FARMWORKERS LAUNCH 2006 REAL RIGHTS TOUR – CALLING ON MCDONALD’S TO EXPAND GAINS WON IN TACO BELL BOYCOTT VICTORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Lucas Benitez (239) 503-0133
Julia Perkins (239) 986-0891
Melody Gonzalez (239) 986-0487

What: Farmworkers from the (CIW) and their allies will travel by caravan from Immokalee, FL, home of one of the largest farmworker communities in the country, to Chicago, IL, home of the world’s largest restaurant chain, McDonald’s.

Where: The caravan will stop in 17-cities including Nashville 3/27, Louisville 3/27, St. Louis 3/28, Madison 3/29, Milwaukee 3/30, Indianapolis 3/28, Cincinnati 3/28, Detroit 3/28, Ann Arbor 3/29, and South Bend 3/30. Delegation to McDonald’s headquarters 3/31. Major march and rally in Chicago, IL 4/1

When: March 26 – March 30: 17-city, three-leg tour through the midwest
March 31 – April 2: Actions in Chicago, IL and surrounding area

Why: The caravan will be calling on the fast-food giant McDonald’s to work with the CIW and help establish real labor rights for the workers who pick tomatoes for McDonald’s suppliers. Specifically, workers and their allies will be calling for:

  • The right to a fair wage, after more than 25 years of sub-poverty wages and stagnant piece rates;
  • The right for farmworkers to participate in the decisions that affect their lives, after decades of
    sweatshop conditions and humiliating labor relations;
  • The right to a real code of conduct based on modern labor standards, after McDonald’s and its
    suppliers unilaterally imposed a hollow code of conduct comprised of minimal labor standards and suspect
    monitoring

On March 8th, 2005, the CIW entered into an historic agreement with Taco Bell and Yum Brands, establishing important new precedents for corporate social responsibility in the fast-food industry. But since that time, McDonald’s has taken a path that threatens to undercut the wage gains won by farmworkers in the Taco Bell Boycott and to push workers back away from the table where decisions are made that affect their lives.

Highlights of the tour will include:

March 31 – National Day of Prayer and Delegation to McDonald’s Headquarters, Oak Brook, IL. A delegation of religious leaders and farmworkers will deliver over 3,000 cards signed by workers in Immokalee calling on McDonald’s to work with the CIW to raise wages and improve working conditions in their supply chain.

April 1 – March and Demonstration for Farmworker Rights, Chicago, IL On the fifth anniversary of the launching of the Taco Bell boycott, farmworkers and their allies will march 5-miles to the Rock-and-Roll McDonald’s in the center of Chicago, one of the most frequented and well-known McDonald’s in the world. At the culmination of the march the CIW, together with human rights, religious, student, labor, and community allies, will announce next actions in the Campaign for Fair Food.

For more information on tour actions or background on the CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food, visit www.ciw-online.org

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