| McCormick Theological Seminary Herald – 4/11/06 A first-hand account of the CIW Truth Tour by Sarah Henkin and other seminarians for the Seminary weekly. It’s a PDF file, so you’ve got to download it (CIW story starts on pg. 6) but definitely a great read! | Catholic Church Steps into Migrant Debate – 4/10/06 Sarasota Herald Tribune, "… Father Sheehy said he plans to run the address of McDonald’s CEO in the church’s bulletin this week. "It’s a question of social justice," Sheehy said. "They have to receive a fair wage. This is something that the popes have preached for the last 150 years." Read more… |
| Farmworkers Target McDonald’s, Suppliers over Wages – 4/4/06 Truthout, "…Tomato pickers earn about $7,500 a year, the workers’ coalition said. In contrast, McDonald’s and other fast-food chains served up $135 billion in sales last year, according to industry group the National Restaurant Association. The sheer size of their market gives fast food companies considerable clout in dealing with suppliers and this, in turn, has made them juicy targets for activism. Unlike these big-spending corporate customers, the mostly migrant farm workers wield little power against their employers: wealthy local farmers and privately held firms that make up the backbone of Florida’s strategic tomato industry." Read more… | Protests Turn Tide on Immigration Debate – 4/14/06 International Relations Center, Americas Program, (not about the Campaign for Fair Food, per se, but it makes some great arguments about the immigration debate and mentions tomato pickers from Florida!). "…The immigration debate before this month seemed to run only within the channels etched by seal-the-border restrictionists or businesses seeking to guarantee a cheap and pliable labor force. The solutions posed on both sides were punitive: felony status or guest worker programs; that is, criminal procedures or a situation of exception that welcomes migrants’ labor but cuts off all other aspects of human development… The rivers of people in the streets April 10 th broke through the banks and cut a new channel." Read more… |
