“This cannot be considered a serious proposal”:
Former President Jimmy Carter weighs in on Yum’s “proposed solution” to the boycott…

Nobel Peace Prize winner and former US President Jimmy Carter, writing from the Carter Center in Atlanta, added his voice to the growing chorus of organizations and individuals calling on Yum Brands to take meaningful steps to improve wages and working conditions in its tomato suppliers’ operations The following is the full text of the former President’s statement:

“I have followed with concern for a number of years the appalling working conditions in the Florida-based tomato industry. While production costs in the industry have increased over the last 25 years, wages have been effectively stagnant, as giant cooperative buying mechanisms hold prices down. Conditions are so bad in parts of the industry that there have been two separate prosecutions for slavery in recent years.

In recent years, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) has been publicly campaigning to bring attention to these abuses of human rights and for industry-wide change. In particular, CIW has led a campaign to ask Taco Bell, a subsidiary of Yum! Brand, Inc., the world’s largest restaurant company, to accept responsibility for ensuring that its profits are not derived from abuses of workers in its supply chain.

Recently, Yum! and CIW have been in private talks, convened by the Presbyterian Church (USA), to try to identify tangible ways to resolve the problems in the tomato industry. Regrettably, the latest round, which included talks held at The Carter Center, was not successful. On May 20, Taco Bell issued a statement that Yum! CEO David Novak has called a “proposed solution.” Mr. Novak’s proposal involves, first, the CIW calling off its boycott, and second, a statement that Taco Bell would be willing to work toward an industry-wide solution to pay and conditions. While Yum’s belated acknowledgement of the need for improved pay and conditions is welcome, this cannot be considered a serious proposal. Yum! is saying that only if the CIW ends its boycott will it be willing to support efforts to improve wages, and only if the rest of the industry does. This is a lost opportunity for the head of the world’s largest restaurant company to take the lead in eliminating human rights abuses that he knows exist within his supply chain.”

The CIW thanks President Carter for his continued interest in our campaign.