Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

The “Kingdoom” Days of Action Are Here!

Hello everyone!

All around the country, from now through November 4, Student Farmworker Alliance members are hitting the streets in Burger King protests as part of the “Kingdoom” Days of Action. Click here http://www.sfalliance.org/ BKfall07list.html to find an action taking place near you.

Plus, we’re just one month away from the historic mobilization at Burger King’s headquarters in Miami! Make plans today to join us for a weekend of action, education and celebration that can’t be missed. Check out all the details here: http://www.ciw-online.org/2007_BK_March/index.html

and contact us at organize@sfalliance.org for more information and for help mobilizing your community to Miami.

Thanks,

SFA

Monday, October 29th, 2007

Wednesday 10/31 CIW event - 12:30 pm - John Bowe on Modern American Slave Labor

It’s just a block from the W. 4th St. stop of the ACE/BDFV ! Please forward to anyone else who would be interested!

Law Students for Human Rights presents

NOBODIES: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy

Discussion with Author John Bowe

Where: NYU School of Law

Vanderbilt Hall Room 201

40 Washington Square South (West 4th St.) at MacDougal St.

When: Wednesday, October 31st

12:30pm

Members of the public should bring ID

Most Americans would be shocked to discover that slavery still exists in the United States — from southern Florida, to Tulsa, Las Vegas, New York City, Washington state, Minnesota, Indiana, and even Maine. Yet most of us buy goods made by people who aren’t paid for their labor—people who are trapped financially, and often physically. Indeed, products made by slaves are fattening bottom lines of companies we patronize every day, including Tropicana, Minute Maid, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Burger King, McDonald’s, Kroger, Wal-Mart, and virtually every large retail food vendor in America. In NOBODIES: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy , award-winning journalist John Bowe exposes the outsourcing, corporate chicanery, immigration fraud, and sleights of hand that allow forced labor to continue in the United States while the rest of us notice nothing but the everyday low price at the checkout counter.

Bowe, co-editor of acclaimed book Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs, travels from the agricultural quagmires of Florida to a welding plant in Oklahoma to the factories and brothels of Saipan to file a first-hand report on the working conditions that our government and our corporations depend on but do their best to disavow or ignore. He also explores the rising inequality in the United States and the effects of globalization. Currently, citizens in rich countries earn sixty times more income per capita than citizens of poor countries. Bowe urges readers to start thinking of global human rights and economic justice the same way we think of the environment. In the same way global emissions and temperatures are unsustainable, rising global income inequality creates an imbalance that must one day tip.

Based on thorough and often dangerous research, exclusive interviews, and eyewitness accounts, NOBODIES delivers to readers a sobering look at the moral costs of the cheap goods–from orange juice to cut rate fashions. This is rich and vibrant, and often, humorous reporting – not a polemic but a presentation of things as they are on the underside of American commerce.

About the Author

John Bowe has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, GQ, The American Prospect, National Public Radio’s This American Life, McSweeney’s, and others. He is the co-editor of Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs, and co-screenwriter of the film Basquiat. In 2004, he received the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award, the Sydney Hillman Award for journalists, writers, and public figures who pursue social justice and public policy for the common good, and the Richard J. Margolis Award, dedicated to journalism that combines social concern and humor. He lives in Manhattan.

Monday, October 29th, 2007

Save the Date! Saturday, Dec. 1st, Chipotle campaign launch

-Please Forward Widely-

Save the Date! Saturday, Dec. 1st, Denver

Join us for this key action that will launch the Campaign for Fair Food in Denver targeting Chipotle Mexican Grill for its continued refusal to address farmworker exploitation and human rights abuses in its tomato supply chain.

WHAT: Rally and Demonstration for farmworker justice and launch of the Denver-area Chipotle Campaign

WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 1st, 11:00am

LOCATION: To be announced. Watch for more information!

BACKGROUND: Denver-area allies of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW; www.ciw-online.org), representing a broad spectrum of Colorado residents, are announcing our intensified efforts to demand that Chipotle address the human rights crisis in the fields faced by workers who harvest tomatoes that fill its tacos and burritos. In solidarity with the CIW ” a community-led organization of mainly Latino, Haitian, and Mayan Indian farmworkers based in SW Florida ” we are calling on Chipotle to truly live up to its “Food With Integrity” creed. The lively rally on December 1 will launch these efforts, bringing the Campaign for Fair Food to Chipotle™s hometown and largest market.

Farmworkers who pick tomatoes in the fields of Florida are among this country™s most exploited workers: they earn sub-poverty wages, have no right to form unions or to benefits of any kind, and have not received a significant raise in nearly 30 years. At the current rate, Florida tomato pickers must harvest over TWO AND A HALF TONS of tomatoes just to earn the equivalent of minimum wage for a 10-hour workday. In the most extreme cases, workers are held in modern-day slavery and forced to work against their will.

Through hard-fought campaigns, the CIW and its allies reached groundbreaking agreements with both Yum! Brands (parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and others) and McDonald™s, establishing improved wages, human rights protections and a voice for farmworkers in these companies™ tomato supply chains. These agreements created a working model that the CIW has sought to expand to the rest of the fast-food industry. Many fast-food chains, however, continue to resist the progress toward a more modern and just agricultural industry in Florida.

Chipotle Mexican Grill has refused to even discuss this issue with the CIW, stating that it™s not convinced farmworkers have it so bad. Chipotle, by continuing to leverage its bulk purchasing power and profiting from cheap tomatoes without regard for the deplorable conditions faced by the workers who pick them, is delaying the hopes of thousands of farmworkers to enjoy dignified working conditions.

Chipotle™s refusal comes in stark contrast to its marketing of itself as a leader in advancing ethical purchasing practices within the fast-food industry. As part of its “Food With Integrity” philosophy, Chipotle encourages its suppliers to pursue healthy practices and uses meat only from animals that have been raised humanely. Chipotle founder and CEO Steve Ells recently stated that “we decided long ago that we didn’t want Chipotle’s success to be tied to the exploitation of animals, farmers, or the environment.” Yet Chipotle refuses to take simple steps to eliminate the exploitation of farmworkers.

“Food With Integrity” is either a holistic vision which includes decent working conditions for the thousands of men and women who harvest the tomatoes that end up in Chipotle’s burritos, or it’s just another cynical marketing ploy designed to cash in on a fad. It can’t be both.

The CIW has stated: “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.™” Join us in telling Chipotle that justice delayed is justice denied, and that “Food With Integrity” must include “Work With Dignity” and human rights for the farmworkers in its tomato supply chain.

Sponsored by: Denver Fair Food Committee, a broad coalition of Denver-area organizations working in solidarity with the CIW.

For more information: robert@sfalliance.org, 505-980-4220

Monday, October 29th, 2007

Days of Action are here!

The “Kingdoom” Days of Action are upon us, and we have over 20 actions and events taking place around the country - check ‘em out at http://www.sfalliance.org/BKfall07list.html .

Please confirm that the information listed for your action/event is correct, and if it’s not, let me know.

Also, don’t forget to snap some pictures and send them to me at marc@sfalliance.org!

Check out the resources page at http://www.sfalliance.org/resources.html for a great, scary-looking King mask, flyers, manager letters, and other tools you can use during the Days of Action.

The next few days will be crucial as SFA puts pressure on Burger King to stop the lies and come to the table to work with the CIW. But even more crucial and huge is going to be the Nov 30-Dec 1 march, rally and mobilization in Miami, home to BK headquarters.

Please make plans today to bring yourself and members of your community to join

us in Miami for a weekend of action, education and celebration as we unite with

farmworkers and their allies from around the country to tell BK that it’s time for them to “GET OUT THE WAY” of progress and our vision of fair treatment, fair wages and dignity in the fields of Florida and beyond…

Check out http://ciw-online.org/2007_BK_March/index.html and http://www.sfalliance.org today for more info!!