COALITION OF IMMOKALEE WORKERS

PLUS, CHECK THIS OUT... A NEW SINGLE! JG & HavikenHayes of Over the Counter Intelligence (out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL) have produced a single about the boycott and the hunger strike that will rock Taco Bell's headquarters come February 28th.

Their sound is a politically-charged, underground hip-hop that holds nothing back in the fight against economic injustice and corporate control of our lives.

They'll be joining the workers from Immokalee in California for the hunger strike and 
perfoming at teach-ins, actions, and shows throughout the week to mobilize for the 
convergence on Friday, Feb. 28th, where they'll be joining Slowrider and Los Jornaleros,
two unbelievably powerful bands out of Los Angeles, as headliners at the convergence.

Click here to check out a preview of their new track, "Hunger Days" (one minute), 
or click here to download the entire 6-minute track.
And click here to see a description of JG & HavikenHayes' music in their own words.

Check out the article on the hunger strike in the Agence France Press Global Ethics Monitor 1/08!

And this article on a new shareholder action in support of the boycott 1/13!

More Endorsement News: Barbara Ehrenreich, author of "Nickel and Dimed," and David Korten, author of "When Corporations Rule the World," have joined the growing list of boycott endorsers. Here is what David Korten had to say:

"I strongly endorse the boycott of Taco Bell and other fast food chains that profit from the misery of underpaid workers and pose a threat to family farms and restaurants. To have a society that works we must all become more conscious of the implications of our food and other buying choices. Make it a regular habit to patronize businesses owned by local people that function as part of a responsible community and avoid patronizing global corporations like Taco Bell that care only for their profits. Taco and hamburger stands should be owned and run by local families, not global corporate predators."

That is the cry that will go up outside Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine, CA, on February 24, 2003, as farmworkers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the CIW’s student, religious, and labor allies begin their historic hunger strike. The action -- a hunger strike outside one of the world’s largest fast-food corporations -- is a powerful contradiction that will dramatically highlight the injustice of fast-food profits derived, in significant part, from farmworker poverty. The strike comes after a year of silence from Taco Bell executives.

[Last year’s historic cross-country tour brought unprecedented national pressure on Taco Bell, as 70 workers and 30 students led a caravan of protests from Atlanta to LA, on their way to a march of nearly 2,000 angry consumers on Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine. The tour led to the first-ever talks between

farmworkers and fast-food executives, but not to the concrete changes in wages and working conditions that the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is demanding of Taco Bell.]

While the hunger strikers stand vigil at Taco Bell headquarters, a caravan of workers and allies will head south from Sacramento, California, stopping at college campuses and communities along the way and spreading word of the hunger strike through teach-ins and protests at local Taco Bell restaurants.

And throughout the week, solidarity fasts and protests will take place in communities throughout the country.

The caravan will reach Irvine on Friday, February 28th, joining forces with the hunger strikers and with thousands of fair-food activists from California and across the country for a national day of convergence at Taco Bell headquarters - a huge day of protest and music that will rock Taco Bell.

That’s where YOU come in. Your participation in this year's action is CRUCIAL. Here’s what you can do:

* Send representatives from your school, church, community organization or union to fast in solidarity with Immokalee tomato pickers for the week beginning Feb. 24, 2003

* Mobilize your community to join the Friday, Feb. 28, 2003 national convergence outside of the Taco Bell headquarters

* Organize solidarity fasts, protests, and rallies in your local communities the week of Feb. 24th

Please e-mail workers@ciw-online.org or call 239-657-8311 as soon as possible to let the workers know how you will participate in this year's action!