PERSPECTIVES

The Michigan Daily

Friday, September 8, 1989

Page 9



Six reasons to

boycott

Domino's

Pizza

By Phillis Engelbert
On July 18, a newly-formed
coalition of local community
activists announced the start of a
national campaign to boycott
Domino's Pizza. The Coalition to
Boycott Domino's Pizza's lists
numerous reasons for the boycott,
ranging from anti-union activities to
stopping Domino's funding of the
anti-choice movement.
The Coalition's concerns are
rooted in how Domino's profits are
used by Thomas Monaghan, founder
and sole stockholder of Domino's
Pizza. Being sole stockholder means
that Monaghan profits from every
pizza sold. Although this
relationship is more direct in
corporate-owned pizza outlets,
privately owned franchises must also
turn over a percentage of their intake
to Monaghan, in the form of
royalties. Because of this, buying a
pizza from Domino's amounts to
making a contribution to a wide
array of right wing causes.
The Coalition has vowed to
continue the boycott until their list
of demands have been met. Demands
include:
1. Stop socially irresponsible
and environmentally unsound
development.
Domino's Farms Corp. plans to
construct a 600-acre exclusive
community of 138 homes (The
$ettlement), each costing about $1
million, on the northeast edge of
Ann Arbor. Neighbors of The
SDO '
0
Settlement fear pesticide runoff from
the proposed golf course into
Fleming Creek, which flows
through the U-M Botanical Gardens.
Vleming Creek is the cleanest creek
ip Washtenaw County according to a
U-M Fisheries study.
* In addition, in 1985, Thomas
Monaghan purchased 1,700 acres of
brummond Island, an 87,000-acre
esland off the eastern tip of the
Vpper Peninsula. He cleared the
woods to build an 18-hole golf
sourse & built a pond and sewer
* lant. Currently, Monaghan is
discussing plans for condominiums,
Viarinas, lodges, banks, golf course
expansion, a motel, a mini-car
museum, and a chapel retreat.
2. Stop funding the anti-choice
movement
In 1988 Monaghan donated over
,$100,000 to "Committee to End
Tax-Funded Abortions." The passage
of the committee's Proposal A
banned Medicaid funding and greatly
.estricted reproductive rights for poor
women in Michigan.
Domino's Farms has hosted
,numerous fundraisers for Right to
Life of Michigan, yet cancelled a
National Organization of Women
(NOW) fundraiser for pro-choice
activities. A Domino's official stated

that the cancellation was due to "Mr.
Monaghan's religious beliefs against
abortion."
NOW has filed a civil rights
complaint against Domino's on the
basis of religious discrimination. A
,statement by the Washtenaw County
ACLU suggests that although
Domino's is a private business, it is
}nonetheless subject to Section 302
of the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights
4 Act. This section prohibits a private
;business which opens its facilities to
the public, to discriminate on the
basis of religion. The ACLU states
that Monaghan's $900,000 tax
abatement from Ann Arbor
Township "should result in a greater
willingness to comply with the
public policies against
discrimination which are embodied
in the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights
; Act."

submit control of all aspects of their
lives to a "shepherd," who is in turn
submitted to a higher "shepherd,"
and so on (Russ Bellant, NCR,
11/18/88).
Former Word of God member
Tom Yoder told Bellant about the
following examples of what occurred
in Word of God: "expulsion due to
unapproved marriages, people
compelled to live in houses not of
their choosing, a man forcing
discipline on a woman by tying her
up, and members submitting advance
schedules to their 'head' on a weekly
or monthly basis for approval."
Bellant asserts that the following
characteristics of Word of God are
associated with cults: "esoteric
language and titles; secrecy;
exclusivity; declarations of war on
some vague enemy; personal
messages from a higher source."
Word of God members, in a 1987
meeting, were encouraged to see
themselves "as a nation," and were
told that "there is no distinction
between 'military,' 'civilian,' and
'spiritual' leadership... People say
war is hell, but in this case war is
heaven." (Bellant, NCR, 11/18/88)
Word of God co-founder Steve Clark
has claimed that "Democracy is not a
scriptural concept." Consistent with
this belief is the significant overlap

between the membership of Word of
God and Washtenaw (Operation)
Rescue, which employs illegal and
often violent techniques to achieve
its political goal of denying women
their right to choose to have an
abortion.
Tom Monaghan has numerous
connections with Word of God:
Monaghan is on the board of
directors of Word of God-controlled
University of Steubenville in Ohio;
Domino's Farms was used as the
campaign headquarters for John R.
Burch, a Word of God member and
Republican nominee for Ann Arbor
City Council in 1985; and Word of
God co-founder Ralph Martin
claimed that Monaghan gave his TV
ministry a $100,000 matching grant
in 1986 (NCR, 11/18/88).
4. Domino's out of Central
America.
Thomas Monaghan is a member
and/or founder of several
organizations that promote a right-
wing agenda in Central America.
Among these groups are Word of
God, Legatus, the Knights of Malta
(a 900-year old chivalric order which
considers itself a sovereign nation),
and the Puebla Institute (an anti-
Sandinista organization in the U.S.
with ties to the CIA, according to

Bellant, NCR, 11/18/88).
Monaghan has opened a factory in
Honduras which produces pants
under the label "Honduran Mission"
that sell for $195 a pair in the U.S.
and the proceeds of which go to
support the Word of God in
Honduras. The Knights of Malta, of
which Monaghan is a member, have
funnelled millions of dollars in
supplies to the contras. The Word of
God's international affiliate, Sword
of the Spirit, has several Central
American branches. The Nicaraguan
branch is headed by Cardinal Obando
y Bravo, and works to oppose the
Sandinista government.
Father Enrique Sylvestre, the
Spanish priest whose work
Monaghan supports in Honduras, is
the leader of a Sword of the Spirit
branch in Honduras. Sylvestre came
to Ann Arbor to study English with
the Word of God, according to Tom
Monaghan in his autobiography
"Pizza Tiger." Also, the Central
America coordinator for Domino's
Pizza is Francisco Zuniga, a
Nicaraguan who left his country just
after the triumph of the Sandinistas.
Zuniga is a Word of God member
and a Sword of the Spirit
coordinator.
Regarding his work in Honduras,
Monaghan recently stated that he is

"more interested in people's souls
than their wealth or health.... I don't
want to waste what little money I
have just bringing up people's
standards of living so they get into a
position where they can raise hell
and sin all the more" (Detroit Free
Press, June 4, 1989).
5. Stop anti-union practices
Monaghan stated in an interview
with NCR that "unions are the cause
of the federal deficit." According to
former employees, Monaghan has
told workers that 'no unions will be
allowed at his companies (Bellant,
NCR, 11/18/88).
Eight construction trade unions in
Granite City, Illinois have initiated a
boycott-with community
support-in response to Domino's
use of non-union labor in building
local outlets. In Michigan, UAW
workers have urged a similar action
based on the purchase of large fleets
of foreign-made trucks for pizza
deliveries.
6. Stop unfair and
discriminatory employee
practices
Since 1986 Monaghan has been
submitting his employees to drug
testing. In addition, attire worn by
all employees at Domino's

Headquarters is dictated by
Monaghan's dress policy. "Women
may not wear slacks, short skirts or
tight clothing, and men must wear
'conservative business suits."'
Monaghan is also currently involved
in a civil liberties suit filed by a
Domino's employee and the ACLU
over Domino's hair-length policy
which states that male employees
must have their hair cut above the
collar.
Boycott actions
On July 18 the Coalition kicked
off the boycott with a picket at
Domino's World Headquarters. The
Coalition to Boycott Domino's
Pizza is planning actions for the
coming months. To get involved or
for more information write:
Coalition to Boycott Domino's
Pizza, c/o LASC, 4120 Michigan
Union, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, or
call 665-8438.
Phillis Engelbert is a member of
The Coalition to Boycott Domino's
Pizza. She is also a permanent
member of the AGENDA editorial
staff. AGENDA is an alternative
monthly newspaper published by
staff, students, faculty and
community people.

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