> From: coaimmwkr at aol.com
> Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 17:35:23 EDT
> Subject: [ciw-announce] Taco Bell Action Alert!
>
> Please distribute the following Action Alert as widely as possible - Thanks
>
> **** ... ACTION ALERT... ACTION ALERT... ACTION ALERT... ****
>
> Coalition of Immokalee Workers needs your help to make Taco Bell a part of
> the solution in Florida's farmworkers' fight for dialogue and a fair wage
>
> New Initiative in Tomato Pickers' Campaign!
>
> Today we are in the process of developing an important new initiative in our
> Campaign for Dialogue and a Living Wage, an initiative intended to
> address
> the major corporate buyers of Immokalee tomatoes. We need your support to
> make this new initiative a success.
>
> 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. The tomatoes Immokalee
> workers pick end up in Whoppers, Chalupas, and Big Macs across the country,
> and even overseas. 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.
>
> We believe that the large corporations that buy Florida tomatoes must step
> up to their responsibility by demanding, and obtaining, changes in the
> shameful
> pay and working conditions suffered by the men and women who pick their
> tomatoes.
>
> Why Taco Bell?
>
> Taco Bell is part of Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., together with Kentucky
> Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut. These three major chains control more than
> 29,000 restaurants around the globe, forming the world's largest
> restaurant
> system in terms of units, according to Tricon's 1998 Annual Report. Also
> according to that same report, Tricon's system-wide sales reached over $20
> billion in 1998, with Taco Bell alone reporting over $5 billion in system
> wide sales that year. Tricon reported more than 3/4 of a billion dollars in
> ongoing operating profit in 1998 ($768 million).
>
> At the same time, 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. Indeed, fresh
> tomatoes are a featured component of many of Taco Bell's best-selling
> products.
>
> Given the sheer volume of Immokalee tomatoes it 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.
>
> What Can Taco Bell Do?
>
> If Taco Bell were to express its support for dialogue with the Coalition to
> Six L's representatives, talks might finally have a chance. Six L's
> would be
> hard pressed to ignore such an important client's wishes.
>
> Furthermore, if Taco Bell were to voluntarily pay just 1 cent more per pound,
> and the growers would agree to pass that penny along to the picker, that one
> penny could almost double the picking piece rate overnight.
>
> Communication with Taco Bell Stalled:
>
> After learning that Taco Bell is a key client of the Six L's Packing Co.,
> we
> wrote to their executives in Irvine, California. In that letter, dated
> January 12, 2000, we wrote: We would like to talk with representatives of
> your company to discuss the conditions that we face picking tomatoes for Six
> L's and other companies in our area, and to share our ideas as to how Taco
> Bell could help bring about much-needed change for the workers who pick your
> tomatoes. We attached a thick collection of articles so that the
> executives
> at Taco Bell might have a fuller idea of the farmworkers=92 situation as it
> is today. We finished by saying: We truly believe that Taco Bell is a
> responsible corporate neighbor and that your company understands that
> conditions like those you will find in the attached articles are no longer
> acceptable.
>
> Taco Bell never responded. Indeed, we have learned through a TV reporter
> that Taco Bell has declined to get involved, deciding rather to allow the
> farmworkers and the growers to work out their problems. Unfortunately,
> we've been working for nearly three years now just to talk with the growers,
> yet the vast majority of agribusiness leaders in Immokalee have flatly
> refused to meet with representatives of their workers. Taco Bell can, and
> should, help end that impasse.
>
> What You Can Do:
>
> Please, call, write, or fax Taco Bell today and ask them to:
>
> meet with representatives of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to discuss
> how Taco Bell could help bring about long-denied justice for Florida's
> farmworkers.
>
> Here's where to call, write, or fax:
>
> Mr. Peter Waller, Chief Operating Officer
> Taco Bell Corp.
> 17901 Von Karman
> Irvine, California 92614
> tel. (949) 863-4500
> fax (949) 863-4537
>
> Your calls and letters really help. If you would like to have more
> information on the Taco Bell campaign, or on the Coalition of Immokalee
> Workers and our efforts to improve farmworkers' working and living
> conditions, please log on to our web site at:
>
> www.geocities.com/coaimmwkr
>
> Thank you for your support.
>
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