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| The Rev. Robin Gray |
Join clergy in asking Publix to aid workers
“More than 12 Tallahassee clergy from diverse faith traditions are working in concert to raise community awareness about the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which is asking Publix to join the growing list of markets supporting Fair Food.
During a noon news conference on Tuesday, these clergy will present Publix representatives in Tallahassee with an open letter recounting Publix’s historical stand as a fair employer and inviting the company to take a stand as purveyors of fair food.
In this instance, the cost of treating tomato pickers fairly amounts to a penny a pound of tomatoes. One pound in the thousands and thousands of pounds of tomatoes picked by hand, moved from field to truck by human labor, and eventually delivered to shoppers who enjoy, along with their neighbors, some of the healthiest produce the world has known.
The ad hoc coalition of clergy came together because we share a commitment to helping create a more just world, a world where each person’s labor is appreciated with the simple reward of a living wage.
As clergy, although our beliefs differ, we share a common compassion for people we know as well as those we may never meet. We see ourselves connected to all by humanity, faith and hope.
We extend ourselves in compassion to the leaders at Publix, the workers in Publix markets and the laborers in the fields. We cannot see any of the people in that chain deserving less fair treatment than others. We cannot see any corner of humanity where justice might not reach.
We join with thousands of others in asking Publix to extend the scope of compassion and to bring justice more fully to our supermarkets, our tables and our meals with support of the Fair Food agreement.”
— published in the Tallahassee Democrat, 3/03/2012
“More than 12 Tallahassee clergy from diverse faith traditions are working in concert to raise community awareness about the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which is asking Publix to join the growing list of markets supporting Fair Food.
During a noon news conference on Tuesday, these clergy will present Publix representatives in Tallahassee with an open letter recounting Publix’s historical stand as a fair employer and inviting the company to take a stand as purveyors of fair food.
In this instance, the cost of treating tomato pickers fairly amounts to a penny a pound of tomatoes. One pound in the thousands and thousands of pounds of tomatoes picked by hand, moved from field to truck by human labor, and eventually delivered to shoppers who enjoy, along with their neighbors, some of the healthiest produce the world has known.
The ad hoc coalition of clergy came together because we share a commitment to helping create a more just world, a world where each person’s labor is appreciated with the simple reward of a living wage.
As clergy, although our beliefs differ, we share a common compassion for people we know as well as those we may never meet. We see ourselves connected to all by humanity, faith and hope.
We extend ourselves in compassion to the leaders at Publix, the workers in Publix markets and the laborers in the fields. We cannot see any of the people in that chain deserving less fair treatment than others. We cannot see any corner of humanity where justice might not reach.
We join with thousands of others in asking Publix to extend the scope of compassion and to bring justice more fully to our supermarkets, our tables and our meals with support of the Fair Food agreement.”
— published in the Tallahassee Democrat, 3/03/2012
