MIGRANT FARMWORKERS JOIN WITH STUDENTS AND ACTIVISTS ON NATIONAL BUS TOUR TO EXPAND BOYCOTT OF TACO BELL DEMONSTRATIONS SET FOR LOS ANGELES AND IRVINE
BOYCOTT TACO BELL!
August, 28, 2001
MIGRANT FARMWORKERS JOIN WITH STUDENTS AND ACTIVISTS ON NATIONAL BUS TOUR TO
EXPAND BOYCOTT OF TACO BELL
DEMONSTRATIONS SET FOR LOS ANGELES AND IRVINE
Contact:
* Lucas Benitez or Romeo Ramirez, Coalition of Immokalee Workers:
(941)657-8311 or (941) 821-5481
* Brian Payne, Student/Farmworker Alliance: (941) 867-9160
* Los Angeles/Irvine Action, Brian Montes: (213)380-3929;
* LA Media/Info Line: (323)291-2475
* LA Taco Bell Welcome Center (Sep 23-25): 4167 S. Normandie Ave., Los Angeles
* FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.ciw-online.org/
IMMOKALEE, FL -- Beginning on September 13, 2001, a caravan of migrant
workers, college students and activists will embark on a ten-city,
cross-country bus tour to raise awareness about the National Taco Bell
Boycott and the sweatshop conditions faced by migrant farmworkers in
America's fields. The tour will culminate with demonstrations in Los
Angeles, California on September 23 and at Taco Bell corporate headquarters
in Irvine, CA on September 24, confirmed speakers include Tony Morello from
Rage Against the Machine. The tour comes on the heels of five months of
protests at Taco Bell restaurants across the country, with nearly 100 actions
in states including Alabama, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Indiana.
In each city along the "Taco Bell Truth Tour", the workers will be welcomed
by community activists and will participate in teach-ins, demonstrations in
front of local Taco Bells, and major community rallies. The tour, and in
particular the LA and Irvine protests, will be the first major public actions
to cast light on the multi-billion dollar fast food industry's ties to the
sweatshop-like conditions faced by farmworkers in America's fields.
"The tomatoes Taco Bell buys for its tacos and Chalupa's are produced in what
can only be described as sweatshop conditions," said Lucas Benitez of the
Coalition of Immokalee Workers, one of the tour's organizers. "Twenty years
of picking at sub-poverty wages, no right to overtime pay, no right to
organize or join a union, no health insurance, no sick leave, no paid
holidays or vacation, and no pension is a national disgrace."
Key dates in for the cross-country "Taco Bell Truth Tour":
September 13: Tour Kick-Off in Tampa
September 23: Los Angeles, California
September 24: Irvine, California, TACO BELL HEADQUARTERS
September 28: Washington, DC (organized outside of the Truth Tour)
Other stops and rallies on "Truth Tour":
September 15: Atlanta, GA
September 16: Chicago, IL
September 17: Madison, WI
September 19: Denver, CO
September 21: San Francisco, CA
September 22: Fresno, CA
HISTORY: Since 1997, tomato pickers in Immokalee, Florida's largest
farmworker community, have been organizing for the right to join in talks
with the state's corporate tomato growers to find ways to improve farm labor
conditions and raise the crop picking-piece rate. Despite signature drives,
community-wide work stoppages, marches, and a 30-day hunger strike by six
members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) -- ultimately ended by
the intervention of former President Jimmy Carter -- the growers continue to
refuse to meet with farm worker representatives and have only marginally
raised wages.
When workers discovered that Taco Bell is a major buyer of the tomatoes they
pick, they informed company executives in January, 2000 of the deplorable
wages and working conditions in Florida's fields and requested a meeting to
discuss possible solutions. To date, despite numerous pleas from workers and
growing public pressure, Taco Bell has refused to meet with CIW
representatives.
DEMAND: Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) is calling on Taco Bell to use
its considerable leverage as a major buyer of Florida tomatoes to help bring
about real changes in the wages and working conditions of the farmworkers who
pick those tomatoes. Specifically, farmworkers are demanding that Taco Bell
open a meaningful, three-part dialogue -- bringing together representatives
of Taco Bell, their tomato suppliers, and representatives of the Coalition of
Immokalee Workers -- to discuss mutually-beneficial solutions to the problems
farmworkers face in Florida's fields.
Possible solutions include: a proposal that Taco Bell increase the price it
pays per pound of tomatoes by 1 cent, with the increase to be passed on, in
whole, to the pickers. (Pickers generally receive between 1.2 - 1.5 cents per
pound today. A penny per pound increase could nearly double pickers' wages,
effectively making up for the decline in the real piece rate due to inflation
since 1980.) Taco Bell, tomato industry, and worker representatives could
also examine and draft a Code of Conduct, defining the basic wage and labor
standards to be required of all Taco Bell tomato suppliers.
Workers will not be satisfied until substantive dialogue with Taco Bell and
their employers is established, and measurable progress in the area of wages
and working conditions is made.
Coalition of Immokalee Workers