ACTION ALERT: Tell Chipotle + McD's Farmworkers Want"Work With Dignity"

Farm workers who pick tomatoes for McDonald's hamburgers and Chipotle's burritos earn about 45 cents for every 32-pound container of tomatoes they pick, working from dawn to dusk without the right to overtime pay. The 45-cent piece rate has not changed in nearly 30 years. Annual income for farm workers is extremely low--averaging $7,500 to $10,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The vast majority of farm workers receive no benefits—no health insurance, no sick leave and no vacation pay.

Last year, Taco Bell signed an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to pay an additional one cent per pound for tomatoes it purchases. But McDonald's and Chipotle, initially a subsidiary of McDonald's and now a publicly traded company in which McDonald's is the controlling shareholder, have refused to sign a similar agreement to raise wages in the fields.

Tell McDonald's and Chipotle to support fair wages for farm workers and sign the agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/ciwmcdonalds/

Although Chipotle's manifesto, titled "Food With Integrity," takes a strongly activist stance for humane conditions in its supply chain for farm animals, the manifesto says nothing about the conditions under which people are laboring to harvest its produce.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is calling on Chipotle to expand its "Food With Integrity" mission to include "Work With Dignity" for farm workers who harvest its tomatoes by improving wages and allowing workers to participate in the protection and advancement of their own rights. Further, the coalition is calling on Chipotle to ask McDonald's to join Taco Bell in improving wages and human rights in the fields.

Send a letter to McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner and Chipotle CEO Steve Ells demanding they sign the agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to improve wages and conditions for farm workers.

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/ciwmcdonalds/

In solidarity,

Student/Farmworker Alliance
http://www.sfalliance.org