NEWS BULLETIN

Cornell MEChA Joins Battle Against
the Exploitation of Tomato Pickers

Ithaca, NY, February 11, 2002 – Cornell’s MEChA, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán – a national Chicano student organization, is joining the national boycott against Taco Bell. MEChA will be hosting an East Coast Chicano Student Forum conference from February 15th to the 17th. One of the purposes of the conference is to inform the community of the labor injustices that are still prevalent today. Cornell’s MEChA will join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) in the fight against one of the nation’s most shameful labor injustices. The CIW have been fighting for nearly a year against the Six L’s Packing Company. Six L’s is one of the largest tomato producers in the United States and has annual sales of over $120 million, yet pay their tomato pickers 40 to 45 cents per 32 pound bucket (a piece rate that has remained unchanged for 20 years which provides each worker with a mere $7,500 of annual income). Six L’s largest buyer of tomatoes is Taco Bell who is part of Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., together with Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut. These three major chains control more than 30,000 restaurants around the globe, forming the "world's largest restaurant system in terms of units", according to Tricon's 1999 Annual Report. Tricon's system-wide sales reached nearly $22 billion in 1999, with Taco Bell alone reporting over $5.2 billion in the same year. Tricon reported more than 1.2 billion dollars in reported operating profit in 1999. Taco Bell is an important client with a great deal of influence on Six L’s decision-making process. It must take responsibility to help grant fair wages and respect for the component that gives Taco Bell its multi-billion dollar corporation status. If Taco Bell were to express its support for the CIW’s one demand, which is a open, meaningful, three part dialogue between Taco Bell, their tomato suppliers and CIW representatives to discuss mutually beneficial solutions to the problems farm workers face in the Florida fields, then the entire nation would be taking a step forward to help bring more equitable labor relations.

Furthermore, if Taco Bell were to voluntarily pay just 1 cent more per pound, and the growers would agree to pass that penny along to the picker, that one penny could almost double the picking piece rate overnight.

Our conference will shed light on the exploitation of workers by bringing this fight to the East Coast. We urge you to come to our press conference since it is through the media that the general populace is informed of such injustices. The press conference will take place on Saturday, February 16, 2002 during our student conference. The press conference will be held at Cornell University - Warren Hall B-45 at 2:00pm. After the meeting we are asking the media to join us at the Taco Bell at 222 Elmira Road off of Route 13 in Ithaca, NY where we will hold a rally in support of the exploited farm workers.

Contact:
Iris Bordayo, MEChA co-chair
(607) 277-1367
igb2@cornell.edu
http://www.ciw-online.org
When:
Saturday February 16, 2002 2:00pm
Where:
Warren B 45, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York