AMERICAN LABOUR:

IS BIG BIRD A SCAB ?:

The situation of Washington cherry pickers, lured to California under false pretenses by Stemilt Growers Company, has been mentioned before on this blog, as well as the efforts of the United Farm Workers to put pressure on the company to deal fairly with these workers. Now there's another avenue to pressure Stemilt. The UFW have discovered that this company leases the Sesame Street characters for their advertisements. The union would like you to email Sesame Street and ask that they use their influence to bring Stemilt to the table. Here's the story.

...................................

Ask Sesame Street why they want to be associated with Stemilt Cherries
We've told you about the situation in Shafter CA, where more than one hundred cherry pickers were evicted after talking to news media about their working and living conditions at Kyle Mathison Orchards. Kyle Mathison is part of the Wenatchee, Washington based Stemilt Growers Company, which boasts of being the largest sweet cherry producer in the world. Besides being a partner of Stemilt, Kyle Mathison's cherries are sold under the Stemilt label.

We just discovered that the popular children's show Sesame Street is partnered with Stemilt Growers Company.

The front page of Stemilt's website features a display for their cherries which includes the popular characters Big Bird, Elmo, Grover and the Cookie Monster. Other Stemilt supermarket displays have a picture of the well-known character Elmo saying, "Cherries put the bling in Elmo's spring." Why would Sesame Street want their characters and trademark name associated with a company like Stemilt?

Sesame Street is known as a show that builds the character and values of young children. Does Sesame Street want to be associated with the values represented by Stemilt?

Just look what Stemilt did: Workers from Washington State and Oregon told us that they were picking cherries for Stemilt companies back home. They were told by company representatives to come to California for a job in the cherries. When these farm workers reached California, a number of the workers were hired, but other workers were told to just wait and see if they could get jobs.

While back at home, some of the workers were informed that housing would be available to them when they got to California, but when they got here there was no housing. They had no choice but to sleep in the fields. Some stayed in tents, others in cars and still others slept on cardboard or simply the dirt. When workers went public, things only got worse. Stemilt company representatives called the sheriffs to have the 100 plus workers and their property evicted from the orchard.

Please write to Sesame Street and ask them to contact Stemilt and tell them that this situation is not acceptable and should be fixed right away by providing housing for these out of state workers, paying reasonable travel expenses and immediately hiring the rest of the Washington workers instead of forcing them to wait and see.

Brought to you by the letter U for Unfair!
To read more, join this campaign and send the following letter go to:
http://www.ufwaction.org/ct/G7zuCuF1kcp5/takeaction

THE LETTER

On May 9, in Shafter CA, more than one hundred cherry pickers were evicted after talking to news media about their working and living conditions at Kyle Mathison Orchards. Kyle Mathison is part of the Wenatchee, Washington based Stemilt Growers Company, which boasts of being the largest sweet cherry producer in the world. Besides being a partner of Stemilt, Kyle Mathison's cherries are sold under the Stemilt label.

I'm appalled to discover that the popular children's show Sesame Street is partnered with Stemilt Growers Company.

The front page of Stemilt's website features a display for their cherries which includes your popular characters Big Bird, Elmo, Grover and the Cookie Monster. Other Stemilt supermarket displays have a picture of the well-known character Elmo saying, "Cherries put the bling in Elmo's spring." Why would Sesame Street want their characters and trademark name associated with a company like Stemilt?

Sesame Street is known as a show that builds the character and values of young children. Does Sesame Street want to be associated with the values represented by Stemilt?

Just look what Stemilt did: Workers from Washington state and Oregon told us that they were picking cherries for Stemilt companies back home. They were told by company representatives to come to California for a job in the cherries. When these farm workers reached California, a number of the workers were hired, but other workers were told to just wait and see if they could get jobs.

While back at home, some of the workers were informed that housing would be available to them when they got to California, but when they got here there was no housing. They had no choice but to sleep in the fields. Some stayed in tents, others in cars and still others slept on cardboard or simply the dirt. When workers went public, things only got worse. Stemilt company representatives called the sheriffs to have the 100 plus workers and their property evicted from the orchard.

As a partner of Stemilt we ask you to please contact them immediately. Let them know that you are not happy with the values they displayed. Tell them that this situation is not acceptable and should be fixed right away by providing housing for these out of state workers, paying reasonable travel expenses and immediately hiring the rest of the Washington workers instead of forcing them to wait and see.