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Labor Alerts: a service of Campaign for Labor Rights
Posted October 15, 2002 In this Alert:1. Apologies from CLR 2. Five Days of "Spooky" Action on Taco Bell 3. Working Assets Voting Time <><><><><> APOLOGIES FROM CLR We sincerely apologize for the number of emails you each received as a result of our last Labor Alert about the contract fight between the Coca-cola union in Guatemala and the bottling company, Panamco. One of the settings within the listserve system was accidentally changed, and the result was that email boucebacks were broadcast to the entire list of 12,000 subscribers. This problem has been fixed and will not happen again. Again, we are very sorry for any inconvenience this mistake may have caused. Thanks for your understanding as well as for your continued awareness and action on issues of international labor rights. <><><><><> FIVE DAYS OF SPOOKY ACTION ON TACO BELL From October 31 (Halloween) to November 4, activists will take action at Taco Bell restaurants across the country. These actions are in support of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers? (CIW) boycott of Taco Bell. CIW members pick tomatoes for Taco Bell and currently get paid what the industry paid as a standard rate in 1979. If Taco Bell paid ONE MORE CENT per pound of tomatoes it buys, the workers' wages could nearly double! After years of campaigning, the Immokalee workers launched a boycott of Taco Bell to bring their pressure against the company to a new level with the goal of bringing the company to the negotiating table. ** These actions will be happening simultaneous to the Free Trade Area of the Americas ministerial meeting in Quito, Ecuador. Free Trade's injustice usually goes faceless and nameless -- the corporations behind the system often get to ride the coattails of Free Trade without being connected or accountable to the damage it causes. These five days of action will clearly link Free Trade and US farmworker exploitation, using the Coalition of Immokalee Worker?s boycott against Taco Bell as a solid example of how workers in this country are resisting both. Take action against the Taco Bell in your community! Tell Taco Bell that you prefer fair food over fast food that exploits farmworkers. Activists are planing a variety of creative actions as a part of this nationally coordinated mobilization. Here are just some of the actions that we have heard about: ~ Halloween leafleting actions, exposing the horrific truth of Taco Bell's profits. ~ Vampire tomato costumes, and all night haunt-ins at Taco Bell. ~ A haunted house, full of the evils of farmworker exploitation and Free Trade. ~ Coordinated "scream-in" (or call-in action) to Taco Bell headquarters. ~ Teach-ins on the Taco Bell boycott and the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Days of Spooky Action organizing packets are available and include a flyer making the links between Taco Bell and the FTAA, a sample press release for the Days of Spooky Action, flyers to copy and hand out at your action, a more complete list of creative action ideas, and more! For a packet, just contact Campaign for Labor Rights at: clr@clrlabor.org, or the Coalition of Immokalee Workers at: workers@ciw-online.org. ** PLEASE LET US KNO W ABOUT YOUR ACTION. If you are planning an action at a Taco Bell in your area, please let us know so we can report back to you on how big our collective effort against Taco Bell was. Send us an email with your plans: clr@clrlabor.org. Thanks! <><><><><> WORKING ASSETS VOTING TIME Many subscribers to Labor Alerts use the company, Working Assets, as their long-distance telephone provider. Working Assets holds an annual nomination and voting process for how a portion of its profits will be allocated to progressive organizations in the U.S. This year, two of CLRs partner organizations, Sweatshop Watch and United for a Fair Economy, made the list of 50 finalists. As partner organizations, these groups sometimes work on campaigns we are mobilizing for. If you use Working Assets, please consider casting your votes for these two great organizations ? our work would not be the same without them. <><><><><> In solidarity, Daisy Pitkin Campaign Coordinator Campaign for Labor Rights 202-232-5002 www.campaignforlaborrights.org
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