Media Advisory

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: February 6, 2004

FLORIDA FARMWORKERS CROSS COUNTRY TO TAKE FIGHT FOR RIGHTS
TO FAST-FOOD GIANT TACO BELL

Farmworkers will lead three-day march from East LA to Irvine, culminating in massive rally outside Taco Bell corporate headquarters on March 5th;

2003 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Laureates to call for “Fair food that respects human rights, not fast-food that exploits human beings”

(Immokalee, FL) -- More than 100 farmworkers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) will be joined by student, religious, and labor allies on a cross-country protest demanding that the fast-food giant Taco Bell take responsibility for labor abuses in the fields where it buys its tomatoes. The highlight of the two-week tour will be a three-day march from historic East LA to Taco Bell’s global headquarters in Irvine, California. The march will end in a day-long rally on Friday, March 5th, outside Taco Bell’s offices, with music, speakers, and powerful visuals of the farmworkers’ plight. Visuals will include a two-story pyramid of tomato buckets, representing the two tons of tomatoes workers must pick to earn $50 dollars in a day at picking piece rates that have remained effectively stagnant for nearly 25 years.

On February 27th, the tour will also stop on its way across country at the Louisville, Kentucky, headquarters of Taco Bell’s parent company Yum Brands. There, farmworkers will march from the national offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), an early endorser of the CIW’s campaign, to Yum’s offices over 8 miles away, passing by several Taco Bell restaurants along the way. Once outside the headquarters, workers from Immokalee will deliver a load of sweat- and dirt-stained work clothes collected by CIW members as a demonstration of the exploitation behind Taco Bell’s products.

EVENT: 2004 Taco Bell Truth Tour

WHEN: February, 25 - March 10

KEY EVENTS: Feb. 27th - Day-long march to Yum Brands headquarters, Louisville, KY
March 2-4 - Three-day march, East LA to Taco Bell headquarters, Irvine, CA
March 5th - Day-long rally at Taco Bell headquarters, Irvine, CA

WHO:

* Coalition of Immokalee Workers, including 2003 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Laureates (Lucas Benitez, Julia Gabriel, Romeo Ramirez)
* Tom Morello, guitarist Audioslave, formerly of Rage Against the Machine
* Boots Riley, The Coup, Rolling Stone Magazine "Hip-Hop Artist of the Year"
* Eric Schlosser, author, “Fast Food Nation”
* Dolores Huerta, co-founder, United Farm Workers

More principals to be announced

CONTACT: Lucas Benitez, Coalition of Immokalee Workers - Office (239) 657-8311; Cell (239) 503-0133; E-Mail: workers@ciw-online.org

Julia Perkins, Student/Farmworker Alliance - Cell in California (239) 986-0891