> > PRESS RELEASE
> > For Immediate Release
> >
> > Date: Monday, January 17, 2000
> > re: CIW Campaign for Dialogue and Living Wage in
> > Tomato Industry
> > contact: Lucas Benitez, Romeo Ramirez (941)
> > 657-8311
> >
> > FARMWORKERS COALITION TO TAKE PROTESTS TO NEXT
> > LEVEL
> > Farmworkers and supporters gather at Ft. Myers Taco
> > Bell to announce new
> > direction in campaign for economic justice in tomato
> > industry following MLK
> > Day march
> >
> > Immokalee, FL -- Joined by supporters, and backed
> > by a giant papier mache
> > tomato, members of the Coalition of Immokalee
> > Workers will hold a press
> > conference Monday at 1:00 pm in front of the Taco
> > Bell restaurant at 12851 S.
> > Cleveland Avenue in Ft. Myers. The workers will
> > announce that they plan to
> > take their Campaign for Dialogue and a Living Wage
> > in the tomato industry
> > to the major corporate tomato buyers, including such
> > well-known companies as
> > Taco Bell and Burger King, Winn Dixie and Publix,
> > and Carnival Cruise Lines.
> >
> > "Following our meetings with Governor Bush's aides
> > in Tallahassee and Senator
> > Graham here in Immokalee, we hoped that there might
> > finally be some movement
> > by our bosses to join us in talks about wages and
> > other working conditions.
> > We were, however, disappointed,"said Lucas Benitez
> > of the Coalition. "For
> > whatever reason, agribusiness leaders in Florida
> > think they operate in a
> > world all their own, a world where workers are
> > nothing more than tools, where
> > none of the rules of modern labor relations apply,
> > and where they don't have
> > to answer to anyone, not even the public that buys
> > their product."
> >
> > "We think, however, that the companies that buy the
> > tomatoes we pick -- major
> > corporations like Taco Bell and Wendy's, Publix and
> > Winn Dixie, and Carnival
> > Cruise Lines -- might be interested to learn that
> > our employers refuse to
> > meet with us, that the piece rate has barely moved
> > in over twenty years, and
> > that federal prosecutions for slavery continue to
> > emerge, even today, from
> > the fields where we labor. Those companies, unlike
> > Florida agribusiness, do
> > live in the modern world and, we assume, do
> > understand that those conditions
> > are no longer acceptable."
> >
> > In the coming months, the Coalition will bring
> > together an alliance of
> > religious, labor, and community leaders to request
> > talks with executives of
> > major tomato buyers, in order to discuss the
> > farmworkers situation and
> > what the workers are asking from their employers.
> > Said Romeo Ramirez, also
> > of the Coalition: "We believe that once they
> > understand the simplicity of
> > our demands -- dialogue and a raise in the picking
> > piece rate -- they will
> > recognize the justice of our struggle and bring
> > their influence to bear on
> > industry leaders to take the necessary steps to
> > move, once and for all, into
> > the modern world."
> >
> > "For example," added Jose Antonio Salas of the
> > Coalition, "Six L's, a major
> > grower in our area, has established a contract with
> > Taco Bell for year-round
> > supply of tomatoes. Six L's calls its relationship
> > with Taco Bell a
> > "partnership". Well, hundreds of Six L's workers
> > who pick tomatoes for Taco
> > Bell signed a petition last year asking for dialogue
> > and a decent wage, yet
> > to this date no dialogue has occurred and Six L's
> > continues to pay one of the
> > lowest wages of all the major companies in the
> > industry," continued Salas. "We
> > believe that we, too, are partners in this
> > industry, and that by virtue of
> > our hard work we have earned the right to talk to
> > our employers about our
> > wages and the conditions of our work. We also
> > believe that the executives
> > that run Taco Bell will understand the simple
> > justice of our demands, indeed
> > the business sense of treating workers with respect
> > and paying a decent wage,
> > and will help bring about long-delayed change for
> > the men and women who pick
> > their tomatoes."