SQUEEZED: Speak Up for Underpaid Farmers!

A tea-picker in Kerugoya, Kenya
The new SPEAK pray & post card is out today! It calls for justice in our food supply chains by asking Parliament that the upcoming Groceries Code Adjudicator has the power to fine from day one. What this would basically do is force our powerful UK supermarkets to treat their suppliers fairly - applying to both farmers here and abroad.

 

*****ATTENTION*****

This Autumn's pray & post card is trying to influence parliamentary decisions being made literally in the coming days and weeks! So please send it off NOW to ensure our voice is heard in the collective cry for justice!

 When you are working there, you go hungry and have nothing to drink. You starve, you are exhausted… What can I hope for?

-Jane, a worker on a tea plantation in Kerugoya, Kenya, which is a supplier to UK supermarkets (Source: War on Want)

ACTION POINTS

  • Make sure you've sent off the pray & post card to Jo Swinson MP. Get your mates to fill some in too!
  • Knowledge is power - read up more on the issue by downloading the Volumise pull-out below!
  • Raise awareness - send others a link to this page, tell your church, or your local activist society
  • Stay tuned for details about a related demonstration being planned this Autumn in London, and how you could be involved
  • Become more involved in developing SPEAK's future campaigns, by coming to Flower Model in Bradford 17 & 18 Novemeber

PRAYER POINTS

  • Thank God for answered prayers following the 'Price Wars' January 2009 pray & post card
  • Pray for the government ministers and MPs reviewing the GCA Bill (1 Timothy 2:1-2)
  • Pray for the executives and senior management of large supermarket chains, that their hearts would also be seeking God's justice, and that no individuals would feel victimised by our campaigning
  • Ask forgiveness that we, as consumers, are sometimes guilty of placing convenience and cheapness before sustainable and ethical production
  • Pray for wisdom for the Network, as we create our future campaign on food, land and agribusiness

If you want to receive more copies of the pray & post card (don't panic if it's not quite with you yet - they're getting shoved through letterboxes around the country and around the world over this week!), then email us at campaigns@speak.org.uk

Download the Volumise pull-out that accompanies the SQUEEZED pray & post card here.

Follow the progress of the Groceries Code Adjudicator as it passes through the House of Commons here.

Download an in-depth report by Consumers International 'The relationship between supermarkets and their suppliers: What are the implications for consumers?' here.

We are working with Traidcraft on this issue. Read more about their campaigns here, and don't forget to visit the Traidcraft shop the next time you want to purchase something that you can be sure is exploitation free!

I will SPEAK against those who cheat employees of their wages

(Malachi 3:5)