Julia Gabriel:
"Como trabajadores y mujeres, tenemos que
luchar por nuestros derechos y contra la violencia tanto en la labor
como en la casa"
"As women and as workers, we have to fight for our rights and against
violence both in the fields and in our own homes"
You
and your friends -- your fellow students, neighbors, co-workers, or members
of your church -- are the very heart of this
campaign!
If you have
come to this site because you want to help make FAIR FOOD a reality, you
can use the tools below to bring the Taco Bell boycott to your community.
But, first...
Please consider donating to the CIW!We
need your support to keep the boycott, the anti-slavery campaign, and
everything else we do going strong!
Click on the Pay Pal link below to send a secure donation now!
Now, here are some great
tools for organizing at home:
E-mail
Petition send an email to Emil (Emil Brolick, TB's CEO)
Or, send an automated fax to Emil Brolick, Taco Bell CEO,
from this link
on the United Church of Christ web site - It's easy and a
great way to support the boycott without even getting up from your seat!
Thanks for joining us, and don't
forget to send us any news, photos, or media reports on actions in your
community -- we'll post them as soon as we can and your action can help
motivate thousands of visitors to the site across the country!
Coalition
of Immokalee Workers
WHO
WE ARE
1995 General Strike
Immokalee, Florida
The CIW is today spear-heading the Taco
Bell boycott. But before we launched the national boycott in April of
2001, we had been organizing locally for many years in an effort to
modernize labor relations in Florida's fields, improve wages and working
conditions for our members, and eliminate modern-day slavery.
To learn more about the history of the
Coalition, you can go to the CIW site
where you'll find all the non-Taco Bell info on the Coalition from 1995
to 2001, including past CIW campaigns, Press Archives, Photo Galleries,
and more!
1997 General Strike
Immokalee, Florida
Or, you can simply click on some of
the links here below to go directly to the pages from the CIW site that
interest you... just remember to hit the back button on your browser
to return to the boycott site!:
(From Notre Dame's daily paper, "The Observer,"
8/25/04): "Acting on allegations brought to
light by a stream of student protests last spring,
Notre Dame terminated its contract with local Taco
Bell restaurants over the summer."
"The University decided not to renew the athletic
department's $50,000 yearly sponsorship agreement
because of concerns raised by the Progressive Student
Alliance, Notre Dame spokesman Matt Storin said
Monday. The students, who argued that the chain's
tomato suppliers in Florida treated migrant workers
unfairly, "deserve a lot of credit for bringing
up these issues, doing the research and carrying
on the discussion in a very responsible and studied
way," Storin said." Click
here to read the rest of the article
What an inspiring way to start the new school year
for students at Notre Dame (shown here in the photo
above during a march on the president's office last
Spring), and for students across the country who
are demanding social responsibility and respect
for workers' rights in their communities! With active,
growing campaigns on dozens of college and high
school campuses -- including UCLA, Grand Valley
State, and UT Austin -- the Student/Farmworker Alliance's
"Boot the Bell" campaign is one of the
fastest growing movements for social justice on
campuses today. Send an email to organize@sfalliance.org
to learn how you can "Boot the Bell" for
justice!
HURRICANE
CHARLEY'S HIDDEN VICTIMS... Lucas
Benitez of the CIW (standing far right in the photo
on right) joined the Mexican Consul in visiting Latino
communities affected by Hurricane Charley, communities
already living close to the edge before the killer
storm ripped through their homes. Click on the links
below to read about their experience, including a
run-in with a trailer park owner who apparently insists
on collecting rent even when there are no more trailers
and virtually no more park...:
If
you would like to make a donation that will be distributed
throughout Southwest Florida where needed, The Catholic
Diocese of Venice will be collecting money.
Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, Bokeelia (shown above),
Fort Myers and Arcadia are all located in the Diocese
of Venice and the Diocese has a great network through
Catholic Charities to the needy. You can make a
check payable to:
Diocese of Venice
Hurricane Relief Fund
1000 Pinebrook Road
Venice FL 34285
Thank you.
On
a happier note... Superstar Singer and Anti-Slavery
Activist Ricky Martin endorses Taco Bell Boycott!...
Although far
better known for his music than his activism, Ricky
Martin has distinguished himself among artists with
his exemplary work against forced labor, with a particular
emphasis on the fight to end the exploitation of children.
His "People for Children" project of the
Ricky Martin Foundation, " funds community based
programs which monitor and combat a range of problems
relating to the exploitation of children... (and)
is also active monitoring and combating areas including
debt labor, forced labor, modern day slavery, and
prostitution of children."
The CIW greatly appreciates Mr. Martin's support
and we look forward to working more closely with
him in the fight against modern day slavery (ok,
ok... and to shaking our bonbons with him on a picket
line someday, too... you know we had to say it!).
PAX
CHRISTI HONORS CIW AT ANNUAL NATIONAL CONFERENCE...
With a plaque
reading:
"In recognition
of their human rights work on issues thataffect our nation's farmworkers, Pax
Christi USA honors the Coalition of Immokalee
Workers... With this recognition, Pax Christ USA
also pledges to continue our support of your efforts
to end modern-day slavery in the fields of our
country and to call transnational corporations
like Taco Bell to treat farmworkers with dignity.
We commend all of the workers in the CIW for their
strength, courage, and witness." July 31,
2004
... the delegates gathered at the 2004 National
Conference in Miami not only gave beautiful words
to their heartfelt alliance with Immokalee workers,
but then hit the streets in a powerful action (R)
, surrounding a downtown Taco Bell with nearly 200
protesters in the 90+ degree heat of July in Miami!
This growing alliance promises to have an even greater
impact in the months and years ahead.
And speaking
of alliances...The
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human
Rights organized a Congressional Briefing
this past July in which five CIW members testified
regarding their personal experiences of slavery
and exploitation in Florida's fields. The
event was co-sponsored by Representatives Raul Grijalva
(AZ), Hilda Solis (CA), Robert Wexler (FL), and
Linda Sanchez (CA). Click on the link below for
a report on the briefing by the RFK Center for Human
Rights:
CIW
member named Mother Jones Magazine's "Hellraiser
of the Month"!... Here's a little taste
from the "Hellraiser" column of the July
issue of Mother Jones Magazine, in which the CIW's
own Lucas Benitez (L) is featured:
"'Picking is
dignified, honest work that deserves to be treated
as such. This community of workers is... clearing
the path for those who will come behind us. It's not
something that can wait for others. It has to come
from us, who've worked in the fields.'"
To see the full
article, "Power to the Pickers,"
check it out online here.
"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.
If
you'd like to send a fax to Yum telling them that
"empty promises" are not enough,
go to the UCC action alert here.
CIW
protest at Yum Brands shareholder meeting, Yum "offer
to end boycott" cause quite a stir in Louisville,
nationally!... Taco
Bell boycott continues following Yum CEO's public
relations gambit...
Thursday, May 20th, started out
as a fairly typical day in the Taco Bell boycott.
Workers from Immokalee traveled to Louisville, KY,
for an animated protest at Yum Brands' annual shareholder
meeting, building again the "Pyramid of Poverty"
(left, 125 tomato picking buckets, representing
the 2 tons of tomatoes workers must pick to earn
minimum wage for a 10 hour day) as the centerpiece
of a protest full of eye-catching banners and a
jubilant spirit.
Across the country, over 1,600 people fasted in
solidarity with the workers' protest (right, fasting
students at UCLA pass out flyers to fellow students,
read article, "Protesters
boycott Taco Bell with fast").
Then suddenly, things took an
interesting turn. Inside an otherwise formulaic
and oddly uncompelling shareholders meeting, Yum
Brands CEO David Novak made an unexpected announcement.
"We're ready to end this boycott, if you are,"
he told Lucas Benitez of the CIW, along with the
shareholders and the gathered press.
Sadly... it turns out that the
"offer" (which Yum spent considerable
energy publicizing following Thursday's annual meeting,
leaving little doubt as to the real purpose behind
the move...) was not so interesting, nor so sincere,
after all. As the saying goes, the devil is in the
details.
In short, Yum's CEO offered to
work with the CIW toward an industry-wide surcharge
of 1 penny per pound to be paid by all buyers of
Florida tomatoes, and second, to help lobby Florida's
legislature for better working conditions. In return,
he demanded that the CIW end the Taco Bell boycott
immediately (i.e., in exchange for Yum's willingness
to work together, not for the actual achievement
of any real change).
For those of you who like to
cut to the chase, here is the CIW's formal answer
to Yum's "offer":
"At
the shareholders' meeting, we asked David Novak
to enter personally into meaningful talks to address
farmworkers'
sub-poverty wages and sweatshop working conditions
and to resolve the boycott. Apparently he prefers
to negotiate through the press. So here's our answer:
As it stands right now, your offer is little more
than a transparent public relations ploy -- empty
promises with no real commitment to change. When
you're ready to talk about real change for real
people, we are ready, too.
It took
your company three full years to finally acknowledge
what the CIW has been saying all along: that farmworkers
are indeed a part of your business, and that the
workers who pick your tomatoes are indeed in need
of real change in their wages and working conditions.
But simply acknowledging what so many have said
for so long is not enough. Your offer does nothing
to actually improve those conditions and leaves
farmworkers as poor as they've ever been, with nothing
more than a vague hope for change. The boycott will
only end when Yum is committed to taking concrete
measures to improve labor conditions for tomato
harvesters in its supply chain."
In this case, the old adage
rings true: Yum, it's time for you to put your
money where your mouth is. Don't just talk
about a penny surcharge, pay the penny more to your
Florida based tomato suppliers so that they can
give farmworkers a long overdue raise in the picking
piece rate. You can afford it. And don't just talk
about labor reforms, reform labor abuses in your
own supply chain. You have the power.
Until then, until Yum actually commits a
fraction of its considerable resources as the largest
restaurant company in the world toward making these
hollow promises real, the boycott continues.
For the AP article
and a local report on the shareholders meeting and
the Yum announcement, click on the links below:
(The compressed
file takes several minutes to download with a fast
connection; film includes footage from the 2004
Taco Bell Truth Tour!)
HUGE NEWS!In
two pieces of great news for the Taco Bell boycott
from this past week:
1) the United
Methodist Church voted to officially endorse the
boycott, and
2) the University
of Notre Dame, heeding concerns raised by student
activists, "is postponing renewal of a sponsorship
contract with Taco Bell until it receives more information
about its labor standards,"
according to the South Bend Tribune. Click
here to read the Tribune article.
The United Methodist Church, at their General Conference
in Pittsburgh last week, voted to join the boycott
against Taco Bell, following the recommendations
of the Committee on Church and Society. The Committee
voted 99 to 4 to recommend support of the boycott.
The full Conference voted 846 to 6 to support the
Taco Bell boycott.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers deeply appreciates
the support of the United Methodist Church, which
counts over 8 million members nationally! We also
thank the strong support of the Presbyterian Church
(USA) and the National Farm Workers Ministry --
both long-time endorsers and active participants
in the boycott -- that took an leading role in presenting
the campaign to the General Conference. We look
forward to working with our friends in the United
Methodist Church both here in Florida and across
the country for a long-overdue resolution to this
struggle for social justice.
We'd also like to recognize the members of Notre
Dame's Progressive Student Association, whose courageous
and determined efforts to educate their Administration
on the sweatshop conditions in the fields of Taco
Bell's tomato suppliers -- efforts that have included
over 100 students fasting over the past month --
appear to be bearing fruit.
BOOT
THE BELL CAMPAIGN GAINS POWERFUL NEW MOMENTUM FROM
NATIONAL STUDENT HUNGER STRIKE! Taco
Bell contracts are under heavy pressure on two major
campuses this week, as students at UCLA
and Notre Dame are pushing hard for
their administrations to "Boot the Bell"
until Taco Bell takes serious steps to clean up human
rights violations in their tomato suppliers' operations.
Meanwhile, six students at Eckerd College celebrated
the end of their five-day fast at a rally in support
of the boycott (breaking bread, right). The six were
joined by nearly 70 more students who held day-long
solidarity fasts.
Here are the very latest articles
from the student front:
AFL-CIO
PRESIDENT JOHN SWEENEY WEIGHS IN ON TACO BELL BOYCOTT!...In a powerfully-worded letter
to Yum Brands board member James Dimon (CEO of Bank
One Corp.), AFL-CIO President John Sweeney wrote,
"For my part,
I will be urging my constituents, the 13 million members
of the AFL-CIO and their families, to boycott Taco
Bell products until this issue is resolved."
President Sweeney's letter was written
to request intervention by Mr. Dimon in favor of the
Immokalee workers' demands. Click
here to see the full text of President Sweeney's letter
to Yum Brands board member James Dimon!
THE
HONORABLE MARY ROBINSON, FORMER UNITED NATIONS HIGH
COMMISSIONER ON HUMAN RIGHTS, VISITS IMMOKALEE IN
SOLIDARITY WITH CIW!...Ms.
Robinson (shown in the photo on the left touring Immokalee
migrant labor camps with CIW member Lucas Benitez)
met with CIW members, took a walking tour of Immokalee,
and spoke at a press conference (below, left), where
she was joined by several CIW members, President of
the National Council of Churches Bishop Thomas Hoyt,
Rev. Noelle Damico representing the Presbyterian Church
U.S.A., and Oxfam America President Raymond C. Offenheiser.
At the press conference,
Ms. Robinson was refreshingly forthright in conveying
her perspective on the CIW's struggle, saying:
"My
message to Yum Brands is: you can't pass the buck.
You are profiting by exploitation and you have the
power to change what is happening in the fields.
So, pay this penny a pound more for workers rights,
and assume your fair share of responsibility."
Press turnout for
the conference was great. Click on the links below
for stories on the day's events from the:
Check out the Truth
Tour pages for all the Daily
Reports from the Tour (including photos
and first-hand reports from the massive rally on
March 5th outside Taco Bell headquarters, the 44-mile
march from East LA to Irvine, and the 8-mile march
on Yum Brands headquarters in Louisville, KY), links
to press reports from Kentucky
to California, video shorts from
the Tour, and reports from solidarity actions
across the country! Click
here to go to the Tour update page!
Slavery, Florida Agriculture,
and the 2004 Taco Bell Truth Tour - Just
as the Truth Tour gathered momentum, a major new report
made headlines across the country about the epidemic
of slavery in Florida's fields. Read the story on
CNN: Report:
Modern-day slavery alive and well in Florida.
And for the Yum Brands executives still insisting
they need yet another study on farm labor conditions
in Florida's tomato fields, just read the report
by the Center for the Advancement of Human
Rights, please. You may want to pay special
attention to Chapter 2, Page 17: "Trafficking
for Forced Agricultural Labor".
For anyone still not quite
sure that Florida farmworkers are poor and exploited
(and you know who you are)...Two
in-depth, special investigations published in the
past four months by the Palm Beach Post and the Miami
Herald -- two of Florida's most-respected newspapers
-- should pretty well put any lingering doubts you
might have to rest:
Palm
Beach Post Special Report:
"Modern Day Slavery"
"It comes down
to this: We can consent to be the distant
overseers of farm workers who toil in a modern,
faint, smudged carbon copy of slavery. Or
we can await the day when tomatoes, lettuce
and celery jump out of the ground and walk,
the day when oranges and grapefruit fly off
the tree, all making straight for the supermarket.
Or we can pay a penny more for a half-gallon
of orange juice -- that penny to go into the
picker's pocket -- and fork over a similar
small markup on vegetables, for the same reason,
in the name of mere justice."
(From Special
Report editorial entitled, "Still
harvesting shame")
To read more of the Palm Beach Post report,
click
here.
Miami
Herald Special Report:
"Fields
of Desperation"
"Drinking
a glass of orange juice or eating lunch at
a fast-food restaurant doesn't automatically
conjure up images of exploited farmworkers
toiling in dusty fields like indentured servants.
But
a connection between the two is an unpleasant
reality in Florida. The orange juice that
accompanies your breakfast eggs and the tomatoes
in that salad may well be the product of a
process that begins with servitude -- some
call it slavery -- that decent people abhor."(From
Special Report editorial entitled, "Florida's
Fields of Despair: Destitute Farmworkers Exploited")
To
read more of the Miami Herald report, click
here.
The truth of exploitation and
abuse in the tomato fields and orange groves of
the "Sunshine State" can no longer be
denied. But just in case those reports aren't enough
for you, here's a little more to chew on...
"I
met many incredibly brave people committed
to helping victims of the slave trade... In
Florida I met a group of farm workers, including
many former slaves, who are trying to improve
the barbaric work conditions of migrant farm
laborers. They call themselves the Coalition
of Immokalee Workers. It felt good to see
that there are people who have escaped slavery
and are now trying to empower others."From 'Field
Notes from Author Andrew Cockburn,'
National Geographic Online.
The Geographic's feature
article from the September, 2003, issue, entitled
"21st Century Slaves," is not online,
but you can find a multi-media page on the
issue on their website by clicking
here.
"All these factors
combine to create, in South Florida, what
a Justice Department official calls "ground
zero for modern slavery." The area has
seen six cases of involuntary servitude successfully
prosecuted in the past six years. Describing
local migrant-contractor power dynamics, Michael
Baron, an agent with
the US Border Patrol who knows Florida well,
told me, "Most of the time, these workers
are housed miles from civilization, with no
telephones or cars. They're controllable.
There's no escape. If you do escape, what
are you gonna do?...Whoever's got you, they'll
find you. And heaven help you when they do."
To see the New Yorker article
by John Bowe from April, 2003, entitled, "Nobodies:
Does slavery exist in America?" download
the pdf file byclicking
here.
Univision,
the Spanish-language media giant, recently
posted a major, multi-media report on the
deplorable living and working conditions for
farmworkers in Immokalee on its website.
Check out UNIVISION.COMto see the whole story in Spanish. The
report includes five separate articles, three
superb photo galleries, and a link where you
can discuss your reactions to the story with
readers from across the country. Even if you
don't read Spanish, you really should visit
the photo galleries for a powerful glimpse
into the reality of life and work in Immokalee.
And
while this isn't a documented study like the
rest, it's still a nice comment on conditions
in Florida's fields... Al Hunt, commentator
on CNN's weekly "Capital Gang,"
had this to say about farm labor abuses for
his "Outrage of the Week"
(Nov. 30):
"Last week, the Robert
F. Kennedy Human Rights Award was given to
three farmworkers in the Coalition of Immokalee
Workers. These South Florida migrants are
a last vestige of neo-slavery in America --
below poverty wages, and brutal working conditions.
This is possible only because of enablers:
gutless politicians, greedy growers, and huge
purchasers like Taco Bell, which repeatedly
refuses requests from Immokalee to help negotiate
better conditions. In a week when so many
of us have so much to be thankful for, let's
not forget these vicitms... and villains."
Al Hunt was the mc at the RFK Human Rights
Award ceremony and, clearly, was moved by
the stories he heard that day from the laureates.
We'll give the last word to the
US Department of Labor (from its
January, 2001 Report to Congress on farmworker conditions):
"Low wages, sub-poverty annual earnings, (and)
significant periods of un-and underemployment...
all add up to a labor force in significant economic
distress."
CIW
MEMBERS RECEIVE 2003 ROBERT F. KENNEDY HUMAN RIGHTS
AWARD!
At the award
ceremony in Washington, DC, from L to R: Edward
J. Olmos, Sen. Kennedy, Mrs. Ethel Kennedy,
Al Hunt (CNN), and CIW members Lucas Benitez,
Julia Gabriel, and Romeo Ramirez. For
photos from the ceremony, click here.
In a gala ceremony on Capitol Hill -- including
speeches by Senator Edward Kennedy, actor Edward
James Olmos, and a letter of congratulations from
former President Jimmy Carter -- Lucas Benitez,
Julia Gabriel, and Romeo Ramirez of the CIW received
the 2003 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in
recognition of their courageous work fighting modern-day
slavery in the agricultural industry and their leadership
of the national Taco Bell boycott.
A whirlwind week of events -- beginning with the
tense final day of a 34-mile march to Miami, in
protest of the impact of free trade policies on
human rights throughout the hemisphere (see below)
-- saw the new RFK laureates go from being surrounded
by thousands of riot police in Miami to being feted
by hundreds of celebrities, political leaders, and
activists from around the country in Washington,
DC.
At the ceremony, Lucas Benitez gave a moving speech
in acceptance of the award. Here below is an excerpt
of that speech. [To see the full text of Lucas Benitez's
acceptance speech, click
here.]
"Just
two days ago, we marched into downtown Miami surrounded
by nearly 3,000 police in riot gear, mounted police,
police on bicycles, police on foot, police in helicopters
hovering above Miami's skyline, their propellers beating
out the soundtrack to what seemed to us like a movie
about martial law in the US—all because we were
there to call for fair trade that respects human rights,
not free trade that exploits human beings... Yet today,
we stand here in this historic city—in the heart
of the US government—receiving this prestigious
award for our work in defense of human rights... Truth
is, my compañeros and I are confused. It's
hard for us to understand in which of the two worlds
we actually live—in the world where the voice
of the poor is feared and protest in defense of human
rights is considered the gravest of threats to public
security? Or in the world where the defense of human
rights is celebrated and encouraged in the pursuit
of a more just and equitable society?..."read
more
While in Washington, the laureates protested at
a DC-area Taco Bell restaurant (below, joined there
by Mrs. Kennedy and Kerry Kennedy), dined at the
former home of President Woodrow Wilson, talked
with national and international press, and held
several meetings on the Hill to discuss
their work.
We look forward to working closely
with the Roberty F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights
in the coming year to turn up the heat on Taco Bell
and to clean up, once and for all, human rights
violations in the fields
ALSO
IN THE NEWS... Root Cause People's March to Miami
to protest the FTAA ministerial meeting a huge success!
Over a thousand
marchers poured into Miami on Tuesday, Feb. 18th,
for the culmination of the 3-day, 34-mile "Root
Cause" march, calling for trade policies that
respect human rights and the environment. The march
went off without a hitch, and with overwhelming
popular support from the people of the Miami area
along the march route, despite a steady drumbeat
of media coverage and police outreach to local communities
in the weeks leading up to the march focusing on
possible problems with "violence".
But instead of violence,
the press had to make do with reporting on the real
issues at hand in the ongoing negotiations around
the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), hearing
those issues, for the first time, from working class
people, people like Francisca Cortez of the CIW
(above, speaking to the press during the march)
-- people not allowed to participate in the secret
trade negotiations, but the very people who suffer
the real life consequences of corporate-led globalization.
* From The Guardian of London, read Naomi Klein's
"Miami
or Bust," , about the inequities
of corporate-led globalization and the FTAA summit
in Miami (contains a quote from Lucas Benitez
of the CIW on the impact of free trade
on Mexican small farmers).
* And
finally, "Shafted: Free Trade
and America's Working Poor,"
a new publication by Food First Institute
for Food and Development Policy. It features
testimony to the US Congress from June of this year
by workers and labor organizers on the true cost
of free trade policy for millions of people who
work for a living, from factory workers here in
the US to small farmers in Mexico. Lucas
Benitez of the CIW is featured in the book,
which you can pick up by going to the Food
First websiteand
putting your order in, or simply email us at workers@ciw-online.org
and we'll hook you up.
More CIW in the news...
CIW statement on Bush guestworker program picked up
by The Nation magazine online!...Click
here to go to the Nation's Act Now page,
where you'll find links to the CIW's guestworker statement
and some great background on the CIW and the Taco
Bell boycott.
And check out this great,
great article on the CIW by Kari Lyderson in
LiP Magazine Online... More
so than almost any other article that has come out
on our work, "Pulling injustice up
from the roots" manages to convey
the CIW members portrayed in the article as fully
whole, 3-D human beings, while sketching a more
vivid portrait of Immokalee and of our struggle
than we have ever seen elsewhere. An excellent read.
Her work on the CIW has also appeared in The Washington
Post, In These Times, and Americas.org ( "Coalition
of Immokalee Workers gets to root of the problem,").
8th
Annual CIW Year of the Worker Party a HUGE Success!
If you've never had the pleasure
of attending a CIW Year of the Worker Party in person,
here's your chance to enjoy the virtual party experience
online...
Click
here to see photos and a report from
the Jan. 25th huge, five-band, two "Despierta
America"-host (including old CIW friend Fernando
Arau, right), 1,500 person blow out! Check out the
banners (left), crowd, and fun of the 8th annual
block party that never fails to make Immokalee smile!
The Bishops of the Florida
Catholic Conference pass "A Resolution in Honor
of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers"...
"Whereas the Coalition of Immokalee Workers advocates
for human dignity through just wages, democratic participation,
solidarity with the poor, and the elimination of slavery
and trafficking in human persons..." So begins
a resolution by the Catholic Bishops of Florida approved
on December 10th in support of the CIW's work, and
offering "warm congratulations" to the CIW's
three RFK Human Rights Award laureates, "whose
work for human dignity is recognized by the award."
Click
here to read the resolution in its entirety!
For more on support in the religious
community as we head into 2004, check out the great
article "Church bells ring in boycott"
from the St. Petersburg Times:
"The Taco Bell
boycott has garnered more religious support than perhaps
any social activist cause in recent years. Social
action is gaining steam in religious circles as believers
embrace a theology that says Jesus was a peaceful
activist who fought for the downtrodden." Read
more...
NEW
INITIATIVE IN THE TACO BELL BOYCOTT -- TALK TO THE BOARD!...
For two years now, tens of thousands of people
from Florida to Washington State (nearly 100,000 in
all) have sent the CIW boycott postcard to the fine
folks at Taco Bell's corporate headquarters in Irvine,
CA. We figure that, by now, they probably got the message
about sweatshops in the fields where they buy their
tomatoes. There is, however, another group of decision
makers that we have held off addressing... until now!
Introducing
the Yum! Brands, Inc., Board of Directors Letter!
The letter calls on
the good men and women of Yum's board to take responsibility
for human rights violations in their company's supply
chain. In it, we remind the board members that, "When
asked by farmworkers involved in a hunger strike outside
its corporate headquarter last March whether Taco
Bell could guarantee to its customers that the tomatoes
in their products were not picked by forced labor,
Taco Bell had no response. In fact, Taco Bell executives
refused to even meet with the workers and with national
religious leaders seeking to intervene in the hunger
strike on the workers' behalf."
The letter goes on to say, "Rest
assured that until Yum! Brands agrees to pay a socially
responsible price for tomatoes so that farmworkers
can earn a fair wage, and to begin a meaningful three-part
dialogue with the CIW and Yum's tomato suppliers,
I will boycott Taco Bell products. I will also work
to ensure that all of my family and friends are aware
of your company's indifference to the sweatshop conditions
behind Yum's products."
"New
farmhand abuse claims probed"...
According to
the Miami Herald (12/04): "Federal
investigators and prosecutors are now probing
new allegations that other farmworkers have
been criminally abused in the nation's second
richest agricultural state."
"It's rampant. It's out there,"
FBI Special Agent Jeffery Serna (lead investigator
in the recent case involving hundreds of workers
forced to work against their will in the Lake
Placid, FL, area) told the Miami Herald about
farm labor abuse cases in the state. Click
here to read the Herald article.
And stay tuned for more details as the investigations
proceed...
Landmark
victory against huge modern-day slavery operation
in Lake Placid, Florida!...
(11/02):
After a
two year investigation by the CIW -- in collaboration
with the Civil Rights Division of the US Department
of Justice -- the leaders of a violent and coercive
slavery operation employing up to 600 farmworkers
were found guilty in federal court of charges
including: conspiracy
to hold workers in involuntary servitude, extortion,
and use of a firearm during a violent crime.
The
three Central Florida citrus employers not only
held orange pickers in slavery, but also pistol-whipped
and held at gunpoint drivers for a
van service who were attempting to give farmworkers
rides out of town.
The men were sentenced in November, 2002, to a total
of 34 years in jail and ordered to forfeit
$3 million in assets obtained illegally through
their operation. News
of the verdict went out on the AP wire.
See one of the articles, "Conviction
may help working conditions,"
here.
Click
here to learn more about slavery in Florida's
fields today, the CIW's efforts
to investigate, uncover, and bring slavery
operations to justice, and how the major food-buying
corporations -- like Taco Bell -- benefit
from the exploitation of US farmworkers.
BOOT
THE BELL CAMPAIGN: All the latest news
from the campus
front of
the Taco Bell boycott...
The latest
news!...Students
at the University of Michigan
reported in early January that they successfully
fought-off a proposal to bring Taco Bell to
the UM campus, while students at Occidental
College in Los Angeles held a very-well
received tabling in early December, gathering
over 100 signed letters from concerned students
to the Yum! Brands Board of Directors and getting
word out about the three-day march and rally
at Taco Bell headquarters coming up in March.
Plus...
Three great stories out of UCLA,
where the Boot the Bell campaign is really,
really heating up. Click on the links below
for the stories:
Student support has
been crucial to the success of the boycott since
it was launched in April, 2001. Check out this
excerpt from student/youth statement read in
front of Taco Bell headquarters, Feb. 28, in
support of hunger strikers:
"On behalf of the students
and youth of America, we are here to express
our solidarity
with the farmworkers who pick your tomatoes...
Until Taco Bell takes responsibility for working
conditions in Immokalee, we will take our message
to the streets to ensure that it is anything
but business as usual for Taco Bell! If you
have not heard our statement through our solidarity
hunger strike, then you WILL
hear it through our actions!" (Click
here to read complete statement.)
If
Taco Bell executives didn't hear this statement
directly, the message has no doubt resounded
loud and clear through the more than 100
solidarity actions that took place
during the hunger strike and the 16
universities and high schools that have Booted
Taco Bell from their campus over the
past year.
MEChA
Endorses boycott! Following
a huge
march and protest(700 marchers,
left) at a Corvallis, Oregon, Taco Bell, the
national organization of MEChA (Movimiento
Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, the nation's
largest Chicano student organization) voted
to officially endorse the Taco Bell boycott.
MEChA has been a powerful ally on campuses
from California to Washington, DC, for years.
This new endorsement promises to build even
more momentum behind the Boot the Bell campaign.
Read
more on 3/26 protest from the
Corvallis Gazette-Times...
Plus...
National Council of Churches endorses the
Taco Bell boycott!... Read
the CNN story here!
The National Council of Churches, the nation's
leading ecumenical organization, has officially
endorsed the Taco Bell boycott!
Click
here for our full list of endorsers and
how you can join organizations, churches,
and artists across the country lending their
formal support to the Taco Bell boycott!
SPECIAL
FEATURE: A
rare look inside the fast-food industry's sweatshops!
Check out this
great new photo essay by Wheaton Mahoney.
With photos from the fields and from the CIW
headquarters, this essay gives a fresh look
at the harsh reality of Immokalee and the struggle
for respect of farmworkers' most fundamental
labor and human rights. Don't miss it!
"Just
Coffee," a fair trade coffee company
out of Madison, WI, has launched a new line, dedicated
to the CIW and our campaign for fair trade principles
in the fast-food industry!
Now, with your morning cup of coffee
(or afternoon, or early evening for the truly hearty
among us...), you can help not only the CIW but the
indigenous Mayan communities in Chiapas, Mexico, that
grow the coffee.
On
a happier note... Superstar Singer and Anti-Slavery
Activist Ricky Martin endorses Taco Bell Boycott!...
CIW
member named Mother Jones Magazine's "Hellraiser
of the Month"!... 
"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.
The United Methodist Church, at their General Conference
in Pittsburgh last week, voted to join the boycott
against Taco Bell, following the recommendations
of the Committee on Church and Society. The Committee
voted 99 to 4 to recommend support of the boycott.
The full Conference voted 846 to 6 to support the
Taco Bell boycott.
"My
message to Yum Brands is: you can't pass the buck.
You are profiting by exploitation and you have the
power to change what is happening in the fields.
So, pay this penny a pound more for workers rights,
and assume your fair share of responsibility."
Palm
Beach Post Special Report:
Miami
Herald Special Report:
And
while this isn't a documented study like the
rest, it's still a nice comment on conditions
in Florida's fields... Al Hunt, commentator
on CNN's weekly "Capital Gang,"
had this to say about farm labor abuses for
his "Outrage of the Week"
(Nov. 30): 
discuss
their work.
8th
Annual CIW Year of the Worker Party a HUGE Success!
solidarity
with the farmworkers who pick your tomatoes...
Until Taco Bell takes responsibility for working
conditions in Immokalee, we will take our message
to the streets to ensure that it is anything
but business as usual for Taco Bell! If you
have not heard our statement through our solidarity
hunger strike, then you WILL
hear it through our actions!"
If
Taco Bell executives didn't hear this statement
directly, the message has no doubt resounded
loud and clear through the more than 100
solidarity actions that took place
during the hunger strike and the 16
universities and high schools that have Booted
Taco Bell from their campus over the
past year. 
