CIW Action on Burger King Update
Forwarded from the CIW
Hello friends,
We have lots of news as the CIW's petition campaign picks up steam across the country!
Last week, members of Congress and representatives from national organizations including Pax Christi, Sojourners, Presbyterian Church (USA), and the Unitarian Universalist Association gathered in Washington, D.C. to sign the petition to call on Burger King to end sweatshops and slavery in the Florida fields. Senators Durbin and Sanders also announced that they had sent letters to large tomato purchasers that have government contracts encouraging them to join in paying an extra penny per pound. For pictures and more details about the petition signing ceremony visit - http://www.ciw-online.org/DC_signing_ceremony_rept.html
Also last week, the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s General Assembly Council Executive Director Linda Valentine and Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick signed the petition. To see the Presbyterian News Service article about this and how Presbyterians around the country are collecting petition signatures, visit http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2008/08187.htm There is another wonderful article about the petition drive in the Ft. Myers News-Press, including how a Ft. Myers Just Faith group is collecting signatures in their parish on worn farm worker work shirts. You can read the article and get ideas for your own petition drive at http://www.ciw-online.org/news-press_on_petition.html
All the petitions collected from communities across the US (and the world) will be delivered to Burger King headquarters in a ceremonial procession on Monday, April 28 so please have your petitions sent to us by April 24 to ensure that they are included in the delivery. If you are interested in joining us in Miami for the petition delivery, please let us know. If you haven't begun collecting petition signatures in your community already, it's not too late to do so! To download the petition and find ideas for collecting signatures, visit http://www.ciw-online.org/2008_Petitions/index.html
Finally, the CIW was recognized for its work fighting farmworker poverty and modern-day slavery with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development's 2008 Sister Margaret Cafferty Development of People Award. The award, named in memory of the late Presentation Sister who served as executive director of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and a member of the Catholic Bishops' Committee for CCHD, honors an individual or group who exemplifies a commitment to the development of people and the elimination of poverty. You can read the article in the National Catholic reporter at: http://ncrcafe.org/node/1624 or find the US Conference of Catholic Bishops press release at http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2008/08-034.shtml
Thank you for your continued support!
Brigitte, Jordan and Melody
Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida
Immokalee, FL ~ 239-986-0688
www.interfaithact.org
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