Thursday, November 30th, 2006
Fair Food NYC Flyering, Sat. 12/02, Noon, Union SQ.
Join us for flyering and restaurant visits at Manhattan area McDonald’s this Saturday, high noon, beginning in front to the Union Square McDonald’s at 16th street. We’ll provide flyers, maps and info sheets, plus sign up lists for those wanting to get involved. Farmworkers are fighting for simple justice in the face of twelve hour days, company repression, and miserly pay. Can’t you spare a few hours this weekend?
For more information, or to sign up for announcements, contact fairfoodNYC(at)gmail.com or visit http://www.fairfoodnyc.org .
MCDONALD’S PROFITS FROM FARMWORKER POVERTYMcDonald’s makes its billions not only by selling more fast food than any other restaurant, but also by using its massive purchasing power to drive down the price of the tomatoes it buys. This downward pressure hits farmworkers the hardest: they earn 40 cents per 32-pound bucket of tomatoes picked for McDonald’s, the same amount farmworkers have been earning since the 1970’s.
At this rate, a worker must pick nearly 2.5 tons of tomatoes just to make minimum wage for a 10-hour day. What’s worse, more than 1,000 farmworkers have been held in conditions of modern-day slavery in recent years. Were the tomatoes in your burger picked under threat of violence? McDonald’s refuses to prove otherwise.
Farmworkers in Florida won a boycott against Taco Bell in 2005, earning an extra penny per pound of tomatoes picked and oversight in the fields to prevent abuses and slavery. Now, farmworkers are demanding accountability from McDonald’s. Find out how you can help by contacting fairfoodNYC(at)gmail.com or visiting http://www.ciw-online-org.
Also look out for mid-day events in the coming weeks. If you’d like material, or any help in promoting or planning your own actions let us know!
on Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 at 6:29 pm:
After the great response from our first flyering and the Union Square Demo in October, almost twenty folks made it out to flyer and talk with people.
We got great feedback, and are looking forward to upcoming events!
FFNYC folks will be doing noon flyering in midtown during the week of the 11th, and are planning events around new years.
Sign up for the mailing list, or email us to get involved and share your ideas!