For Immediate Release
September 8, 2006

Contact:
Lucas Benitez, 239-503-0133
Julia Perkins, 239-986-0891
Greg Asbed, 239-986-2364

FLORIDA FARMWORKERS TO VISIT AREA WITH MESSAGE FOR DENVER-BASED FAST-FOOD GIANT CHIPOTLE:

“HONEST INGREDIENTS?  LET’S TALK ABOUT THE SWEATSHOP TOMATOES IN YOUR BURRITOS!”

brings Campaign for Fair Food to Denver area, building local action committee to press Chipotle for fair wages, working conditions in tomato supply chain

Immokalee, FL – From Wednesday 9/13 to Thursday 9/21, the (CIW) – an award-winning farmworker organization from Florida that has made national headlines in recent years with its successful Taco Bell boycott and its work to expose several modern-day slavery operations in Florida’s fields – will bring its Campaign for Fair Food to Denver.  The Campaign for Fair Food calls on food industry leaders, including McDonald’s and the Denver-based Chipotle corporation, to leverage their market power as major buyers of Florida tomatoes to demand full respect for the human rights of the farmworkers who pick those tomatoes.

A team from the CIW will begin a week-long stay in the area with two goals: To raise awareness around the sweatshop conditions in Florida’s tomato fields, and to highlight the role that fast-rising Chipotle can play in helping to end the exploitation of Florida farmworkers.  The team will be comprised of representatives from the CIW accompanied by members of the Alliance for Fair Food (AFF), a national alliance of human rights, religious, labor, student, and community organizations dedicated to the advancement of farmworkers’ rights through the implementation of social responsibility in the food industry.  Members of the AFF include, among others, the AFL-CIO, Amnesty International, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, SEIU, Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), Julian Bond (Chairman of the NAACP), and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams.

The CIW team will also be working with a local action committee in the Denver area that, like the AFF, brings together allies from across the spectrum into a unified force committed to keeping the pressure on Chipotle once CIW members return to Florida.

“When we first wrote to Chipotle in February of this year, we expected — based on their policy of ‘Food with Integrity’ and its strong commitment to animal rights — that they would be excited to partner with us in helping protect the human rights of the farmworkers who pick their tomatoes,” said Lucas Benitez of the CIW.  “But we have been disappointed by their silence,” continued Benitez, “Eight months later, we’re still waiting for a response.”

Chipotle admits that its volume purchasing of vegetables and meat place it in a unique position to influence the conditions under which its ingredients are produced and raised.  In fact, the company’s “Manifesto,” entitled “Food With Integrity,” declares its mission to “revolutionize the way America grows and gathers its food” by “working back along the food chain” beyond distributors to encourage healthy production of vegetables and humane raising of animals by farmers supplying Chipotle.

The CIW will be calling on Chipotle to expand its own “Food With Integrity” mission to include “Work With Dignity” for farmworkers who harvest its tomatoes by partnering with the CIW to ensure improved wages and the participation of farmworkers in the protection and advancement of their own rights.  Further, CIW is calling on Chipotle to influence the fast-food giant McDonald’s to join Yum! Brands, Taco Bell’s parent company, in working with the CIW for these important human rights advances in the agri-food industry.  Chipotle Mexican Grill, was, until recently a wholly-owned subsidiary of the McDonald’s corporation. Following a public offering of the company in January 2006, McDonald’s now owns a controlling interest in Chipotle.

Background:  In March of 2005, the CIW and Taco Bell resolved the CIW’s 4-year boycott of the Mexican food leader with a ground-breaking agreement.  The historic agreement commits Yum Brands to pay farmworkers an extra penny per pound for tomatoes Taco Bell purchases, to work with the CIW on its code of conduct so that farmworker participation in the protection of their own rights is ensured and to guarantee transparency in its tomato supply chain.

For more background on workers’ wages, conditions, the Campaign for Fair Food, the Alliance for Fair Food, and the CIW-Yum! Brands agreement, visit www.ciw-online.org

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