Drop the chalupa: Taco Bell hurts workers

By Annie Selak and Pat Green

It's a typical afternoon: You and some friends just finished your last class and are starving, so you head to the closest, cheapest restaurant by campus, Taco Bell. Before devouring your chalupas, do you ever stop and think about the hands that brought your food here? Most people probably don't, but over Spring Break nine students got to see the blood, sweat and tears that make a $1.61 beef chalupa possible. We explored the small, farming town of Immokalee, Florida as part of an immersion trip. Working in the fields all day â€" sometimes for over 12 hours â€" allowed us to have a glimpse of life of a migrant farm worker.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) welcomed us into their town with open arms, minds and hearts. CIW is a community-based worker organization devoted to building community, gaining fair wages, creating better and stronger labor laws, ending sweatshop conditions in the fields and much more.

This organization is currently spearheading the Taco Bell Boycott that began in 2001, urging people around the country to "Boycott the Bell" until working conditions improve.

Immokalee is a town filled with people who are ecstatic to be in America. Many immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti travel to Immokalee in order to make a living and provide for their families at home â€" or so they believe.

"The vicious cycle of poverty in our countries often leaves us with no option but to abandon our educations and seek out a better future for ourselves and for our families" explained Gerardo Reyes Chavez, a native of Zacatecas, Mexico. "We arrive in this country believing that if a person works hard here, they can eventually become whatever they want to be. We arrive in this country believing in a lie."

What lie? One part of it is the sub-poverty wage earned by the farm workers. For a workday ranging from eight to 12 hours, the average worker is paid $30 to $50. In order to make $50 a day, workers must pick over 2 tons of tomatoes. Picking 2 tons of tomatoes is not an easy task. Senior Claire Elam's workday began at 4 a.m., but she did not return from the fields until 5 p.m. Working vigorously throughout the day earned her one 20-minute rest and $38. These wages do not provide for humane living conditions. Rent ranges from $1,200 to $1,400 per month for a run-down trailer shared by 14 people, a rate just slightly under the price of a two-bedroom apartment at Park Central! The average salary of a worker is $7,500 per year (to put this in perspective, our student body president, APB director and yearbook editor each make $5,025).

Another aspect of the lie believed by workers is that they will be granted human rights. Many workers are forced to live in slave camps, as displayed by the five slavery cases prosecuted since 1998 and two currently under investigation in the Southeastern states.

The government is not actively working to stop slavery within the country. Rather, President Bush's new immigration plan fuels the creation of slave conditions. When describing this situation to people, many become angry and reply, "These workers are stealing the jobs of American citizens." However, the average American does not aspire to be a migrant farm worker. The farm labor workforce is restricted to this backbreaking labor that no one would choose for himself or herself if other options existed. For farm workers, these options do not exist. Despite the inhumane working conditions, workers are forced into the fields every day, fueling our economy and putting food on our tables.

To say that farm workers have grueling jobs is a serious understatement. Our day in the fields was more than a glimpse into the difficult life of a worker, but rather a life experience for us. "I did not have to work in the fields to know that the work was hard. I came to the fields as an act of solidarity with the workers," Heidi Kallen explained. Part of this solidarity Heidi described was achieved through building friendships with the workers. Working side by side in sweatshop conditions fostered a sense of alliance.

Many of these workers have visas and are here legally. Also, even if someone is in this country illegally, there is still an issue of human rights. Everyone deserves dignity â€" it is not a right that has borders.

But what does this have to do with Taco Bell? Taco Bell is the largest buyer of tomatoes in the country. They have the power and responsibility to improve the working conditions in the tomato supply chain. Gerardo described the relationship by asking us, "Who profits from our sweat? Taco Bell, as a major buyer of the tomatoes that we pick, benefits from our poverty more than anyone. Taco Bell holds an enormous amount of influence with all of its suppliers. The company has used this influence to bring about more humane conditions for animals in the meat packing industry. Yet they refuse to take responsibility for the mistreatment of human beings."

We are asking Taco Bell to implement three changes: pay one more penny per pound on tomatoes, implement a code of conduct to ensure that the farm workers receive the one cent raise, and take part in an open dialogue between workers, growers and Taco Bell. Despite these small requests, Taco Bell has refused to cooperate. Until Taco Bell institutes these changes, the national boycott will continue.

Though these changes are minor, they would make a world of a difference to workers. A wage increase of one penny per pound would increase the workers wages of 45 cents per 32-pound bucket of tomatoes to 77 cents. This salary raise is long overdue, since wages have remained stagnant since 1978. In many cases, salaries have even decreased!

How would this price increase affect you? It would raise the price of a chalupa by one quarter of a penny. This is a small price to pay for the amount it would increase the standard of living for thousands of people.

What we are asking you to do now is to boycott Taco Bell. Since we as college students are Taco Bell's largest consumer group, we have a responsibility to ensure that our food comes from just working conditions. Our lives are bound into those around us. As students of privilege, we are called to stand in solidarity with the human rights of all people.

More information is available on the Web at:

û http://www.ciw-online.org

û http://www.sfalliance.org

û Pat Green is a sophomore religious studies major. Annie Selak is a junior political science and religious studies major.