The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which sparked a boycott of
Taco Bell that eventually led to the eatery’s removal from
UCLA, reached an agreement Tuesday with the fast food giant to end
its four-year boycott in exchange for improvements to worker wages
and working conditions.
Under the agreement, coming about four months after the eatery
left campus, Taco Bell will pay a penny per pound surcharge on
every bucket of tomatoes picked for certain Florida growers, which
will then be given to the workers.
The company also said in a statement it will “undertake
joint efforts with the CIW on several fronts to improve working
conditions in Florida’s tomato fields.”
The CIW’s Web site carried the headline “IT’S
OVER…AND WE WON!” Tuesday afternoon.
“We have started on a new path with the corporation, a
path of reconciliation and peace,” said Lucas Benitez,
co-founder of the CIW, speaking in Spanish.
Taco Bell was removed from campus in October when the Associated
Students of UCLA board of directors, which operates restaurants on
campus, voted not to renew the eatery’s contract amid
allegations of labor violations against tomato pickers and protests
from groups on campus.
Taco Bell President Emil Brolick said in a joint statement
released with the CIW that the company is willing to “play a
leadership role within our industry to be part of the
solution” to worker’s rights issues.
“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,” Brolick said in the
statement.
There is a possibility that ASUCLA could decide to bring Taco
Bell back on campus, said Bob Williams, interim executive director
of ASUCLA, but he added he wanted to talk with members of the
Social Justice Alliance student group about their opinion of the
agreement before commenting further.
The board of directors had said it would consider re-entering
into a new agreement with Taco Bell if there was progress in the
talks with the CIW.
Laurie Schalow, spokeswoman for Taco Bell, said the
eatery’s return to campus is a possibility the company
“would definitely consider” and that the company would
discuss the issue with Williams in the next day or so.
David Novak, CEO of Yum! Brands Inc., the parent company of Taco
Bell, offered a proposal to CIW in May 2004 saying Yum! would
“support an industry-wide solution,” such as a penny
per pound surcharge that would be applied to all tomato purchasers
in the region, if the coalition agreed to end its boycott.
In a statement posted on its Web site, the coalition called
Novak’s offer “empty promises with no real commitment
to change. When you’re ready to talk about real change for
real people, we are ready, too.”
Schalow said Tuesday’s agreement was different because
Yum! was able to negotiate with select tomato growers to ensure the
extra penny per pound funded by Yum! would reach the workers. Taco
Bell will only buy tomatoes from those select growers which support
the surcharge, she said.
The CIW had been calling for the extra penny since the beginning
of the boycott. Workers are typically paid between 40 and 50 cents
per 32 pound bucket, according to the CIW’s Web site.
Dozens of groups and individuals spoke out against Taco Bell and
joined the CIW during the course of the boycott, including the
Presbyterian Church, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for
Human Rights, and the Carter Center, a human rights organization
established by former President Jimmy Carter.
Benitez called on all the organizations to end their boycotts
and work to “convince other companies that they have the
power to change the way they do business and the way workers are
treated.”
Carter praised the CIW in a statement for its “principled
leadership in this very important campaign” and Taco Bell for
having “committed to use its power to effect positive human
rights change.”
With reports from Adam Foxman, Bruin staff.