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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Boycott Taco Bell -- Support the Taco Bell Truth Tour |
Current rating: 0 |
by an IMC-LA stringer
(No verified email address) |
31 Aug 2001
Modified: 10:30:21 AM |
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The Workers, who pick the tomatoes for Taco Bell and are paid low-poverty wages without benefits, have called for a boycott of Taco Bell -- and setting out on a cross-country Truth Tour on Sept 13 to raise support for their cause. |
 The Workers, who pick the tomatoes for Taco Bell and are paid low-poverty wages without benefits, have called for a boycott of Taco Bell -- and setting out on a cross-country Truth Tour on Sept 13 to raise support for their cause. |
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
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See also:
http://www.ciw-online.org/
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The UFW endorses the Taco Bell Boycott! |
by an IMC-LA stringer
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
31 Aug 2001
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Great news out of California!:
As the Taco Bell Truth Tour inches nearer, endorsements for the boycott are really starting to mount up. The latest resolution of support comes from the United Farm Workers, the union founded by Cesar Chavez that blazed trails for farmworkers throughout this country yearning for a fair wage and respect.
Here below is the text of their resolution:
"Resolution Supporting the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and their Boycott of Taco Bell:
Whereas, tomato workers must pick and haul 2 tons of tomatoes to make $50 in a day;
Whereas, Taco Bell refuses to meet with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers;
Whereas, in September, workers and students and community activists will travel on a tour to California from Florida to publicize the Taco Bell boycott;
Whereas, the bucket rate of 40 cents for a 32 pound bucket has not increased since 1978 - over 23 years;
Whereas, Taco Bell could double the piece rate by just paying one penny more per pound of tomatoes;
Therefore, the UFW endorses the Coalition of Immokalee Workersrequest for a boycott of Taco Bell and will assist them in any way possible."
The UFW's much-welcomed gesture of solidarity is the latest in a growing list of organizations that have formally endorsed the boycott, including the United Church of Christ, the San Francisco Labor Council, the National Farm Worker Ministry, and the Unitarian Universalist Migrant Ministry.
But as an organization fighting for farmworkers' rights, we can assure our brothers and sisters at the UFW that there is no endorsement more significant to us than theirs. In the words of Cesar Chavez -- "Si se puede!" Thanks, and see you in California!, Greg Asbed, CIW |
