[Action Alert issued by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers]

For months, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and allies across the country have called on McDonald's to do the right thing: Follow Taco Bell's lead and work with the CIW to establish fair wages and working conditions for the farmworkers who pick its tomatoes. In March of this year, Taco Bell agreed to take responsibility for the abysmal conditions faced by farmworkers who pick its tomatoes. The agreement established a partnership between Yum Brands, Taco Bell’s parent company, and the CIW and set several important precedents for social responsibility in the fast-food industry. Among those precedents, Taco Bell agreed to pay a penny more per pound for the tomatoes it buys from Florida growers, an increase that could nearly double workers' sub-poverty wages, and to establish the first-ever enforceable Code of Conduct for US agricultural suppliers.

Yet despite strong public support for the ground-breaking agreement, McDonald’s has steadfastly refused to follow Taco Bell’s lead on this simple path to justice.

Now comes the news that McDonald’s has announced that it will offer only fair trade coffee in more than 650 of its restaurants from New York to Maine. Fair trade coffee is a laudable initiative whereby major coffee buyers, such as McDonalds, agree to pay a premium price -- above market price -- so that workers who grow and pick their coffee can receive a fair wage and improved working conditions.

While McDonald's should be commended for addressing economic injustice in its coffee supply chain, it continues to pay the artificially low market price for tomatoes, a price that leaves farmworkers locked in poverty and sweatshop conditions.

At the press conference ending the Taco Bell boycott, CIW member and 2003 RFK Human Rights Award Laureate Lucas Benitez addressed the vast network of boycott allies directly, saying, "Our work together is not done. Now we must convince other companies that they have the power to change the way they do business and the way workers are treated."

So, this holiday season, when we traditionally celebrate the harvest, let us also celebrate the harvesters. Join the CIW in calling on the world's largest restaurant chain to stop dragging its feet and to work with the CIW to improve the wages and working conditions for the men and women who pick its tomatoes.

Contact McDonald's today and demand they, too, pay a fair price for their tomatoes and work with the CIW to end human rights violations in the fields!

Email McDonald's' CEO Jim Skinner NOW!

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