Background on the Taco Bell Boycott

Support the Tomato Pickers with the Taco Bell Boycott

Coalition of Immokalee Workers needs your help to make Taco Bell a part of the solution in Florida's farmworkers' fight for dialogue and a fair wage.

More and more every day, the tomatoes we produce in Immokalee go to supply major, multi-national corporations. Long gone are the days when small, family farmers supplied area stores and chains with locally-grown tomatoes in season. Today, huge corporate growers with multi-state operations sell tomatoes year round to even bigger corporate buyers, including fast food mega-chains like Taco Bell and Burger King. Those fast food giants receive cheap, high-quality US tomatoes, thanks to the sacrifices of thousands of hard-working Florida farmworkers who pick tomatoes at a piece rate that has remained virtually unchanged for over two decades.

We believe that the large corporations that buy Florida tomatoes must step up to their responsibility by demanding, and obtaining, changes in the shameful pay and working conditions suffered by the men and women who pick their tomatoes.

Why Taco Bell?
Taco Bell is part of YUM Inc., together with Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver's, and A& W Restaurants. These five chains together control more than 30,000 restaurants around the globe, forming the "world's largest restaurant system in terms of units," according to YUM's Annual Report. In 2001, Taco Bell generated nearly $5 billion in sales, while YUM reported system-wide sales of over $22 billion last year.

Taco Bell is a major buyer of Florida tomatoes.

Farmworker Conditions
Farmworkers who pick for Florida growers who sell tomatoes to Taco Bell earn between 40-50 cents for every 32-lb bucket of tomatoes they pick. For example, the Immokalee-based "Six L's Packing Co., Inc.," one of the nation's largest tomato producers and a contractor to Taco Bell (according to the industry journal "The Packer"), still pays 40 cents per bucket. That is the same piece rate paid since 1978.

At that rate, workers must pick and haul 2 TONS of tomatoes to make $50 in a day. [According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the median annual income of farmworkers today is $7,500.] Workers 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 vacation, and no pension.

To date, Taco Bell has refused to take any responsibility for these sweatshop conditions in the fields where their tomatoes are picked.

Given the sheer volume of Immokalee tomatoes it buys to supply its worldwide operations, and given its size and economic strength, Taco Bell has the power to help bring about more modern, more equitable labor relations in Immokalee's tomato fields, and... with power comes responsibility.

What can Taco Bell do?
Taco Bell could nearly double the picking piece rate paid to farmworkers by agreeing to pay just one penny more per pound for the tomatoes it buys from Florida growers. We believe 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 YOU, the consumer, it would still be less than 1/4 of 1 cent more for your chalupa.

Would you be willing to pay 1/4 of 1 penny more for your Chalupa if it meant that farmworkers could earn a living wage?

We thought you would.

The CIW is asking Taco Bell to:

• Convene a meaningful, three-part dialogue -- bringing together representatives of Taco Bell, their Florida tomato suppliers, and representatives of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers - to discuss solutions to the problems farmworkers face in Florida's fields.
• Contribute to an immediate increase in farmworker wages through a raise in the per pound rate Taco Bell pays for tomatoes from its Florida suppliers.
• Join with CIW and tomato industry representatives in drafting strict wage and working condition standards to be required of all Taco Bell tomato suppliers. Such standards would necessarily require respect for pickers' fundamental labor rights, including the right to a living wage and overtime, and the right to organize without fear of retaliation.

You can help!
Please consider the situation of the farmworkers that pick the tomatoes you eat and let Taco Bell know that you expect them to help raise these hardworking men and women out of poverty. Call, fax, or write:

Emil J. Brolick, President and Chief Concept Officer
Taco Bell Corp.
17901 Von Karman
Irvine, California 92614
tel. (949) 863-4500, fax (949) 863-4537

Information provided by the Coalition for Immokalee Workers