Letter calls on McD’s to "not let farmworkers and their families suffer one more day"…
Ten days ago, March 9, the energy was high as religious leaders attending the National Council of Church’s Education and Advocacy Days stood in line (left) to sign-on to a letter to McDonald’s decrying the human rights abuses faced by farmworkers picking for the fast-food giant’s suppliers.
After a rousing sermon by the Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General Assembly, people of faith stood 5 deep in order to witness to their hope that McDonald’s ensure the human rights of the men and women harvesting their tomatoes. By the time the signing was done, more than 160 religious leaders had added their names to the letter, with signatories from Cape Town, South Africa to Puerto Rico, Chicago, IL, to Pasadena, CA, Memphis TN, and Goshen, IN!
Here’s an excerpt of the religious leaders’ letter:
"The human rights abuses endured by tomato pickers are a moral outrage not only because they are grave, but because they are preventable. Within your hands lie both the power and the moral responsibility to end these horrendous conditions in your own supply chain. And there is a clear path forward: work together with the farmworkers who are harvesting your tomatoes, who are enduring and resisting these abuses, and who have established a proven model with Taco Bell for addressing them." Read the full letter here (pdf)
You can see the full list of signatories here (pdf), a list that has now reached 185 and includes the Reverend Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (here in photo on right), and the Reverend Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). If you would like to sign-on to the letter, send your full name, title, congregation/organization, address, and email to: fairfood@ctr.pcusa.org. Additional signatures will be forwarded to McDonald’s.