The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a farmworker organization based in Immokalee, Florida, has asked to meet with Taco Bell
representatives to discuss the working and living conditions of the farm workers who pick Taco Bell’s tomatoes. Farm workers who pick tomatoes for the Immokalee-based Six L’s Packing Co., Inc.
(http://www.sixls.com/), one of the nation’s largest tomato producers and a contractor for Taco Bell, are paid 40 cents for every 32-pound bucket they pick. That is the same per bucket rate, or "piece rate," paid in 1978. At that rate, workers must pick and haul 2 TONS of tomatoes to make $50 in a day.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a farmworker organization based in Immokalee, Florida, has asked to meet with Taco Bell
representatives to discuss the working and living conditions of the farm workers who pick Taco Bell’s tomatoes. Farm workers who pick tomatoes for the Immokalee-based Six L’s Packing Co., Inc.
(http://www.sixls.com/), one of the nation’s largest tomato producers and a contractor for Taco Bell, are paid 40 cents for every 32-pound bucket they pick. That is the same per bucket rate, or "piece rate," paid in 1978. At that rate, workers must pick and haul 2 TONS of tomatoes to make $50 in a day.
Workers picking for Six L’s are denied the right to organize and the right to overtime pay for overtime work. They receive no health insurance, no sick leave, no paid holidays, no paid vacation, and no pension.
Taco Bell reported earnings of more than $5 billion in 1999, while Tricon, Inc.
(http://www.triconglobal.com/triconroot/default.htm),
Taco Bell’s parent corporation (together with Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken), earned over $22 billion last year. Taco Bell could double the picking piece rate paid to farmworkers by agreeing to pay just one penny more per pound for the tomatoes it buys from Six L’s. We believe that Taco Bell, as part of the "world’s largest
restaurant system", can easily afford to pay one penny more. But even if they passed the cost on to YOU, the consumer, it would still be less than 1/4 of 1 cent more for your Chalupa.
Yet Taco Bell has refused to discuss these conditions with CIW.
Farm workers are not the only group affected by the exploitative tactics of Taco Bell. In the past 4 years, Taco Bell has twice been found guilty of altering the pay records of thousands of their
restaurant employees in order to save money. In the most recent case, former managers testified about company practices they were instructed to carry out, including requiring employees to work
without pay. Are you too trapped in the chain of exploitation?
You can make a difference!! Stand up and say, "YO NO QUIERO TACO BELL!!" Call or write Taco Bell to let them know that you will no
longer accept such means of exploitation for a profit:
Emil J. Brolick,
President and Chief Concept Officer
Taco Bell Corp.
17901 Von Karman Irvine, CA 92614
Tel. 1-800-TacoBell
For more information check out the Coalition website at:
[The Coalition of Immokalee Workers will
launch their national boycott of Taco Bell with a protest in Orlando, FL on Sunday, April 1, 2 p.m., at the Taco Bell located at 4225 E. Colonial Dr.]
Author:
News Service: ONWARD
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