The Los Angeles Unified School District board members are voting on TUESDAY 1/12 on whether to award Tyson, the largest chicken processing corporations in the U.S., a 5-year contract worth an estimated $30 million to supply chicken to the 2nd largest school district in the U.S. We need your help to kick Tyson, the current chicken vendor, out of LAUSD!
Please CALL and TWEET these LAUSD school board members on Monday 1/11 before 4pm, especially if you live in their district! If you don’t live in an LAUSD area, you can still call so they know people around the country are watching & please call as many board members as you can!

MESSAGE:

(If applicable:) I am a student/parent/resident/constituent in your district.

I am calling to urge Board Member ____________________ t to vote NO on LAUSD’s proposed 5-year chicken contract with Tyson. Their records on labor, the environment, animal welfare, and the treatment of poultry farmers are atrocious, and therefore they do not comply with the district’s own Good Food Purchasing Policy and Sweatfree Purchasing Policy! Instead, LAUSD should approve the contracts with the other proposed vendors, Pilgrim’s Pride & Gold Star, with the provision of requiring them to present their compliance efforts at an annual public hearing. We want Good Food from good companies for our students.

Board Members:

George Mckenna – Board district 1

Phone number 213-241-6382

Board district map: https://boe.lausd.net/sites/default/files/images/maps/2012-13BoardDistrict1Map.pdf

Twitter: @ElectMcKenna

 

Monica Garcia – Board district 2

Phone Number 213-241-6180

Board district map: https://boe.lausd.net/sites/default/files/images/maps/2012-13BoardDistrict2Map.pdf

Twitter: @Monica4LAUSD

 

Scott Schmerelson – Board district 3

Phone Number 213-241-8333

Board district map: https://boe.lausd.net/sites/default/files/images/maps/2012-13BoardDistrict3Map.pdf

Twitter: @Scott4LAUSD

 

Steve Zimmer- Board district 4, Board President

Phone Number 213-241-6387

Board district:  https://boe.lausd.net/sites/default/files/images/maps/2012-13BoardDistrict4Map.pdf

Twitter: @lausd_zimmer

 

Ref Rodriguez- Board district 5

Phone Number 213-241-5555

Board district: https://boe.lausd.net/sites/default/files/images/maps/2012-13BoardDistrict5Map.pdf

Twitter: @DrRefRodriguez

 

Monica Ratliff – Board district 6

Phone Number 213-241-6388

Board district: https://boe.lausd.net/sites/default/files/images/maps/2012-13BoardDistrict6Map.pdf

 

Richard Vladovic – Board district 7

Phone Number 213-241-6385

Board district: https://boe.lausd.net/sites/default/files/images/maps/2012-13BoardDistrict7Map.pdf

 

Here is our letter to LAUSD Board Members that explains this issue and our position:

Dear Board Member,

We appreciate the significant challenges posed by this first attempt at implementing the Good Food Purchasing Policy, and we thank the many people involved in this process who have clearly made a good faith effort to try to implement the policy fairly. We also appreciate that you, the other board members, former superintendent Ray Cortines, and the food services and procurement staff took our suggested creative ideas and mechanisms to adjust this current chicken RFP process to better ensure the application of the GFPP in the evaluation of bids and find the best chicken vendors for LAUSD. We look forward to working with LAUSD to ensure that GoldKist/Pilgrim’s Pride and Gold Star comply with the standards in the GFPP and help LAUSD reach the 5-star level of the standards.

However, we cannot in good conscience support the recommendation to award Tyson any part of the chicken contract. Tyson has a terrible track record of routinely violating, with impunity, the sustainability principles required by the GFPP – for example, from 2007 to 2015, Tyson was cited for over 220 OSHA violations for a total of almost $7.7 million in penalties and was also responsible for the death of 11 workers in that time period. Tyson’s record has not improved over the course of its current 5-year contract with LAUSD. Recently, an in-depth report from ProPublica found that Tyson has spent the past 25 years working to undermine workers’ compensation laws in multiple states around the U.S., and Oxfam America released a new study on the horrible conditions in the chicken processing industry, which highlighted Tyson as one of the main bad actors. Given these facts, we have no confidence that Tyson will be able to comply with the baseline standards of GFPP and the district’s Sweatfree Purchasing Policy under a new LAUSD contract, let alone reach the 5-star level of standards.

 

We expressed concerns to you about Pilgrim’s Pride in a letter at the end of August 2015. We still have some reservations, but given that Pilgrim’s Pride has not had a previous contract with LAUSD, we support LAUSD in using this opportunity to utilize the GFPP and its internal contract compliance mechanisms to ensure that Pilgrim’s Pride improves its sustainability practices and meets the GFPP standards.

Lastly, while Gold Star did eventually settle with the Teamsters union last summer so that its drivers are protected by a union contract, we believe, as with all employers, there is still a need to ensure that Gold Star continues to respect all of its employees and comply with the standards in the GFPP and the Sweatfree Purchasing Policy.

We therefore urge that:

  • the recommended chicken contract with Tyson be rejected because of the evidence that we have already provided as to the extremely exploitative nature of its chicken supply chain that harms consumers, including school children, workers, farmers, animals, the environment, and local economies.
  • the LAUSD Board approve the contracts with Gold Star and GoldKist/Pilgrim’s Pride, with the public accountability process described in #4. We will gladly support LAUSD in this effort in any way that is helpful and constructive.
  • If LAUSD is not able to contract with another vendor for the chicken products that Tyson would have provided, LAUSD should begin an educational campaign with students, teachers, and staff to explain that fewer chicken dishes are on the menu because LAUSD believes in the importance of putting its values into practice, of maintaining integrity by implementing its policies, and of sometimes sacrificing individual immediate satisfaction to prioritize student health and the well-being of our communities. The rejection of Tyson is a unique and powerful opportunity for LAUSD to demonstrate to students, in particular, what it means to stand by their values.
  • the LAUSD Board schedule a series of public hearings to allow for members of the public to:
    1. Hear presentations by Pilgrim’s Pride and Gold Star on their efforts to provide chicken to LAUSD at the 5-star level of the GFPP and comply with the district’s Sweatfree Purchasing Policy, ask questions of these vendors, and provide any relevant testimony related to the companies’ compliance or non-compliance with the LAUSD policies. These public hearings should be held on an annual basis, with LAUSD board members and staff in attendance as well.
    2. Explore options for how LAUSD can allow for public accountability in the enforcement of the GFPP and allow for public review and comment on the bidders’ proposed plans to reach the 5-star level of the GFPP.
  • Provide the public and policymakers a better understanding of how the federal commodity programs interface with the GFPP, and what obstacles and opportunities these commodity programs may present with regard to successful GFPP implementation.

The country is watching what LAUSD decides on this contract. We urge you to vote NO on awarding Tyson another 5-year contract and vote YES to GoldKist/Pilgrim’s Pride and Gold Star with the public hearing process as a condition of receiving their contract award.