Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.)
Office of the General Assembly
100 Witherspoon St. ~ Louisville, KY ~ 40202
502-569-5424 ~ ckirkpat@ctr.pcusa.org
www.pcusa.org
The Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk
November 23, 2005
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church (USA) calls on McDonald’s to Work with
the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to Address Wages
and Working Conditions in the Fields
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is proud to work as
a partner with the Coalition of Immokalee (CIW), a human
rights award winning, worker-led community organization
of Mexican, Guatemalan, and Haitian laborers, to establish
socially responsible purchasing in the corporate food
industry, guarantee the human rights of farmworkers
and end modern day slavery in the fields. We do
this because scripture calls us to be stewards of God’s
creation, which includes our economic life, and because
we follow Jesus Christ who, as a poor man himself, inaugurated
his own ministry by bringing “good news to the
poor.”
The decisions and practices of large corporations have
enormous impact on our lives. Through its work
on animal welfare and environmental safety, McDonald’s
has illustrated that it understands it has a responsibility
to ensure that its practices build, rather than diminish,
well-being.
However, McDonald’s reputation for social responsibility
will be undermined if it continues to pursue the Socially
Accountable Farm Employers (SAFE) program as if it alone
were an adequate solution to the grievous conditions
and sub-poverty wages of farmworkers. It is time
for McDonald’s to work with the Coalition of Immokalee
Workers (CIW) to directly increase workers wages and
to put an end to human rights violations in the fields.
In March of 2005, Yum Brands, the largest fast food
company in the world and the parent company of Taco
Bell, reached a ground-breaking agreement with the CIW
which enhances the human rights of farmworkers.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its congregations
across the country were proud to work with the CIW to
achieve this historic gain. Taco Bell is now paying
a penny more per pound of tomatoes it purchases and
ensuring that this increase goes directly to the Florida
farmworkers – nearly doubling their wages.
Yum has also crafted a substantial Code of Conduct in
partnership with the CIW which ensures expert and independent
enforcement. The Yum-CIW agreement is now being
rolled-out and workers are already receiving the wage
increase and other concrete benefits.
For the last six months, the CIW and its allies in the
faith, student, and NGO communities have asked McDonald’s
to work with them to implement the principles of the
Yum-CIW agreement in McDonald’s own supply chain.
But instead of building on this proven solution and
working with the CIW to ensure just wages for farmworkers,
McDonald’s has chosen to work with a grower-led
initiative called SAFE that does not include any independent
farmworker labor organizations, including the
CIW.
A close look at the language of SAFE’s mission
and code of conduct shows that its goal is to ensure
that growers follow the law. Of course the PC(USA)
believes growers should follow the law. It is
such a minimal expectation that it is revealing that
an organization should need to be created to make sure
growers do what is already legally required ofthem.
The Yum-CIW agreement assumes compliance with all applicable
laws but recognizes that corporations must go even further.
Because of their high-volume, year-round, demand for
low-cost tomatoes, corporate food buyers like McDonald’s
and Yum actually have a hand in depressing workers’
wages as growers who supply them seek to contain costs.
But corporations also have the power and ability to
change these conditions as has been evidenced in the
Yum Brands – CIW agreement.
Currently farmworkers picking tomatoes in Florida for
McDonald’s are still earning 40-45 cents for every
32 pound bucket they pick and haul; the same wage they
received more than 25 years ago. Further farmworkers
are explicitly excluded from the National Labor Relations
Act which denies them the right to organize, the right
to negotiate with their employers, and the right to
appeal grievances to the National Labor Relations Board.
Current law does not provide farmworkers with overtime
pay or secure other benefits such as health care.
McDonald’s has a clear moral responsibility to
take leadership to assure just working conditions and
compensation for the very persons who provide the products
which are at the heart of its operation. Any corporation
which benefits through the exploitation of others is
gravely implicated in such exploitation and has a moral
and ethical responsibility to end that exploitation.
As the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, on behalf
of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), I call upon McDonald’s to work with
the CIW and:
* pay an increase per pound for the tomatoes McDonald’s purchases and ensure the increase is passed along to the workers who harvest
* establish an enforceable code of conduct to ensure safe working conditions
Recently McDonald’s announced that it will serve “fair trade” coffee in its restaurants across the northeast, a development which we heartily support. If McDonald’s can do this in the coffee industry, it can do it in the tomato industry aswell. Yum Brands has already taken leadership to implement a substantial and concrete model together with the CIW. It is time for McDonald’s to do the same.
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