For whom the Taco Bell boycott tolls next?

Social justice news
April 2005

For whom the Taco Bell boycott tolls next?
A Florida-based farm worker organization, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), plans to use the leverage gained from their groundbreaking agreement with Taco Bell Corporation to try to convince other major fast food chains, such as McDonald’s, Burger King, and Subway, to help improve working conditions for the state’s tomato farm workers.

“This precedent-setting agreement gives other chains a model to sign on to, and we’re excited that Taco Bell is trying to make this an industry-wide effort,” said Julia Perkins, a CIW staff member. The CIW hopes that Taco Bell, a division of the world’s largest restaurant company, Yum! Brands, will help support laborer’s rights by demanding better work conditions and payments for farmers in agreements with their subcontractors and suppliers. Since fast food industries have control over suppliers, boycotting them is far more productive than lobbying for labor legislation that would not have any control over suppliers and would also take years to come into effect, Perkins said.

Right now, the CIW is not planning any other boycott campaigns against fast food chains, but they caution that they are willing to do whatever it takes to fight for the rights of tomato laborers. “We’re not excluding any possibilities. If the time comes that we need to launch other campaigns against other fast-food chains, we’re ready to do so, and we have the allies to support us if need be,” Perkins said.

The Taco Bell agreement, signed March 8, ended a four-year boycott against the restaurant chain by the CIW, who charged that workers who gather tomatoes for Yum’s suppliers were paid poorly, frequently exposed to pesticides and were sometimes physically mistreated or sexually assaulted.—Kelly Nolan

Back to page top