Taco Bell tomato boycott wins a victory for farm labor rights

By GABRIELA RODRIGUEZ / Special to The Collegian

"It comes down to this: We can consent to be the distant overseers of farm workers who toil in a modern, faint, smudged carbon copy of slavery. Or we can wait the day when tomatoes, lettuce and celery jump out of the ground and walk, the day when oranges and grapefruits fly off the tree, all making straight to the supermarket."
(Michael Browing, Palm Beach Post, December 7, 2003).

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, based in South Florida, began the Taco Bell boycott in 2002, accusing the fast food giant of being complicit in the exploitation of workers who picked tomatoes within its supply chain. According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Agricultural Survey in January 2000, the median annual income for a U.S. farm worker was $7,500 — far below the national poverty level. Yet trashy trailer rentals in Immokalee average $1,000 per month. So farm workers pay $12,000 annually in rent, but only make $7,500 a year.

One of Taco Bell's suppliers, Six L's Company Inc., paid one of the lowest piece rates of 40 cents per 32 pound bucket of tomatoes the worker picked — a piece rate stagnant since the early 1980s. If the piece rate had increased with inflation, farm workers would be earning 92 cents per bucket. If Taco Bell gave a penny increase to every pound of tomatoes picked (a demand from the CIW) it would double the workers wages from $50 to $100 for picking 2 tons of tomatoes.

Taco Bell was also accused of being complicit in indentured servitude within its supply chain. The Justice Department had prosecuted six reported cases of slavery in the past seven years in southern Florida. When asked by the CIW whether Taco Bell could guarantee its customers that their products were untouched by indentured servitude, Taco Bell officials declined to respond.

As the boycott movement grew it gained support all around the country. Twenty-two schools removed or barricaded Taco Bell restaurants from their campuses, including UCLA, which removed its Taco Bell franchise late last fall. ABC World News Tonight, CNN, PBS, and Univision are a few of the television channels that highlighted the exploitation. Celebrities such as Irish president Mary Robinson, Audioslave’s Tom Morello, MIT professor Noam Chomsky and West Wing actor Martin Sheen publicly endorsed the boycott.

Yet during these three years of boycott Taco Bell and its parent company YUM’ Brands, Inc. denied responsibility and participation in such cases of human exploitation, repeatedly stating that it was being unfairly targeted for living conditions they could do nothing to improve.

On March 8, 2005, Taco Bell and YUM’ Brands, Inc. held a public news conference announcing the giant would now only buy its tomato produce from suppliers who would pass a penny increase to every pound of tomatoes picked. They also announced they were willing to work directly with the CIW to improve farm worker conditions in the field if the CIW called off the boycott.

Taco Bell recognized the need for farm worker reform and accepted all the accusations from the CIW to be true. The Taco Bell boycott was won. When Emil Brolick, Taco Bell’s president, stated, "We recognize that Florida tomato workers do not enjoy the same rights and conditions as employees in other industries, and there is a need for reform," the CIW called off the boycott.

Taco Bell has more than 6,500 restaurants in the United States, and YUM’ Brands, Inc. is the largest restaurant company (even bigger than McDonalds). They have a tremendous influence over other corporations. As Brolick stated, "With this agreement, we will be the first in our industry to directly help improve farm workers' wages."

Jonathan Blum, senior vice president of YUM’ Brands, Inc. said, "Human rights are universal and we hope others will follow our company's lead."

Some suggest that workers just leave farm labor for better jobs, but that is often not possible. If a huge majority of workers left the jobs in the field, those same jobs would be easily refilled with workers who would be just as easily exploited. So the whole purpose of the Taco Bell boycott was not to leave farm worker conditions in the same miserable state, but rather to better the beaten path for the farm workers who are to follow.

With the boycott won and YUM’ Brands, Inc. acting as a leader in reforming farm worker exploitation in the fields, the Taco Bell boycott was important for all of us, regardless of if you’re undocumented, white or an American citizen, because it promoted farm worker reform. Seven percent of the U.S. farm labor force is U.S.-born whites. Workers in those small percentages are likely being exploited, as well. You don't have to be brown and undocumented to be exploited. It shouldn't matter in the first place who is being exploited. What matters is that people are being exploited, period.

—Gabriela Rodriguez is a sophomore communication major. She is a member of progressive human rights organizations and president of United Students Against Sweatshops.