Sandra Pedicini
Of the Sentinel Staff
April 2, 2001
Customers trying to grab a chalupa or burrito for a late lunch at an Orlando Taco Bell on Sunday afternoon were greeted by about 100 protestors wearing costumes, beating drums, and chanting in an attempt to drive them away.
The group of farmworkers, college students, church groups and other activists, led by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, is calling for a national boycott of the fast-food chain. Their reason: It’s a major buyer of Florida-grown tomatoes and the group wants it to pressure growers to raise workers’ wages — estimated at between $7,500 and $9,000 a year.
“I feel it is Taco Bell’s problem,” said Andy Snyder, a teacher at Naples High School who joined the protest. “They’re buying the tomatoes these people pick. Taco Bell’s making a billion dollars. These people are living in poverty.”
The activists have protested at Taco Bells from Tallahassee to Miami. They have spread the word through the Internet and on college campuses, where they hope to target the young consumers that make up a good portion of the taco chain’s market.
On Sunday, they turned the volume up a notch, calling for a national boycott during their protest at 4225 E. Colonial Drive, just east of downtown. They chose the location because Orlando is at the center of the state and because this particular Taco Bell is just down the street from the headquarters for the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association.
The restaurant was practically empty inside while the protest went on. Managers referred questions to a corporate office in California, where a spokesman said the group is picking the wrong target for its boycott.
“It’s a dispute between the Immokalee coalition and their — I don’t know if you call them owners. Between the growers and the pickers,” spokeswoman Laurie Gannon said. “We don’t feel it’s our place to get involved in other companies’ labor disputes.”
Gannon said the protests so far have had no impact on the restaurants’ business.
One marcher dressed as a tomato. A little boy smashed at a pinata — the likeness of the Taco Bell Chihuahua mascot. Julia Perkins, a health care worker from Immokalee, presented the “Golden Bucket Corporate Irresponsibility Award” to a protester wearing a suit and a giant Chihuahua head.
“Yo no quiero Taco Bell!” the group chanted.