Boycott the Bell!!!

What would you do with $25? Buy a tank of gas? Go out for dinner? Or would you walk home with it, praying all the way that it will be enough money to feed your starving family for the next few days? And what would you do to earn that $25? Mow some lawns? Do some chores for the little old lady down the street? Or would you walk on over to the nearest Florida tomato field and try to pick eight thousand or so tomatoes in one work day, just for a lousy $25? You'd choose the backbreaking labor for ludicrous wages, right? By now you are probably beginning to wonder if this is a joke. Well, wake up and smell the tomatoes, because this exploitation and slavery is going on right in our own back yard! Indeed, for thousands of farm workers employed by Florida's Six L's Packing Co., Inc., the above situation is an everyday reality. Ok, so what does this have to do with Taco Bell? Taco Bell is the largest buyer of Tomatoes from Six L's. To date, they refuse to admit that with big business comes big responsibilty, and that they are the only ones who can stop the horror in the Florida tomato fields. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is the organization of farm workers leading this boycott, and are asking for all the help and support they can get. YOU can be a huge help by joining us in the Taco Bell Boycott or donating money to the CIW. The link to their website is below. Continue to section titled "Just The Facts" for more information. *************
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Just the Facts

• A "piece rate" is the amount of money paid to farm workers for each 32lb bucket of tomatoes they pick and haul
• The piece rate at Six L's is 40 cents per bucket, THE SAME RATE PAID SINCE 1978
• At said piece rate, a Six L's worker would have to pick and haul 1 metric ton, or about 8000 tomatoes in one day just to earn $25
• The median income of these farm workers is an estimated $7,500 a year
• Six L's workers are denied the right to organize, denied the right to overtime pay for overtime work, and denied health insurance, sick leave, paid holidays or vacations, and denied pensions
• Taco Bell refuses to take responsibility or even come to the table and talk to farm workers about these exploitative conditions
• Taco Bell could DOUBLE the piece rate paid to these workers by agreeing to pay only one penny more per pound of tomatoes they buy from Six L's. In turn, we would have to pay about 1/4 of a cent more for our taco. Would you be willing to pay 1/4 of a cent more for a taco so that hard working people could earn a fair wage?

More Resources

CIW Website