market place? McDonald’s role in the creation of SAFE and its code of conduct – a document universally founded upon the principle of transparency – must be immediately clarified.” See the whole article here.
Students and young people across the country were crucial to the success of the Taco Bell Boycott. Their commitment to the call for simple economic justice by Immokalee’s workers, and the passion they brought to actions on campuses and in communities from Florida to California, convinced Taco Bell that the boycott would not fade away but would continue to grow until the company took real action (click here to visit the Student/Famrworker Alliance site for much more on how students and youth are connecting to the movement for Fair Food). Clearly, those voices remain as strong today as they were at the height of the Taco Bell Boycott — food for thought for the world’s largest food retailer…