NESRI Statement on McDonald’s SAFE Code of Conduct
The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
(NESRI) issues this statement to echo and affirm the
concerns expressed by the RFK Memorial Center on Human
Rights on the code of conduct created by growers of
produce in Florida and McDonald’s through the
newly formed Socially Accountable Farm Employers (SAFE)
organization. McDonald’s has chosen to address
human rights abuses against farmworkers picking produce
for its supply chain through entering into a partnership
that excludes farmworkers from oversight and monitoring
of human rights conditions. McDonald’s is missing
a historic opportunity to bring human rights to the
United States. The workers who toil for up to fourteen
hours in the fields to bring an abundance of food for
our country deserve a place at the table. McDonald’s
must partner with those affected by abuses in order
to end them, in particular the farmworkers with the
Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) which has put these
issues on the table.
In contrast, Yum!Brands Inc., parent company of fast
food giants such as Taco Bell and KFC, has demonstrated
that corporate leadership on human rights in partnership
with farmworkers is both possible and effective. Yum!Brands
Inc. has significantly increased wages of farmworkers
within their supply chain, and works closely with the
CIW to create effective monitoring for forced labor
and slavery. As the RFK statement reflects, the SAFE
code of conduct was written by growers with no input
by farmworkers themselves and fails to address basic
human rights such as freedom of association or the right
to decent wages that can ensure a dignified life. This
is directly in contravention to McDonald’s global
code of conduct that not only requires that wages be
paid according to law but also that “supplier
employees working on product supplied to McDonald’s
must be fairly compensated.” Given that farmworker
wages have stagnated for twenty-five years, and farmworkers
are among the poorest, if not the poorest, laborers
in the United States earning roughly $7,500 per year,
which is far below the national poverty line, McDonald’s
can not take the position that suppliers are providing
fair compensation.
Despite overtures from CIW, the farmworker organization
which has worked so successfully with Yum!Brands to
address a range of human rights in the fields, McDonald’s
has chosen to partner exclusively with growers. Growers
in Florida have been implicated in criminal forced labor
and slavery of farmworkers during federal trials of
labor sub-contractors. For example, United States Judge
K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida
noted at the sentencing of one defendant who was found
guilty of running a slavery operation in the fields
in Florida and was hired as a labor sub-contractor by
a grower:
It was an interesting trial in educating me to see how this industry works . . . . I think the government was correct and appropriate to bring this case and make sure that these workers are protected. . . . [However,] it seems that there are others at another level in this system of fruit-picking, at a higher level, that to some extent are complicit in one way or another in how these activities occur. . . . I think there is a broader interest out there that the government should look at as well, and it goes beyond a single incident.
Judge Moore was referring to responsibility for forced labor and slavery up the supply chain, clearly including the growers. NESRI lauds McDonald’s for recognizing its responsibility for these abuses and encourages dialogue with growers. However, while constructive engagement with growers is an essential component to addressing human rights abuses in the agricultural sector, its current approach is a poor substitute for working with farmworkers themselves. This is reflected in the current code which does nothing more than require growers not to steal wages, rather than pay decent wages, and not to allow slavery, rather than requiring protection of freedom for farmworkers to associate and defend their own human rights.