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11/17/2003 Coleta's Pizza Supports Tyson Strikers Coleta's Pizza Collective, Milwaukee's only worker-owned restaurant is now serving fair trade, organic coffee from a 100% fair trade roaster. Why? Because, "An Injury To One Is An Injury To All!" Coffee is on from 7am - 9:30am M-F and again for dinner when the pizzeria is open. Coleta's highlighted coffee is the Tyson Strike Fund Roast and money from the sale of the coffee will go toward the Tyson Strikers in Jefferson Wisconsin. Coleta's Pizza Collective is located in Milwaukee's Southside at 1567 W. Oklahoma Avenue (on the corner of 16th and Oklahoma)#414/671-6677. In the mornings Coleta's also offers fresh baked goodies, pies, and organic, hormone free milk products. Below you will find an article by John Peck about the Tyson Strike and information on Fair Trade coffee. What Is Fair Trade Coffee? (from www.fairtradecoffee.net) "Fair trade" is a revolutionary concept in action. It is a program that brings together the producer (the coffee grower) and the consumer (the coffee drinker) in a more equitable and meaningful way. The coffee industry middlemen (called Coyotes) are by-passed and a more direct bridge is built between the producer and the consumer. The Need for "Fairly Traded" Coffee Coffee is traded as a commodity in the global market place and is often sold by the growers at a loss. The middlemen in the coffee industry -- those that buy and sell coffee endeavoring to maximize their profits -- set the price that they will pay to the growers for the coffee. The growers are typically helpless in the process and are often made to feel lucky to have gotten anything for their coffee at all. Thus, the pickers and growers are taken advantage of by the middlemen and loose out -- often living a life of poverty. Building that Bridge... TransFair USA, a non-profit, third-party organization, has been created...  to help organize independent coffee growers into democratically run Cooperatives  to establish a fair "minimum price" (called the Fair Trade price) to be paid to the growers for the coffee  to certify that the grower is paid the pre-established, Fair Trade price by the Importer/Roaster/Retailer for the coffee  to assure that the additional funds raised by the growers are funneled back into their local communities  to certify that the Importer/Roaster/Retailer selling coffee as "Fair Trade Certified," did, in fact, purchased the coffee at the Fair Trade price  to raise US awareness to the plight of the coffee growers around the world and create a market for "Fair Trade Certified" Coffees in the US Fair Trade Certification in Action According to a 1999 TransFair USA survey in Central America, non-Fair Trade coffee farmers received an average of about 38¢ per pound from the middlemen to which they were forced to sell. Thanks to the work of TransFair USA, Fair Trade coffee cooperatives receive a guaranteed minimum of $1.26 per pound for their coffee, plus a 15¢ per pound premium if it is also certified organic. The extra money raised by the participating growers goes a long way! Fair Trade Certified coffee is grown on small, family-run farms. Farmers receiving a Fair Trade price for their coffee can afford improved healthcare and housing for their families and can keep their kids in school longer, instead of working in the fields. Receiving a decent price also means farmers can afford materials for the farm, such as a mule to haul the heavy coffee sacks down the mountain (instead of their own backs) and a mechanical de-pulping machine to process the coffee cherries (instead of a slow hand-crank). Some of the revenues from Fair Trade cooperatives are used for community projects, such as building schools and healthcare centers. Revenues are also often used to provide farmers with training in organic farming techniques. For more info on the Fair Trade Certification process: http://www.transfairusa.org Tyson Foods - Poisoned by Corporate Greed... By John Peck On Friday Feb. 28, 2003 over 470 workers of UFCW Local 538 at the Tyson Plant in Jefferson, WI went out on strike rather than swallow a humiliating concession package that would have frozen wages, cut pay on average 73 cents per hour, reduced sick leave by 60% and vacation time by 33%, while eliminating severance pay. In addition, the new contract slashes health care coverage dramatically and asks for unreasonably high worker contributions. Over two thirds of the workers at the plant now suffer carpal tunnel syndrome caused by years of repetitive work, and Tyson would force workers to pay for the surgery they must endure to keep their jobs. Workers have been walking the picket line for months now, and the residents of Jefferson are suffering the economic effect of having a significant portion of their community’s population on strike. Since Tyson is refusing to seriously negotiate and is recruiting scab replacements, the strike has now escalated to a lockout. These replacement workers are being recruited from economically depressed communities such as Kenosha, Milwaukee, and Racine - early free trade victims which suffered massive layoffs as corporations relocated overseas in the wake of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). As captured in Michael Moore's film "The Big One," WI continues to lose factory jobs at an unprecedented rate - over 52,000 between 1998 and 2002 alone. Scabs are paid $10/hr. to get bussed in across the picket line - a dollar more than Tyson had in its "take it or leave it" contract offer to workers. The semitrucks that roll out bearing union-busting pepperoni also sport the ironic corporate slogan: "Tyson is What Your Family Deserves." Tyson, is getting more resistance than it expected, though, thanks to working class solidarity and a strong pro-union tradition within Wisconsin and the rest of the Midwest. As with the successful drive to unionize the first Whole Foods store in the country in Madison last year, workers, students, farmers, and consumers are coming out in droves to support the strikers. Dozens of unions from the IWW to the UAW have made generous donations to the strike fund and truckloads of food continue to arrive. Truth squads of UFCW workers from the Jefferson, WI plant have been dispatched to spread news of their struggle as far afield as Pittsburgh and Las Vegas. Hundreds of supporters have heeded calls and come to the plant gate for mass pickets. As was to be expected, the law and order apparatus has already sided with the bosses. In Jefferson police rely upon Tyson's own surveillance cameras to substantiate company complaints against the strikers, while workers' demands that speed bumps be installed for their own safety go unheeded. In Madison, a city that in the early 1990s had a reputation for not enforcing trespass laws against union picketers on private property, a much more hardnosed attitude now exists with Tyson picketers outside bigbox grocers and fastfood chains being threatened with arrest Activists speculate this is more fallout from post 9/11 police paranoia that came with hosting the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Madison in June 2002, as well as way too much exposure to federal Homeland Security training. Tyson Foods acquired the Jefferson operation as part of its leveraged $3.2 billion buyout of IBP in 2001. That a once proud 120 year old family-run business got gobbled up by the largest meatpacker in the world is not surprising in the age of runaway corporate globalization. This move added to Tyson’s whopping $1.7 billion debt, and CEOs based in Springdale, AK are now keen to exploit WI workers to stave off their creditors. Of course, Tyson Food’s financial woes are not affecting those partying in t he corporate penthouse – in 2002 CEO John Tyson took home close to $8 million in salary, bonuses, stock options, and other perks. Tyson, which operates in 100 countries, enjoyed sales of $23 billion last year with $2 billion in reported profit. Among corporate agribusiness outfits, Tyson has emerged as one of the worst bottom feeders, preying on workers, farmers, and consumers alike. Thanks to its lucrative contract with McDonalds, Tyson now produces half of the chicken McNuggets sold in the U.S. and even went so far as to create a new breed of chicken with bigger breasts called – guess what - the “Mr. McDonald.� Tyson subcontracts its poultry raising to hapless farmers who never actually own the birds, and are instead run ragged by the production regimens of corporate assigned “flock managers.� In fact, these one-sided contracts forbid farmers from suing Tyson or engaging in any form of collective bargaining. A 1995 survey by Louisiana Technical University found that a typical Tyson contract farmer had been raising chickens for 15 years, had three barns with flocks running round the clock, yet earned a measly $ 12,000 annually and was still paying off debt! In many rural areas, a farmer can no longer get a bank loan without a Tyson contract in hand. A three year court case filed by neighbors who could no longer stand the stench from one of Tyson's subcontracted mega-poultry operations was settled on June 3rd in Marion, KY with Tyson paying a mere $1000 fine. Tyson is no stranger to such corporate malfeasance. In fact, according to John McMillan, a food analyst with Prudential Securities “the history of this company has been living on the edge.� Tyson has been fined repeatedly for violating federal child labor laws (hard to hide when a fifteen year old “worker� dies on the job), for discriminating against women and African-Americans in its hiring practices, and was most recently accused by the U.S. Labor Dept. of cheating its workers out of $340 million in “lost� wage hours. Back in 1997 Tyson Foods paid out $6 million to settle charges of bribery involving Agriculture Secretary, Mike Espy. The two Tyson executives jailed in the case were later conveniently pardoned by Pres. Clinton. Betting on each side of the coin, Tyson remains an influential corporate bankroller of political aspirations by both the Clinton and Bush families. In Wisconsin, Democratic Governor James Doyle has refused to intervene continuing a 30 year bipartisan state trackrecord of ruling elites doing little for embattled workers who are nonetheless expected to vote for them later. Once indentured serfs turn over their animals to the corporate master, the s cene only worsens climbing up the Tyson food chain. Tyson was cited with over 24 counts of legal infractions by the INS for illegally shipping workers from Mexico to work in California plants at below minimum wage compensation. On March 26th, a federal jury in Chattanooga, TN acquitted Tyson of conspiring to smuggle Latin American immigrants to work in their U.S. poultry plants after the Bush administration basically sabotaged its own INS case built upon undercover investigations going back to 1997. Tyson commits these and related union busting activities as part of a broader agenda to downgrade wages in the red meatpacking industry to match those now prevalent in the poultry sector. Two decades ago unionized meatpackers in the U.S. earned on average $18 per hour, but now the industry "standard" is set by a low wage non union often immigrant workforce with wages as low as $6 per hour. In this race to the bottom, Tyson has no qualms about forging work papers, hiring “coyotes� to strong-arm recruits, screening misleading videos about the “good life� north of the border, and even transporting workers directly. In U.S. packing plants disassembly line speeds now run at three times the rate accepted in Europe, lea ding to horrific worker injuries. Tyson faces a 75% turnover rate each year among its 120,000 workers, which is why it is so desperate for “throwaway� immigrants. Such filthy dangerous work also means rampant food contamination. In June 1998 a Tyson plant in Arkansas had to recall 126,000 lbs of chicken nuggets and breast fillets after they were found to contain wire. Like most agribusiness outfits, Tyson dunks its chickens in chilled water – more like a “fecal soup� – at the end of the slaughter line to increase their retail weight by up to 8%. Thanks to this ploy, U.S. consumers shell out an extra $40 million for bonus “water� in their Tyson chicken at the store each year. That such factory farm chickens are chockfull of antibiotic residues, hormones, and resistant pathogens is another “dirty little secret� of the industry. Over 80% of the antibiotics used in the U.S. are for "medicated" livestock feeds, and this has contributed to the emergence of deadly "super germs" like E. coli O157:H7. At the Tyson feed mill in aptly named Buzzard Bluff, AK over ten million pounds of dead chickens are also recycled into “fresh� chicken food each year. Such induced livestock cannibalism, though, is well known to spread disease between animals and even on to humans - as witnessed by the "Mad Cow" epidemic in Europe that has now also appeared in Canada. Consumers should be aware that Tyson is also playing roulette with their own food safety in order to break the union. Prior to the strike, the Jefferson, WI plant accounted for close to 40% of total pepperoni made in the U.S., averaging 1.7 million pounds per week. With workers locked out, production is now down to 10-15% of normal. Federal legislation requires that all food be labeled with identification numbers from the plant at which it is produced. This law is designed to help track food so it can be quickly recalled in case of contamination or other health concerns. Tyson is exploiting a loophole, though, to transship pepperoni processed in other states to the Jefferson plant where scab workers make a final minor adjustment (trimming packaging) and then stamp the product with the Jefferson plant ID. If a batch of pepperoni proves dangerous, it will be impossible to quickly isolate the problem. Tyson is willing to risk consumer health, though, to squeeze out as much profit as possible and ride out the strike. A consumer boycott of Tyson has been launched, and people are urged to not buy Tyson pepperoni used in frozen pizza made by Kraft - like DiGiorno, Tombstone and Jack’s - as well as Tony's made by MN-Based Schwan's, supplier of 80% of pu blic school pizza in the U.S. Some consumers are also expanding the boycott to cover fastfood chains that serve Tyson pepperoni and chicken such as Pizza Hut, Domino's and McDonalds. Responding to public pressure, grocery stores in Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, and Johnson Creek have already pulled Tyson products from their shelves, as have some co-ops and pizzerias in Madison. The Madison City Council, the Dane County Board, the Jefferson County Board, and the Madison Metropolitan School District have all agreed to not buy Tyson products until the strike is resolved. Even UW-Madison - after facing massive student protest - was forced to pull its $110,000 worth of Tyson contracts on Aug. 22nd The ongoing struggle of UFCW 538 workers against Tyson Foods in Jefferson, WI is part and parcel of a much larger global movement of community resistance against corporate agribusiness. Food giants like Tyson, Monsanto, and Cargill are hell bent to exploit both people and nature in their pursuit of p rofit under a global "free-for-all" regime enforced by the likes of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Those who care about workers rights, sustainable agriculture, food safety, and consumer sovereignty should support the UFCW 538 strike against Tyson Foods. What can you do? 1.) Join the picket line! Take Hwy 12&18 East to Cambridge (about 23 miles from Madison) and continue on Hwy 18 to Jefferson (about 12 miles). In Jefferson turn right on Hwy 26 and go 3 blocks to Linden Dr. Turn right – the plant is in two blocks. 2.) Collect food and money for UFCW's “Adopt a Family� program. Checks can be made out to the “UFCW Local 538 Strike Fund� and sent to: 228 Myrtle St. Madison, WI 53704. Donations can also be dropped off – for more info: #608-244-5653 www.tysonfamiliesstandup.org 3.) Don’t buy pizza made with Tyson’s union busting pepperoni and boycott all other Tyson products (a full list of Tyson brands is below)! The majority of the pepperoni from the Jefferson plant is purchased by – you guessed it – Kraft (maker of Tombstone, DiGiorno, and Jacks Pizza), as well as Schwan’s (largest f rozen pizza peddler in the world, distributor of Tony’s, and major source of public school pizza) and Pizza Hut (part of the largest fastfood chain in the world, Yum! Brands, which also owns KFC and Taco Bell). Let these companies know you’d prefer union pepperoni (why not mail them back what you don’t want?) and check which taxpayer subsidized pizza is being served to your children! Matt Nelson, Executive Director Education For The People
posted by Nathan Hall at 11/17/2003 05:30:00 PM link |
