Immokalee Workers Focus New Campaign on McDonalds
This entry was posted on 10/29/2006 2:39 PM and is filed under Student Farmworker Alliance,Immokalee Workers,Latin American Solidarity.
Yesterday on the corner of 18th and Columbia, NW, around a dozen protestors, mostly dressed as clowns, demanded that McDonalds stop clowning around with worker's rights.
The protest was one of over 40 around the country, and was organized by the Student Farmworker Alliance in solidarity of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). The CIW is made up of tomato pickers in Florida, who have been living under brutal, dehumanizing conditions.
In 2005, the CIW and a coalition of US college student, won a penny more per pound of tomatoes (the CIW's only demand), after a four year boycott of Taco Bell. The CIW is now demanding the same, a penny more per pound, from McDonald's.
At around 1pm, a half dozen college students from Georgetown and George Washington University lined up in front of the Adams Morgan McDonald's, on the corner of 18th and Columbia, and began chanting and handing out information about the conditions of the Immokalee workers. Over the next hour, the crowd swelled to over a dozen as more college students, and local residents joined in.
The response from the community was positive, with a large number asking where they can learn more about the topic. A letter was delivered to the manager of the McDonald's asking him to support the penny more per pound.
Organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Student Farmworker Alliance.
