[www-features] PROPOSAL: Farmworkers take down Taco Bell

Tue Mar 8 15:01:12 PST 2005

[an incredibly exciting victory here in the US!!! -bb]

TITLE: Farmworkers take down Taco Bell
HEADER: <a href="http://www.indymedia.us">US</a> : Campesino Rights
IMAGE: http://austin.indymedia.org/usermedia/image/13/ciw_feature.jpg
ABSTRACT:

"The consumer boycott is the only open door in the dark corridor of
nothingness down which farmworkers have had to walk for many years. It is
a gate of hope through which they expect to find the sunlight of a better
life for themselves and their families" (Cesar Chavez) 
 
On March 8, after nearly four years of struggle and amidst the momentum of
the <a
href="http://www.ciw-online.org/tz_site-revision/breaking_news/2005dailyupdates.shtml">2005
Taco Bell Truth Tour</a>, farmworkers from the Coalition of Immokalee
Workers (<a href="http://www.ciw-online.org/">CIW</a> scored a decisive
victory in their national boycott of Taco Bell. Caving under the weight of
an intense grassroots campaign, the fast-food giant has agreed to work
with the Florida-based farmworker organization to improve the wages and
working conditions of farmworkers in the Florida tomato industry by paying
a penny-per-pound surcharge demanded by the workers. The farmworkers'
sub-poverty wages have been stagnant and declining in real terms since
1978. 
 
"This is an important victory for farmworkers, one that establishes a new
standard of social responsibility for the fast-food industry and makes an
immediate material change in the lives of workers. This sends a clear
challenge to other industry leaders," said Lucas Benitez, a member of the
Coalition of Immokalee Workers. The CIW's precedent-setting victory is
also an important step forward for student/youth, global justice, and poor
peoples' movements throughout the U.S. who have worked in solidarity with
the farmworkers, forcing the world's largest restaurant corporation (Yum!
Brands, Taco Bell's parent company) to accept responsibility for
conditions in its supply chain. 
 
As planned, farmworkers and their allies will gather in Louisville, KY on
March 11th and 12th to celebrate the victory and chart the next steps in
the movement to end sweatshops in the fields. The battle is won; the war
continues.

<br />
<img src="http://austin.indymedia.org/local/images/video.gif" alt="video"
/> <b>Daily Video Diaries:</b> <br />
East Leg: <a
href="http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/37778.php">One</a>
<b>|</b> <a
href="http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/37781.php">Two</a>
<b>|</b> <a
href="http://www.houston.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/37831.php"> Three</a>
<b>|</b> <a
href="http://www.houston.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/37832.php">Four & Five
</a> <b>|</b> <a
href="http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/37859.php">Six &
Seven</a><br />

West Leg: <a
href="http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/37871.php">One</a>
<b>|</b> <a
href="http://www.houston.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/37877.php">Two, Three
& Four </a><br />
<br />
<img src="http://austin.indymedia.org/local/images/photo.gif" alt="photo"
/> <b>Photos:</b> Day - <a
href="http://www.ciw-online.org/tz_site-revision/breaking_news/2005day1.shtml">One</a>
<b>|</b> <a
href="http://www.ciw-online.org/tz_site-revision/breaking_news/2005day2.shtml">Two</a>
<b>|</b> <a
href="http://www.ciw-online.org/tz_site-revision/breaking_news/2005day3.shtml">Three</a>
<b>|</b> <a
href="http://www.ciw-online.org/tz_site-revision/breaking_news/2005day4.shtml">Four</a>
<b>|</b> <a
href="http://www.ciw-online.org/tz_site-revision/breaking_news/2005day5.shtml">Five
</a> <b>|</b> <a
href="http://www.ciw-online.org/tz_site-revision/breaking_news/2005day6.shtml">Six</a>
<b>|</b> <a
href="http://www.ciw-online.org/tz_site-revision/breaking_news/2005day7.shtml">Seven
</a><br />

<br />
<img src="http://austin.indymedia.org/local/images/audio.gif" alt="audio"
/> <b>Audio:</b> <a
href="http://www.savepacifica.net/strike/news/incoming/immokalee_headline.mp3">Tour
Departs from Immokalee</a> (.mp3) <b>|</b> <a
href="http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/nofsrn_tallahassee_rally_final.mp3">
West leg hits Tally</a> (.mp3) <b>|</b> Cleveland IMC Radio <a
href="http://cleveland.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/14875.php">Interview
with farmworker</a> <b>|</b> <a
href="http://cleveland.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/14929.php">CIW Teach-in
Cleveland, OH </a> <b>|</b> <a
href="http://indymedia.us/en/2005/03/5316.shtml"> Connections b/w Civil
Rights and Boycott</a> <b>|</b> <a
href="http://indymedia.us/en/2005/03/5381.shtml">Peace Talks</a> <b>|</b>
Interview with <a
href="http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/37869.php">Fernando Suarez
del Solar</a> english/espanol<br />

<br />
<img src="http://austin.indymedia.org/local/images/news.gif" alt="news" />
<b>Stories:</b> <a
href="http://cleveland.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/14905.php">[Cleveland
IMC]</a> <b>|</b> <a
href="http://www.tnimc.org/feature/display/4551/index.php">[Tennessee
IMC]</a> <b>|</b> <a
href="http://houston.indymedia.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=466&category_id=1">
[Houston IMC]</a> <b>|</b> <a
href="http://tallahassee.indymedia.org/feature/display/6015/index.php">[Tallahassee-Red
Hills IMC]</a> <b>|</b> <a
href="http://chicago.indymedia.org/feature/display/53384/index.php">[Chicago
IMC]</a> <b>|</b> <a href="http://indymedia.us/en/2005/01/4451.shtml">[ATX
IMC]</a><br />

<br />
<img src="http://austin.indymedia.org/local/images/audio.gif" alt="audio"
/> <b><a
href="http://images.indymedia.org/imc/santacruz/audio/1/boycott_taco_bell_song.mp3">
Boycott Taco Bell song</a></b> <b>|</b> <img
src="http://austin.indymedia.org/local/images/video.gif" alt="video" />
Download film <b><a
href="http://www.emanon.info/panleft/qtclips/immokalee_051404.mov">"Immokalee:
>From Slavery to Freedom"</a></b> (.mov)<br />
<br />
<img src="http://austin.indymedia.org/local/images/audio.gif" alt="audio"
/> Archived articles from Democracy Now! <b><a
href="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/17/1348250&mode=thread&tid=25">1</a></b>
<b>|</b> <b><a
href="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/07/0332237&mode=thread&tid=5">2</a></b>
<br />

External Articles: <b><a
href="http://gadflyer.com/flytrap/index.php?Week=200449#1242 "> Leading
Like Jesus </a></b> <b>|</b> <b><a
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/sellers12182004.html">Values Voters,
Desperate Housewives and Sweatshop Tacos </a></b> <b>|</b> <b><a
href="http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1516">‘Truth
Tour’ Highlights Poverty Wages</a></b><br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://sfalliance.org/">Student/Farmworker Alliance</a></b>
<b>|</b> <b> <a href="http://www.ciw-online.org/">Coalition of Immokalee
Workers</a> | <a
href="http://www.ciw-online.org/tz_site-revision/breaking_news/2005dailyupdates.shtml">2005
Truth Tour</a> </b>

BODY:

Taco Bell – a division of Yum! Brands Inc. - announced today that it will
fund a penny per pound "pass-through" with its suppliers of Florida
tomatoes, and will undertake joint efforts with the CIW on several fronts
to improve working conditions in Florida's tomato fields. For its part,
the CIW has agreed to end its four-year 
boycott of Taco Bell, saying that the agreement "sets a new standard of
social responsibility for the fast-food industry." 
 
Taco Bell has recently secured an agreement with several of its
tomato-grower suppliers, who employ the farmworkers, to pass-through the
company-funded equivalent of one-cent per pound directly to the
workers. 
 
"Systemic change to ensure human rights for farmworkers is long-overdue.
Taco Bell has now taken an important leadership role by securing the penny
per pound pass-through from its tomato suppliers, and by the other efforts
it has committed to undertake to help win equal rights for farmworkers,"
Benitez added. "But our work together is not done. Now we must convince
other companies that they have the power to change the way they do
business and the way workers are treated."

The victory comes after several years of organizing not only by
farmworkers, but also by young people and students across the country. 
Students at over 22 high schools and colleges – including UCLA, University
of Notre Dame, University of Chicago, and many more – organized to prevent
or remove Taco Bell restaurants from their campuses to support the
boycott. Building on the work of preceding anti-sweatshop and divestment
movements, "Boot the Bell" was one of 
the fastest-growing campaigns for economic justice on U.S. campuses. Taco
Bell's target market is 18-to-24 year-olds, who the company has referred
to as "The New Hedonism Generation" in its marketing research. 
 
CIW is a membership-led organization of agricultural workers based in
Immokalee, Florida, that seeks justice for farmworkers and promotes 
their fair treatment in accordance with national and international labor
standards. Among its accomplishments, the CIW has aided in the 
prosecution of five slavery operations by the Department of Justice and
the liberation of over 1,000 workers. The CIW uses creative methods to
educate consumers about human rights abuses in the U.S. agriculture
industry, corporate social responsibility, and how consumers can help
workers realize their social change goals.