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NEWS & LETTERS, March 2002
Taco Bell boycott grows
Memphis, Tenn.—Local
activists in Memphis have launched a campaign to inform the public about the
national boycott of Taco Bell initiated by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW),
a union representing tomato pickers in Florida. I am writing about the CIW
campaign, and about our efforts to support it. The CIW has been fighting for
the rights of immigrant farm laborers for more than 15 years. The CIW workers
are mostly immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua. Minimum wage
laws in the U.S. don't apply to agricultural workers, and as a result, the
Immokalee farm workers work for a "piece rate." Every 32-pound bucket
of tomatoes is worth 40˘—the same that was paid in 1978. To make the minimum wage, they
must pick 13 buckets per hour; to make $50 in one day, they must pick two tons
of tomatoes. When adjusted for inflation the real wages of tomato pickers has
dropped 40% since 1978. Most farm workers have no right to overtime pay, sick
leave, health insurance, holiday or vacation pay. The median annual income of
farm workers today is $7,500. During the last 10 years, using
tactics of nonviolent direct action, the CIW workers have engaged in strikes,
walkouts, protests, sit-ins, and hunger strikes to pressure Six L's Packing
Company to renegotiate wages and living conditions. All of these attempts to
force Six L's to change their policies were unsuccessful. On April 1, 2000, the
CIW took their campaign to the public and called for a boycott of Taco Bell, the
number one buyer of tomatoes from Six L's. The CIW wants Taco Bell to pay
one cent more per pound of tomatoes. If the growers passed that penny along to
the pickers, their wages would double. The cost to consumers would be less than
one half-cent for each chalupa or taco. Yet, interested only in profits, the
representatives of Taco Bell have refused to meet with the CIW. Fifty CIW workers will be
visiting Memphis on March 16 as a part of their "Truth Tour." We will
march from the National Civil Rights Museum to a highly visible Taco Bell where
we are planning to have one hell of a protest. Some are considering engaging in
the great American tradition of civil disobedience, that is, locking down and
getting hauled off to jail. In the meantime, we have been handing out flyers at
the University of Memphis; and, for the last three weeks, we have had protests
at local Taco Bells where we held up signs and handed out literature. More information about the CIW
Taco Bell Campaign can be found at www.ciw-online.org. —Steve Tammelleo, University of Memphis student |
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