Press Release:

Contact: Jeffrey Buchanan 202-463-7575 ext 241, buchanan@rfkmemorial.org
Amanda Shanor 203-247-2195, shanor@rfkmemorial.org

Immokalee, FL: First Stop on Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Poverty Tour
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Poverty Tour: A Journey for Economic and Social Justice investigates rampant poverty in one of Americs largest farmworker communities and highlight farmworkers' current campaign against McDonald's and Chipotle

Press Release:
Washington, DC--Today the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights announced the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Poverty Tour: A Journey for Economic and Social Justice. Through the Poverty Tour, the RFK Center hopes to uncover the economic exploitation and social injustices faced by theinvisibl poor across the country. The Poverty Tour will make its first stop in the farmworker community of Immokalee, Florida on April 23rd and 24th.

Forty years ago Robert Kennedy first witnessed the hardships faced by the impoverished farmworkers of Delano, California as part of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Migratory Labor. This marked the first stop of his now famouspoverty tou, which included stops in the Mississippi Delta and Appalachia, that helped to shape many Americas views on poverty.

On the Poverty Tous first stop, Ethel Kennedy, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, original members of RFs tours, social activists and faith leaders will be touring Immokalee, Florida, home to not only one of our natios largest migrant farmworker communities but also home to numerous cases of modern day slavery. Thanks largely to investigations by the southwest Florida-based farmworker organization the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) http://www.ciw-online.org/, the FBI and Justice Department have prosecuted six slavery cases in Florids produce fields in recent years freeing over 1,000 workers held against their will.

Pay and conditions have not improved for farmworkers in the forty years since Robert Kennedy first traveled to Delano. A farm worker picking tomatoes in Immokalee earns only 40-45 cents for every 32 pound bucket they pick, a rate that has remained stagnant for almost 30 yearsa 65% real wage decrease due to inflation. In order to bring home $50 a worker must pick nearly two tons of tomatoes. The average farm worker income, $7500, is well below the federal poverty line. Workers receive no overtime pay, health insurance, sick leave or other benefits. Current labor laws also deny farmworkers the protected right to organize.

The CIW and the Alliance for Fair Food (AFF), an network of human rights, faith student and labor groups, are engaged in a public education campaign against fast food giant and major produce consumer McDonals and its partner brand, Chipotle. The CIW and AFF are calling on McDonals and Chipotle to work with the Florida farmworkers to improve wages and partner with the farmworkers in the protection of their own rights in the compans supply chain. Currently, McDonald's has devolved responsibility for human rights violations against farmworkers, including poverty wages, violence, and forced labor, to the very agricultural employers and labor contractors who have perpetrated these abuses.

• WHO: Ethel Kennedy, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, Coalition of Immokalee Workers
• WHAT: Visit to Immokalee, Florida to Inspect Conditions in Farming Community
• WHEN and WHERE: Sunday, April 23, 2006
• 2-3 pm: Presentation by CIW (215 West Main St. Immokalee, FL)
• 3-4pm: Tour of farmworker community highlighting rampant poverty and places of abuse (Tour leaves from 215 West Main St.)
• 4-4:30pm: Town Hall meeting in Immokalee with farmworkers
  (215 West Main Street)
• ***4:30-5:00pm: Photo Op: Remarks and Signing of Letter to McDonals: Letter asking for economic relief, real participation with the farmworkers,and transparency in produce purchases.
• ***5:00-6:00pm: Photo Op: Outdoor mass in CIW parking lot 100 S 3rd St Immokalee, FL (farmworkers and delegation taking part in ceremony)

Source: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial www.rfkmemorial.org

The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights is a non-profit organization that engages in long-term partnerships with human rights activists advocating for the social justice goals they champion.