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Jan.
23, 2004
Mr.
James Dimon, Chairman and CEO
Bank One Corporation
1 Bank One Plaza
Chicago, IL 60670
Dear
Mr. Dimon:
I
am writing to you about an issue that is very troubling
to me and to my constituents in the labor community.
You and I are fellow board members of CASA, the National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, at Columbia
University. I trust that your concern for the crucial
social issues of addiction and substance abuse might
indicate your willingness to consider social issues
impacting Yum! Brands.
Specifically,
I am hoping that you can use your position on the board
of Yum! Brands to help bring about a positive outcome
for the thousands of workers in South Florida who pick
tomatoes that go into Taco Bell products. As you know,
Taco Bell is part of Yum! Brands. The conditions faced
by workers in Florida's tomato fields, where Taco Bell
buys a significant percentage of its tomatoes, can only
be described as humiliating and inhumane. Workers are
paid according to an antiquated piecework system, at
a rate (40-50 cents for every 32-pound bucket they fill)
that hasn't changed in over two decades. At that rate,
according to the US Department of Labor, workers' wages
come out well below the poverty level, with average
pickers earning only $7,500-$10,000 a year. In addition,
these workers have no right to overtime pay, nor do
they have benefits of any kind -- no health insurance,
no sick leave or vacation time, and no pensions.
Worse
yet, there have been six cases of modern-day slavery
out of Florida in the past six years alone: workers
held against their will and forced to work under threat
-- and even the use -- of violence. Recent feature articles
in the National Geographic and the New Yorker magazines
have brought national attention to the shameful phenomenon
of peonage in Florida's fields.
You
are probably aware of the campaign initiated several
years ago by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW)
to change these sweatshop conditions. The CIW has been
joined in this effort by a number of religious and labor
organizations, among them the National Council of Churches,
the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., and numerous Catholic
archdioceses around the country, as well as national
unions and labor councils like the United Postal Workers
of America (UPWA) and the Los Angeles County Federation
of Labor. And, just last November, the RFK Memorial
Center for Human Rights presented its prestigious 2003
Human Rights Award to three members of the Coalition
of Immokalee Workers for their efforts fighting modern-day
slavery and their leadership of the Taco Bell campaign.
I support the efforts of the Immokalee Workers to win
justice in Florida's fields.
Despite
rapidly growing support for the CIW's efforts -- including
39 percent of Yum! Brands shareholders voting in favor
of a resolution supporting the CIW's campaign at Yum!
Brands annual meeting last May -- Yum! Brands spokespersons
have repeatedly asserted that they have neither the
power nor the responsibility to influence their suppliers'
behavior. Yet, on the issue of farm animal welfare in
its supply chain, Yum! Brands has taken a very different
position, stating on its website that, "As a major
purchaser of food products, we have the opportunity,
and responsibility, to influence the way animals are
treated... As a consequence, we only deal with suppliers
who maintain the very highest standards and share our
commitment to animal welfare."
Surely,
human beings deserve the same commitment from Yum!
Thus,
I am asking you, in your capacity as a member of the
board of directors of Yum! Brands, to lobby for a new
corporate policy that would ensure that farm workers
earn a fair wage and labor in humane conditions. I am
urging you to support the call for a three-part dialogue
between Yum! Brands, the CIW, and Yum's! tomato suppliers
to end the abusive conditions in the fields, and for
Yum! to pay at least one penny more per pound of tomatoes
so that farm workers can earn a decent wage. For my
part, I will be urging my constituents, the 13 million
members of the AFL-CIO and their families, to boycott
Taco Bell products until this issue is resolved.
Sincerely,
John
Sweeney
President
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