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"After
three years of a consumer boycott led by the Coalition
of Immokalee Workers, Taco Bell and its parent company,
Yum Brands, have acknowledged that farmworkers are a
critical component of their operations and that the
abominable wages and working conditions farmworkers
now face can and must change. Yum has accepted in principle
that it needs to set standards for its suppliers.
But the company’s recent offer is not a concrete
one. It does not assure those who pick tomatoes
for Yum’s suppliers any increase whatsoever in
the current unjust and inadequate wages they receive.
Yum must show how it plans to implement, independently
monitor, and report compliance to higher labor standards.
Results in the form of ending support to unjust labor
practices – not promises – will be the benchmark
of real progress. Corporate giants in the apparel
industry, such as Nike and Gap, Inc., have accepted
responsibility for working conditions and wages throughout
their supply chains. The fast food industry must
now follow suit, as consumers realize that sweatshops
exist in fields as well as factories.
The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights
urges Yum Brands to take concrete steps now in cooperation
with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to bring real
change to the way Yum does business and to materially
ameliorate the egregious conditions under which farmworkers
continue to labor."
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