After a refreshing and inspiring stopover
in Louisville on Monday evening, it was time to hit the
road again bright and early Tuesday morning. With the
Truth Tour fanning out across the Midwest on Day 3, the
East Leg quickly found its way to Cincinnati, Ohio where
local labor and faith allies were ready to hit
the streets, despite the intermittent rain, connecting
the dots between farmworker poverty and the Golden Arches.
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And in another incredible display of
hospitality, a McDonald's corporate advance team had
gone out of its way to meet us -- or rather, watch us from
inside the restaurant. (It certainly appeared that
this duo was intentionally keeeping a lower profile througout
our spirited lunchtime protest. Perhaps they saw the Day
2 tour updates prior to their little expedition...)
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But before visiting McDonald's, the Immokalee
crew made a detour into downtown Cincinnati to hook up with an SEIU
press conference announcing important developments in their local campaign
against 5/3 Bank. The event was well-attended not only by local labor and
religious leaders, but also by many rank-and-file union members who
joined up with the McDonald's protest later that afternoon.
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After working up an appetite
on the picket line, the CIW and its Cincinnati friends
drove a few blocks to the Church of our Saviour, a
local Episcopal parish that graciously opened its arms
(and dining hall) to the travellers from southwest
Florida. Over homemade soup and bread, the group
from Immokalee exchanged stories and
shared experiences with local Cincinnati workers and
residents. The warm atmosphere was the perfect way
to wrap up this brief but heartfelt Day 3 tour stop.
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After lunch and a 250-mile
drive up I-75, the East Leg crew arrived in a gritty
city with a long history of workers organizing for economic
justice: Detroit. The main focus of the Detroit stop
was Wayne State University, a school with
a student body hungry to learn more about the CIW and
its new McDonald's campaign. Members of the CIW addressed
a room full of students and local supporters, and the
evening presentation was well-received. The reception
was so positive, in fact, that...
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... a group of students and farmworkers
-- the very alliance that was crucial in
the Taco Bell boycott victory -- paid a brief visit to
the McDonald's at Wayne State University. This delegation
marked the first campus McDonald's action in the new
campaign and was perhaps the figurative opening salvo in
the growing student movement to hold McDonald's accountable
for exploitation in its supply chain. As with Taco Bell,
it just so happens that the majority of these students
fall in the range of McDonald's principal target market:
18- to 24-year-olds. |
Facing the ominous specter of target
market revolt, McDonald's once again flexed its
muscle and dispatched an advance team to monitor
and assess the deteroirating situation.
It was too little, too late, even for the men
in khakis, as dozens of students poured out of the presentation
and into the dining area in a strong statement of solidarity
and support for the Immokalee farmworkers.
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Despite the calm and dignified nature of the delegation, however,
university police enforced a narrower idea about the
role of free speech and hand-painted tomato bucket signs
on campus. |
The officer escorted the faux tomato bucket
outside, where it was released into the custody of the
East Leg tour crew. |
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