Pounding drums and chanting loudly, members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers circled the entrance of the Taco Bell at Boston University’s Warren Towers last Friday, protesting poor working conditions in their Florida tomato fields.
As part of its 18-day “Northeast Truth Tour,” the CIW staged protests at locations such as the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University, encouraging college students to boycott Taco Bell. The CIW has specifically targeted Taco Bell because the restaurant is the largest buyer of Florida tomatoes.
Taco Bell buys tomatoes through major growers, such as the Six L Packaging Co., that directly employ farm workers, according to the CIW. The CIW states that suppliers have done nothing to relieve the poor working conditions. Farm workers receive no benefits or overtime pay and earn less than 50 cents for each 32-pound bucket of tomatoes picked. In order to earn $50 in a day, a worker would have to pick two tons of tomatoes, according to the CIW’s press statement.
Furthermore, farm workers’ wages have not increased in more than 20 years the statement said. Taking inflation into account, this means the tomato workers actually receive five percent less money than they did 20 years ago, in spite of the growing produce market.
Max Perez, a former Immokalee field worker and member of the CIW present at Friday’s protest, listed other difficulties farm workers face that cannot be statistically represented. For example, even if a farm worker is physically capable of picking $50 worth of tomatoes in a day, growing and weather conditions often make this impossible.
Also many farm workers face health problems due to poor working conditions. Perez said he was forced to stop picking tomatoes three years ago after pesticides used on the plants began to adversely affect his health.
The CIW was formed in 1993 in an effort to establish rights for workers in the farming town of Immokalee. Although only 11 members were present at the BU protest, the organization, which began with 70 workers and 40 students, now has more than 3,000 members, according to Perez.
By protesting Taco Bell, Perez said he hopes the company will pressure growers to improve farm working conditions and benefits.
“They definitely have the money and the power,” Perez said. “Our goal is to make them know their responsibilities.”
Taco Bell is a member of YUM, Inc., a $22 billion corporation that includes restaurants such as Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Long John Silvers. The CIW has estimated that if Taco Bell paid one cent more for each pound of tomatoes, workers could make living wage. Demonstrating this idea at the BU protest, protesters handed out fliers reading “Would you be willing to pay one quarter of one penny more for your Chalupa if it meant that farm workers could earn a living wage?”
The CIW’s most successful protest occurred last March in California, during a national tour, according to Perez. Over 2,000 supporters marched four miles to the Taco Bell Headquarters in Irvine, Calif., and CIW leaders met with Taco Bell executives to voice their concerns.
“This was the first time ever corporate workers sat down with farmers,” Perez said. “They’re feeling the pressure.”
Apart from this discussion, Taco Bell has been largely unsupportive of CIW. Taco Bell has openly dismissed the CIW’s requests.
“This is not our problem,” said a press statement released by Taco Bell. “This is a labor dispute between one of our suppliers and their workers, and it is not our place to get involved.”
Employees of Taco Bell at the scene of the protest refused to comment on the boycott, but the company’s statement claimed “this is a labor dispute between the Six L Packing Company and its workers, unrelated to our company. Taco Bell does not have a direct impact on the wages of the Immokalee workers.”
Perez stressed the importance of the involvement of college students in CIW campaigns because Taco Bell targets college students in order to control the market of 18- to 24-year-old customers.
“Students have power also,” Perez said. “We need to form an alliance because the minds of students are being exploited by Taco Bell not telling the truth of where their products are coming from.”
The CIW has received a “massive response” from college students, especially in California, according to a March 12 article in the Naples Daily News. BU students, however, were generally unresponsive to Friday’s protest, as protesters were lost among the crowd of students rushing home for the holiday weekend.
Kaitlyn Sheehan, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, wasn’t dissuaded by the protest from eating inside Taco Bell Friday evening, and even said she thought the situation was laughable.
“It’s ridiculous — why here? Why this little, BU Taco Bell?” she said. “If you want to get something, go to the main source — go to the Taco Bell headquarters.”
The protest actually convinced Jonathan Waldinger, a sophomore in the College of General Studies, to eat at the restaurant.
“I saw the protest across the street and thought I’d come eat here,” he said. “Making a scene like this will only make people want to come here more.”