Boycott the Bell!

UW Students Promote Boycott of Taco Bell –
Union Labor News, June 2001

Susan Vilbrandt, Managing Editor, Union Labor News
The publication of the South Central Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
http://www.scfl.org

http://www.scfl.org/uln6-1.htm#taco

Carrying signs saying “End sweatshops in the fields” and “Let Freedom Ring–Boycott the Bell,” UW students picketed Taco Bell’s State Street location to begin spreading the word about the conditions of Florida farmworkers who pick the tomatoes going into Taco Bell products.

“No queremos Taco Bell–We don’t want Taco Bell,” they chanted as the troops gathered petition signatures, handed out literature, and talked potential customers out of patronizing Taco Bell.

UW student groups are backing the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a community-based organization of Florida farmworkers, which called for a nationwide boycott last month against Taco Bell. The CIW hopes to pressure the fast food giant to use its influence to increase wages for the largely immigrant workforce of tomato pickers.

The farmworkers’ Coalition objects to wages paid by growers–about 40 cents for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes–a rate they say has not changed since 1978. Workers currently earn about $7,500 a year, less than the legal minimum wage. In order to make $50 in one day, a Immokalee farmworker would have to pick and haul two tons of tomatoes, according to the flyers students handed out.

As migrant agricultural workers, the Florida tomato pickers are denied the right to organize and the right to overtime pay for overtime work, says Cornelio Aguilera, a member of the Chicano student organization, MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan), which is leading Taco Bell boycott activities in Madison. “They receive no health insurance, no sick leave, no paid holidays, no paid vacations and no pension.”

“If Taco Bell were to voluntarily pay just one cent more per pound, and the growers would agree to pass that penny along to the picker, that one penny could almost double their wages overnight,” said Aguilera. A spin-off of PepsiCo, Taco Bell is part of Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., together with Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut. These three major chains control more than 30,000 restaurants, the largest system of chain restaurants in the world. Taco Bell alone reported over $5.2 billion in sales in 1999.

“We decided to take up this campaign because Taco Bell targets college students as its largest customer base and young people need to learn what’s going on in Florida. This summer we want to step up activities both on and off campus,” said Aguilera.

“It’s important for students and workers united in solidarity across the country to work for the rights of migrant workers fighting for better wages and working conditions in the fields of Florida,” says Sarah Turner, a member of the Student Labor Action Coalition (SLAC) which is also supporting the boycott. “Students in particular can help because we can carry the concerns of those workers who might face a backlash from the employer.”

Taco Bell is a major client of the Immokalee-based Six L’s Packing Co., one of the biggest tomato producers in the United States. The growers sell their tomatoes to distributors, who in turn supply Taco Bell. Because the pickers don’t directly work for Taco Bell, the fast-food corporation has rejected the notion that it is responsible for the wages paid to pickers. That was when the decision was made to call for a nationwide boycott.

Aguilera says that Taco Bell, just like Nike and apparel companies who contract to produce UW apparel, cannot escape responsibility for conditions in the fields of Florida. “Taco Bell is part of one of the biggest food corporations in the world, and it has the power to set the industry standard for wages. Even if the cost is passed on to consumers, it would only be a quarter of a penny more for your chalupa.”

What You Can Do:

Ask Taco Bell to meet with representatives of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to discuss how Taco Bell could help bring about long-denied justice for Florida’s farmworkers.

Call, write, or fax: Emil Brolick, President, Taco Bell Corp., 17901 Von Karman, Irvine CA 92614. Phone (949) 863-4500, fax (949) 863-4537.

For more information visit the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ website: www.ciw-online.org