Tuesday, February 13th, 2007

We’re Headed to Chicago

From the Student/Farmworker Alliance:

Excitement builds for Chicago mobilizations – Get on the Bus!

2007 McDonald’s Truth Tour and major Chicago mobilizations quickly approaching!

• Major rally outside McDonald’s global headquarters - Friday, 4/13, Oak Brook, IL
• Carnaval and Parade for Fair Food, Real Rights, and Dignity - Saturday, 4/14, downtown Chicago

Feb. 1, 2007 - In recent years, many of us have climbed into cars, vans and buses to go to anti-war marches, global justice summits, and movement conferences.

The time has come, once again, for another such caravan of justice, this one leading from all points of the country to the Windy City, Chicago – home of fast-food giant McDonald’s. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has called two days of historic mobilization for farmworker justice in the Golden Arches’ backyard capping off this year’s Truth Tour.

The Campaign for Fair Food – demanding that McDonald’s take responsibility for the decades of grinding poverty and degradation in its tomato supply chain – is quickly hurtling toward a decisive turning point. Farmworkers from Immokalee and their allies are going up against one of the world’s largest corporations to demand the dignity of workers and consumers alike. Will you be there?

Just this week, long-time McDonald’s supplier Ag-Mart was in the news yet again, this time for allegedly failing to pay tomato pickers minimum wage. How much longer will McDonald’s keep its head in the sand while the fiction of social responsibility in its tomato suppliers’ fields continues to crumble around it? The answer, in part, lies in your hands.

This April, join us for a pivotal and historic convergence. For two years, we’ve been patient while McD’s stalled. Now is it’s time to show our collective strength and turn out the largest possible numbers in Chicago. Keep reading for resources and ideas on how to mobilize your community to come to Chicago: More…

Tuesday, February 13th, 2007

CIW Press Conference at Burger King Headquarters

Monday, February 5th, 2007

Next Fair Food NYC Planning Meeting

Join activists from around the city for our next planning meeting. Bring your ideas and energy, as we begin a new year of campaigning in solidarity with the farmworkers in Immokalee.Where: 339 Lafayette St. buzzer #11 NYC (corner of Bleecker & Lafayette Sts, by the 6 train Bleeker street station, one block north of Houston).

When: 6:30 pm, Thursday,February 8th
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Fair Food NYC is an independent group supporting the Coalition of the Immokalee Workers.
For more about their struggle, visit http://www.ciw-online.org.

Contact fairfoodnyc(at)gmail.com or visit http://www.fairfoodnyc.org for more information or to get involved.

Thursday, February 1st, 2007

SAVE THE DATE! April 13-14

F r o m C I W - O n l i n e . o r g

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers announces a major mobilization for farmworker justice, April 13-14, 2007, in the greater Chicago area. Make your plans to join us for historic actions that will usher in a new phase in the Campaign for Fair Food.

CIW: “Today, we are tired, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., of ‘relying on the good will and understanding of those who profit by exploiting us.’”

Nearly two years have passed since Taco Bell and the CIW announced an historic initiative to address the ever-deepening poverty and decades of degradation faced by farmworkers in Florida. At that time, Taco Bell challenged its fast-food industry counterparts to join in demanding fair wages and humane treatment for the workers who pick their tomatoes.

McDonald’s, the undisputed leader of the $100 billion fast-food industry, has refused to meet that challenge. Despite increasing public pressure on the fast-food giant, McDonald’s has refused to recognize the seriousness of the exploitation of tomato pickers exposed through the Taco Bell boycott, and refused to work with the CIW to address that exploitation. Instead, it has taken measures that appear aimed at undermining the hard-won advances in wages and working conditions established in the agreement with Taco Bell.

Today, after nearly two years of waiting patiently for McDonald’s to join us in addressing the crisis of human rights abuses and sub-poverty wages in its tomato supply chain, we are tired of waiting. We are tired, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, of “relying on the good will and understanding of those who profit by exploiting us.”

Our members and allies feel that it is now time to intensify our efforts. As such, the campaign is entering a new phase this year, and support from our allies across the country will be more important than ever. The action in Chicago this April will mark the first major engagement in this new phase of the Campaign for Fair Food.

Mark your calendars today and start organizing to bring members of your community to McDonald’s backyard this April to join us in a:

• Major rally outside McDonald’s global headquarters in Oak Brook, IL, Friday, April 13, 2007.

• Carnaval and Parade for Fair Food, Real Rights, and Dignity - Saturday, April 14, 2007 in downtown Chicago.

We strongly encourage our allies from across the country to join us in Chicago this April and to participate in the colorful carnaval and parade action. Groups are encouraged to organize their own floats and delegations for this action. Contact workers@ciw-online.org for more info.

ALSO… Be sure to check out all the highlights from last year in the Campaign for Fair Food. Click here to see the extensive “2006 Year in Review” from the Student/Farmworker website.