Protest in support of agricultural workers marks church justice meeting

World Communion of Reformed Churches
News Release
4 April 2011

Protest in support of agricultural workers marks church justice meeting

Romeo Ramirez, a peace and justice advocate and migrant worker, helped Thursday to lead a peaceful protest, involving about 30 members of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, outside of a Publix Supermarket near the small town of Immokalee in the southern state of Florida in the United States.
Ramirez and other members of a worker's rights group called the Coalition of Immokalee Workers have been seeking a penny-per-pound increase on the price of tomatoes. In the last few years, the coalition has gotten fast-food restaurants and food wholesalers to agree to the increase, but grocery chains have refused to pay the price.

WCRC representatives made the onsite visit to the Florida town and participated in the grocery-store protest as part of a justice consultation in nearby Fort Myers, Florida.

During a morning meeting in Immokalee, Ramirez and others said they were grateful for the show of support from the WCRC.

"People visit not just to learn about what we do, but to find out the next steps they can take (to help the coalition in its fight for a living wage)," Ramirez said to WCRC representatives.

"We are glad that you decided to leave your churches; to use the feet God gave you and join us today," he said.
After listening to Ramirez and others, the WCRC delegation visited the nearby Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, where they saw birds and animals and wetlands protected by the state.
While she appreciated the nature preserve, Yvette Nobel Bloomfield, Regional Deputy General Secretary of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, said the visit highlighted for her "the contrast between the freedom of the animals and the (economic) slavery of the people so close by (in Immokalee)."

After stopping at the swamp sanctuary, WCRC representatives went to the grocery store, where they spoke to shoppers about the concerns of Ramirez and the coalition of workers.
A group of the protesters then had a meeting with Publix officials on a sidewalk outside of the store. "It is time for you to follow the steps like other corporations and do what they have done to better the conditions of the workers," Ramirez told Publix officials.
The meeting was respectful, but no resolution came out of it – for now. “I hope our presence here will have an effect on pressuring Publix to give farm workers the penny a pound," said Yueh- Wen Lu, a WCRC representative from the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. "It’s a sign of solidarity to stand with those that suffer due to the global economic system and see that poverty really exists, even in the US."

Following the demonstration, WCRC representatives gathered at Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church in Naples, Florida, where a panel of people from Cuba, the United States, and Jamaica discussed the need for churches to create a wider vision for how they can promote social justice work.
"Consciousness and commitment equal change. Being in Immokalee today, we have seen some of that vision," said Setri Nyomi, General Secretary of WCRC.
Nyomi pointed out they were in Florida as the result of a justice document, accepted at an historic meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the United States, last summer, that describes the stance WCRC takes and the actions it wants governments and churches to undertake on issues involving immigrants and their rights.
In part, this document states: “We deplore the ill-treatment of migrants, attacks by individuals, and criminalization by governments … We urge our governments and churches to see people with dignity and equality. We urge our governments and churches to see people neither as a threat or a commodity …”
On Friday, the WCRC representatives from countries such as Nigeria, Jamaica, Switzerland, Taiwan, India, Kenya, Canada, and the United States continued the consultation by reviewing the key points, directions, and mandates that came out of the meeting last summer at which the World Alliance of Reformed Churches merged with the Reformed Ecumenical Council.
During their Florida meeting, WCRC representatives are not only seeking ways to address migration and immigration. They are also looking at the worldwide economy, gender concerns, climate change and how to encourage churches to help their members better understand the biblical importance of addressing justice issues.
Peter Cruchley-Jones, a WCRC member from Wales, says participating in the protest was important.
"Being a communion committed to justice was briefly made visible on the roadside in Naples, Florida as Christians gathered together with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to call on the Publix Supermarket to respect the rights of tomato pickers and pay them a living wage," he said.
WCRC was created in June 2010 through a merger of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC). Its 230 member churches representing 80 million Christians are active worldwide in initiatives supporting economic, climate and gender justice, mission, and cooperation among Christians of different traditions.
Media Contacts:

Local Media:
Allan Buckingham
AllanBuckingham@gmail.com

WCRC Media Relations (Geneva)
Kristine Greenaway
kgr@wcrc.ch; www.wcrc.ch