Taco Bell Boycott -- News and Action

Labor Alerts: a service of Campaign for Labor Rights

Posted, May 10, 2002

In this alert:

• Taco Bell Boycott - News and Action
• Help Students at University of Chicago "Boot the Bell"
• University of California Student Associations Resolves to Support Boycott
• Help Campaign for Labor Rights Update Our Database.

TACO BELL BOYCOTT - NEWS AND ACTION

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a farmworker organization based in Immokalee, Florida, launched an international boycott of Taco Bell in April 2001. The members of CIW pick tomatoes for Six-L's Packing Co. -- one of Taco Bell's principle partners for the year-round supply of tomatoes -- receive sub-poverty wages, stagnant piece rates, no right to overtime pay, no health insurance, no sick leave, no holiday leave, and no pension. Six-L's pays today what the industry paid as a standard piece rate over 20 years ago-40 cents per 32-pounds of tomatoes.

Taco Bell has the power and responsibility to change this situation for the workers who plant, cultivate, and harvest the tomatoes from which they profit. If Taco Bell were to pay JUST ONE PENNY MORE per pound for the tomatoes it buys from Florida growers, and the growers were to pass that extra penny on to the workers, the rate paid to workers could nearly double!

Workers from Immokalee will travel to Louisville, Kentucky, next week on May 16th to attend the Tricon annual shareholders' meeting - Tricon is Taco Bell's parent company. In solidarity with this action in Louisville, supporters across the country are planning actions at their local Taco Bell outlets. Once again, consumers are making a national statement that the days of the fast food industry profiting from farmworker poverty are coming to an end!

Actions are planned in:

If you live near any of these cities and would like more information on how to join your local protest, email tbtruthtour@aol.com mailto:tbtruthtour@aol.com .

** It's never to late to plan your own action -- contact the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to get started, or just download a flier off the web at: www.ciw-online.org www.ciw-online.org/ , and take copies along with your friends, family, and co-workers to a Taco Bell in your community and spread the word to your community about the growing movement to support farmworkers in Florida by boycotting Taco Bell.

HELP STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO "BOOT THE BELL"

Campaign for Labor Rights is helping to coordinate the student arm of the Taco Bell boycott, affectionately called "Boot the Bell." Students across the country whose dining halls are run by the food-service provider, ARAMARK, are mobilizing to get ARAMARK to end its agreement with Taco Bell which allows for Taco Bells to exist on their campuses.

In a letter delivered to Taco Bell executives at their headquarters in Irvine, CA, dozens of college, university and high school students announced their intent to kick Taco Bell off their campuses and out of their dining halls. "Boot the Bell" is currently focused on the University of Chicago, where students believe they are close to getting Taco Bell removed from their campus. The month of May will be an incredibly intense organizing period for the students at U of C, and they are calling for your support.

TAKE ACTION NOW: Send letters of solidarity and support to Leonore Palladino lmpallad@midway.uchicago.edu mailto:lmpallad@midway.uchicago.edu . These letters will be delivered along with other materials to U of C administration and ARAMARK representatives to demonstrate that not only do students and faculty at U of C support booting the bell, but organizations and individuals across the country also feel strongly that U of C, ARAMARK, and Taco Bell should stop supporting sweatshop working conditions.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA STUDENT ASSOCIATION RESOLVES TO SUPPORT BOYCOTT

At the same time "boot the bell" is gaining ground of the University of Chicago, it is gaining momentum across the country. Below is a resolution in support of the boycott passed by the University of California Student Association (UCSA), representing the student governments on the 9 University of California campuses statewide.

The resolution reads:

"In Support of Ending Sweatshops in the Fields, and BOOTING THE BELL off of the UCLA campus"

Written by: Chuck McNally, Student Labor Action Coalition(SLAC)-UCB
Sponsored by; Senator Quindel, Senator Holland, Academic Affairs
Vice-President Ahn, and External Affairs Vice President Josh Fryday

Whereas, farm workers who pick tomatoes in the fields of southwest Florida have not received a raise in over 20 years; and

Whereas, Taco Bell is one of the largest buyers of the tomatoes that farm workers pick in Florida; and

Whereas, farm workers average about $7,500 per year according to a survey the Labor Department did recently; and

Whereas, Taco Bell is apart of the largest restaurant company in the world and grossed $5.2 billion in 1999; and

Whereas, the tomato producers in southwest Florida have remained firm in their disrespect of farm workers' rights to decent wages and working conditions; and

Whereas, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has approached Taco Bell over 2 years ago to try to initiate a dialogue which would allow for farm workers who pick their tomatoes to be paid a decent wage and be treated with respect and not like slaves or tractors; and

Whereas, Taco Bell has feigned neutrality all along and has forced the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to up the ante by declaring an international boycott of Taco Bell as of April 2001; and

Whereas, there are Taco Bells on U.C. campuses (namely UCLA) and students typically fit Taco Bells niche consumer market; and

Whereas, the UC system has been feigning neutrality on farm workers' rights since the grape boycott of 1968 ,and students taste the injustice daily in their campus dining halls and at on campus restaurants (like Taco Bell at UCLA); and

Whereas, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers just finished a national Taco Bell Truth Tour and has now launched a national Boot the Bell campaign on K-12 and college campuses; and

Whereas, Taco Bell has been given more than an adequate chance to respond to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' demands for help in getting fair wages for the tomatoes that end up in Taco Bells' "food"; and

Whereas, students throughout California and the country are currently working on the Taco Bell Boycott, including United Students Against Sweatshops members, MEChistas, and even the ASUC at UC Berkeley has become involved.

Be it Finally Resolved, that the UCSA joins the labor, faith based communities, student labor groups, MEChistas, the Associated Students at UC Berkeley, and many others in calling for Taco Bell to meet the Coalition of Immokalee Workers demands for fair wages for the tomatoes that they supply to Taco Bell and many other people throughout the country.

Be it Further Resolved, that UCSA will seek to spread the word about the Taco Bell boycott and honor it until Taco Bell owns up to their corporate responsibility for the conditions that workers face as they pick tomatoes that ultimately end up in their restaurants.

Be it Further Resolved, that the UCSA believes that the UC system should begin to sever it's relations with Taco Bell and Tricon Inc, including Booting the Bell off the UCLA campus, until the Coalition of Immokalee Workers receive justice(Aumento Ya!!) in the tomato fields of Florida.

Be it Finally Resolved, that UCSA and it's individual members on the different UC campuses believe that both the UC system and Taco Bell should stop feigning neutrality when it comes to farm workers' rights and take a positive stand in order to END SWEATSHOPS IN THE FIELDS!

HELP CAMPAIGN FOR LABOR RIGHTS UPDATE OUR DATABASE

Campaign for Labor Rights is known around the world as a powerful grassroots mobilizing force within the anti-sweatshop movement. Help us grow our organization and become even more effective - just click on the link below, and fill out the form that appears. We will NOT share your contact information without your explicit permission.

~Find the form at: www.vidacom.org/clr/contact.html www.vidacom.org/clr/contact.html

[Information in this Alert provided by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, www.ciw-online.org www.ciw-online.org/ , Student Farmworker Alliance, Student Labor Action Coalition - UCB]

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