Naples Daily News
Farmworker
group taking anti-Taco Bell message to Idaho
By JANINE A. ZEITLIN, jazeitlin@naplesnews.com
October 16, 2004
An Immokalee farmworker group is trekking
Northwest to sow its anti-Taco Bell message and to protest
at an arena at Idaho's largest university bearing the
fast-food giant's name.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is leading a boycott
against the Mexican food chain, demanding its parent
company, Yum! Brands Inc., use its corporate sway to
improve wages and conditions for Florida farmworkers.
The Louisville, Ky.-based company also owns KFC, Pizza
Hut, Long John Silver's and A&W All-American Food
Restaurants.
Taco Bell officials say the group's attacks are misguided.
They say Taco Bell bought only 110,000 pounds of Florida
tomatoes last year and offered to sign on to an industrywide
1-cent surcharge on Florida tomatoes.
The coalition is pushing Taco Bell to pay workers a
penny more for every pound of tomatoes they pick.
Starting in Seattle on Friday, about a dozen students,
workers and coalition staff planned to visit churches,
rallies and colleges to gain allies in the Pacific Northwest
and end Oct. 25 with a protest at the newly minted Taco
Bell Pavilion.
In the past three years of the boycott, the two sides
have haggled, negotiated and are no longer in talks.
But the boycott is gaining steam at universities across
the country.
University of Notre Dame decision-makers spiked a $75,000
contract proposed by a Taco Bell franchisee to sponsor
athletic events such as post-game radio shows this summer,
officials said, after students pelted administrators
with concerns for farmworker wages.
Matt Storin, a Notre Dame spokesman, said the university
shuttled the concerns to Taco Bell and killed the contract
because "they wouldn't give us a satisfactory answer
in regard to payment of the workers."
A Taco Bell spokeswoman said she wasn't aware of the
Notre Dame flare-up.
Melody Gonzalez, a 21-year-old Notre Dame student, was
active in the student onslaught after visiting Immokalee
during an alternative spring break. She'll tour with
the coalition through the Northwest.
"They acknowledged the student pressure was definitely
something that encouraged that decision," Gonzalez
said. "I think it sends out a pretty strong message."
Sally George, a Taco Bell spokeswoman, said the company
is trying to work with the coalition and has offered
to help to change the laws to improve labor conditions
for farmworkers. She pointed to its updated code of
conduct for tomato suppliers that specifically bars
slavery and forced labor.
"We have a zero tolerance for violation of any
points," she said.
Students returning this fall to Boise State University
in Idaho discovered a sports pavilion renamed the Taco
Bell Arena. The university with more than 18,400 students
forged a 15-year, $4 million contract in June with a
local Taco Bell franchise owner who has supported Boise
State athletics five years, said Frank Zang, Boise State
communications director.
"Our agreement is with a local company that does
not buy its tomatoes from Florida. There are no corporate
dollars involved," Zang said.
Through a spokesman, Bob Kustra, the university's president,
said the naming of the arena isn't a political statement.
"It is, however, a statement that the university
is serious about finding new and innovative methods
of funding our programs during tight taxpayer budget
times."
Yet student leaders with the goal of getting the name
changed don't buy the argument.
"Taco Bell is on TV and they put on ads and that
causes someone to come to your establishment. Now that
it's not to your benefit, you want to dissociate from
the parent company. You're either not Taco Bell or you're
Taco Bell. You can't have it both ways," said Ramiro
Castro, a 26-year-old Boise State student senator.
Castro estimated about 100 students and professors are
active in raising concerns.
Now both sides seem to be waiting for the other to make
the first move.
"We're interested in going back to confidential
negotiations," said Julia Perkins, a Coalition
of Immokalee Workers staff member.
George, the Taco Bell spokeswoman, said, "Right
now we're waiting for a proposal from them on the next
steps."