The CIW has repeatedly asked to meet with Taco Bell fast food restaurant representatives at their corporate headquarters in Irvine, CA to discuss the working and living conditions of the farmworkers who pick Taco Bell's tomatoes.

Farmworkers who pick tomatoes for the Immokalee-based "Six L's, Packing, Co., Inc.", one of the nation's largest tomato producers and a contractor for Taco Bell, are paid 40 cents for every 32-pound bucket they pick. That is the same per bucket rate, or "piece rate", paid in 1978.

At that rate workers must pick and haul 2 TONS of tomatoes to make in a day. [According to the US Department of Labor, the median annual income of farmworkers today is ,500.] Workers picking for Six L's are denied the right to organize and the right to overtime pay for overtime work. They receive no health insurance, no sick leave, no paid holidays, no paid vacation, and no pension. Taco Bell has refused to discuss these conditions with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

Taco Bell reported sales of more than billion in 1999, while Tricon, Inc., Taco Bell's parent corporation (together with Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken), reported system-wide sales of over billion last year.

Taco Bell could double the picking piece rate paid to farmworkers by agreeing to pay just one penny more per pound for the tomatoes it buys from Six L's. We beliebe that Taco Bell, as part of the "world's largest restaurant system," can easily afford to pay one penny more. But even if they passed the cost on to its customers, the consumers, it would still be less than 1/4 of 1 cent more for each Chalupa.

Do you think Americans would be willing to pay 1/4 of 1 penny more for each Chalupa they eat, if it meant that farmworkers could earn a living wage?

The CIW thinks they would.

And the CIW asks that you consider the situation of the farmworkers that picked the tomatoes that so many Americans will eat today; and let Taco Bell know that you expect them to meet with the farmworkers' representatives. You can call or write:

Emil J. Brolik, President and Cheif Concept Officer

Taco Bell Corp.

17901 Von Karman

Irvine, CA 92614

(949) 863-4500

Or you can always call Taco Bell at 1-800-TACOBELL

For more information about CIW go to www.ciw-online.org

COMMUNITY MEETING & TACO BELL BOYCOTT PRESENTATION!!!

Please join us Tuesday evening, Oct. 16th, at 7pm for a casual, open-to-the-community event with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). (The CIW is a migrant worker group from Florida leading a nationwide Taco Bell boycott due to substandard and inhumane treatment of workers by TB subcontractors.) The CIW will be visiting Irvine to share the story of their struggle against sweatshops in the fields...

You'll have the opportunity to meet the members of this worker-led struggle for justice in the fields, hear more about their campaign and the Taco Bell Boycott, learn how you can support the campaign here in Orange County, and eat yummy refreshments! Afterwards at 8:15, we'll be discussing our strategies for how to move this farmworkers' campaign forward in the coming months. For background information on this struggle, visit the CIW web-site at www.ciw-online.org.

WHEN: Tuesday, October 16th, 7:00 PM

WHERE: Unitarian Church, 511 S. Harbor Blvd., Anaheim

WHO: You! and your friends and family. Great company, great information, and great cookies!

Please invite anyone who might be interested and forward this invitation freely...

Hope to see you Tuesday!

DIRECTIONS:

1)Take the 5 Fwy

2)Harbor/Ball Blvd. Exit

3)go North to Santa Ana St.

4)L on Santa Ana St.

5)L onto parking lot: 511 S. Harbor Blvd.

It's on the corner of Santa Ana St. and Harbor, across from the police station...

Unitarian church phone number:714-758-1050