CONTENTS
I. THE TOMATO INDUSTRY AND THE FAST FOOD GIANTS
II. TACO BELL AND SIX L’S PACKING CO.
III. FARMWORKER WAGES AND WORKING CONDITIONS
IV. COALITION OF IMMOKALEE WORKERS AND TACO BELL
V. STUDENTS AND TACO BELL (support for boycott)
VI. NIKE AND TACO BELL
VII. CIW DEMANDS OF TACO BELL
I. THE TOMATO INDUSTRY AND THE FAST FOOD GIANTS
More and more every day, the tomatoes we produce in Immokalee
go to supply major, multi-national corporations. Long gone are
the days when small, family farmers supplied area stores and chains
with locally grown tomatoes in season. Today, huge corporate growers
with multi-state operations sell tomatoes year-round to even bigger
corporate buyers, including fast food mega-chains like Taco Bell
and Burger King. Those fast food giants receive cheap, high-quality
US tomatoes, thanks to the sacrifices of thousands of hard-working
Florida farmworkers who pick tomatoes at a piece rate that has
remained virtually unchanged for over two decades.
Every year that passes without a change in the picking piece
rate, farmworkers grow a little bit poorer. Furthermore, the vast
majority of farmworkers toil in what can only be described as
sweatshop conditions: no overtime pay for overtime work, no right
to organize and join a union, no health insurance, no sick leave,
no paid holidays or vacation, and no pension.
The fast food giants have profited from farmworker poverty long
enough. Because they profit -- in the form of cheap inputs --
from the shameful pay and working conditions suffered by the men
and women who pick their tomatoes, the fast food companies must
be held accountable for those conditions. We believe that it is
time for the large corporations that buy Florida tomatoes, like
Taco Bell, to step up to their responsibility by demanding, and
obtaining, changes in farmworkers’ woefully inadequate wages
and working conditions.
Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, is an excellent analysis
of the consequences of the meteoric growth of the fast food industry
over the past several decades. He concludes his book with this
recommendation:
"As the nation’s largest purchaser of beef, the McDonalds
Corporation must be held accountable for the behavior of its
suppliers. When McDonalds demanded ground beef free of lethal
pathogens, the five companies that manufacture its hamburger
patties increased their investment in new equipment and microbial
testing. If McDonalds were to demand higher wages and safer
working conditions for meatpacking workers, its suppliers would
provide them…
Small increases in the cost of beef, chicken, and potatoes
would raise fast food menu prices by a few pennies, if at all.
The fast food chains insist that suppliers follow strict specifications
regarding the sugar content, fat content, size, shape, taste,
and texture of their products. The chains could just as easily
enforce a strict code of conduct governing the treatment of
workers, ranchers, and farmers." (Fast Food Nation,
pg. 268, emphasis added)
II. TACO BELL AND SIX L’S PACKING CO.
Taco Bell is part of Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., together
with Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut. These three major chains
control more than 30,000 restaurants around the globe, forming
the "world's largest restaurant system in terms of units",
according to Tricon's 1999 Annual Report. Also according to that
same report, Tricon's system-wide sales reached nearly $22 billion
in 1999, with Taco Bell alone reporting over $5.2 billion in system
wide sales that year.
According to the agricultural industry journal "The Packer",
Taco Bell is a major client of the Immokalee-based Six L's Packing
Co, one of the biggest tomato producers in the United States.
[Six Ls has operations along much of the East Coast -- including
Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland,
and Pennsylvania – with average annual sales of over $120
million.] Indeed, fresh tomatoes area featured component of many
of Taco Bell's best-selling products.
Given the sheer volume of Immokalee tomatoes Taco Bell buys to
supply its worldwide operations, and given its size and economic
strength, Taco Bell has the power to help bring about more modern,
more equitable labor relations in Immokalee's tomato fields, and...
with power comes responsibility.
III. FARMWORKER WAGES AND WORKING CONDITIONS
Excerpts from the United States Department of Labor Report to Congress
January 2001:
"Production of fruits and vegetables has increased and
global demand for American produce continues to grow, but
agricultural worker earnings and working conditions are either
stagnant or in decline."
"Farm workers not only lost ground relative to other workers
in the private sector, they lost ground absolutely."
"The NAWS [National Agricultural Workers Survey] paints
a very grim picture of the conditions under which farm workers
live and work. Low wages, sub-poverty annual earnings, significant
periods of un-and underemployment, and low utilization of safety
net programs all add up to a labor force in significant economic
distress."
From NAWS Survey (1997-1998):
* Median personal income from farm and other work sources:
$5,000 - $7,500 per year.
* Farm worker household income: $7,500 - $10,000 per year.
* When wages are adjusted for inflation, farm workers' real
wages have decreased 5% over the last decade.
From U.S. Department of Labor Data on Tomato Picking Piece
Rates since 1980:
From 1980 to 1995, the picking piece rate in Immokalee and South
Florida remained constant at 40 cents for every 32-lb bucket of
tomatoes picked. At that rate, workers have to pick two tons of
tomatoes in a day to earn $50.
Today, after several years of community-wide general strikes,
marches, and a thirty-day hunger strike by workers from Immokalee,
the going piece rate has risen by an average of only 5-10 cents
per bucket, with most companies paying between 45-50 cents, though
some companies continue to pay as little as 40 cents.
According to the Consumer Price Index, the piece rate would have
to have increased to more than 73 cents per bucket just to
have kept pace with inflation since 1980.
Beyond falling real wages, the vast majority of farm workers
receive no overtime pay for overtime worked, no health insurance,
no sick leave, no paid holidays or paid vacation, and no pension,
and are denied, by federal law, the right to organize.
IV. COALITION OF IMMOKALEE WORKERS AND TACO BELL
"Taco Bell is a multinational corporation with $5.2 billion
in annual sales, and is part of Tricon, the world's largest restaurant
system with $22 billion in annual receipts," said Lucas Benitez
of the CIW. "Yet the tomatoes Taco Bell uses in their tacos
and Chalupas continue to be produced under sweatshop conditions.
To a significant extent, Taco Bell's tremendous global revenues
are based on cheap ingredients for the food they sell, including
cheap tomatoes picked by farm workers in Florida paid sub-poverty
wages. Well, we as farm workers are tired of subsidizing Taco Bell's
profits with our poverty. We are calling for this boycott today
as a first step toward winning back what is rightfully ours -- a
fair wage and respect for the hard and dangerous work we do."
"When you look at the difference in power between us as
farm workers and Taco Bell as a billion dollar corporation, you
may think we are crazy for taking them on," said Romeo Ramirez,
also of the Coalition. "They have all the wealth and political
power, and we have only one weapon. But that weapon -- the truth
-- is the most powerful thing on earth," continued Ramirez,
"so we are certain that we will prevail."
"We expect Taco Bell to do what’s best for Taco Bell.
Our goal is to make what is best for Taco Bell be to buy only
tomatoes picked by farm workers treated with respect and paid
a living wage, because their customers demand nothing less."
(Greg Asbed, in Picking a Fight, Weekly Planet, 6/13/01)
V. STUDENTS AND TACO BELL (support for boycott)
"In today's anti-corporate atmosphere, the chances that people
will choose not to buy are pretty good. Many of those who are beginning
to insist that corporate responsibility should go with huge corporate
profits are students -- exactly the demographic that Taco Bell targets.
There are hundreds of Taco Bells on college campuses around the
country and plenty of students who'd just as soon shut them down
as buy products that are made by exploiting workers." ("Picking
a Fight", Rochelle Renford, Weekly Planet 6/13/01)
As Taco Bell's target market," added Brian Payne of the
Student/Farm worker Alliance, "students are in a unique position
to dedicate our resources and creativity towards helping Taco
Bell realize the importance of the farmworkers' role in its success
and, therefore, the company’s responsibility for improving
the wages and working conditions of our state's tomato pickers.
Thousands of students from across the state are prepared to stand
in solidarity with farm workers in their struggle for dialogue
and a living wage."
VI. NIKE AND TACO BELL
"When students and labor rights activists first brought widespread
public attention to the inhumane working conditions and slave wages
in the factories that make sneakers for Nike, Nike denied any responsibility
for those conditions, just as Taco Bell has done to this point in
response to our protests" continued Benitez. "But today,
Nike has had to move off of that position, bending to the pressure
of its own consumers to improve wages and working conditions in
those 'independent' factories. Nike's ability to dictate those changes
lies in its buying power as a major, if not principal, client of
those overseas factories. Taco Bell has that same kind of power
in the foodservice industry today, and we believe that Taco Bell,
like Nike, will ultimately understand the importance of listening
to the voice of its own consumers."
"For its part, Taco Bell pleads neutrality: 'We will not
get involved in labor disputes between our suppliers and their
employees,' says a company news release. Student groups correctly
point out that this was Nike's first response, too."
(Palm Beach Post Editorial (5/8/01)
"Like Nike, Taco Bell can be persuaded to change. Unless
it does, it really will be supporting human suffering. And
who wants to be seen eating a taco from a corporation that supports
human suffering?" (Tallahassee Democrat Editorial (5/5/01)
VII. CIW DEMANDS OF TACO BELL
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is calling on Taco Bell to use
its considerable leverage as a major buyer of Florida tomatoes to
help bring about real changes in the wages and working conditions
of the farm workers who pick those tomatoes.
Specifically, farmworkers are demanding that Taco Bell open a meaningful,
three-part dialogue -- bringing together representatives of Taco
Bell, their tomato suppliers, and representatives of the Coalition
of Immokalee Workers -- to discuss mutually-beneficial solutions
to the problems farmworkers face in Florida’s fields.
Possible solutions include: a proposal that Taco Bell increase
the price it pays per pound of tomatoes by 1 cent, with the increase
to be passed on, in whole, to the pickers. [Pickers generally
receive between 1.2-1.5 cents per pound today. A penny per pound
increase could nearly double pickers’ wages, effectively
making up for the decline in the real piece rate due to inflation
since 1980.]
Taco Bell, tomato industry, and worker representatives could
also examine and draft a Code of Conduct, defining the basic wage
and labor standards to be required of all Taco Bell tomato suppliers.
Workers will not be satisfied until substantive dialogue with
Taco Bell and their employers is established, and measurable progress
in the area of wages and working conditions is made.
