Taco Bell Truth Tour

Please feel free to pass this advisory along to media contacts and friends alike. It
is a fairly useful, concise explanation of the Truth Tour background, dates, and
locations. For those of you active in local boycott committees, you can use this to
get the word to your
local press if you like -- Thanks, Greg Asbed, CIW
_______________________________________________________

MEDIA ADVISORY
August, 28, 2001

Contact:
Lucas Benitez or Romeo Ramirez, Coalition of Immokalee Workers: (941) 657-8311 or
(941) 821-5481;

Brian Payne, Student/Farmworker Alliance: (941) 867-9160

MIGRANT FARMWORKERS JOIN WITH STUDENTS AND ACTIVISTS ON NATIONAL BUS TOUR TO EXPAND
BOYCOTT OF TACO BELL

DEMONSTRATIONS SET FOR LOS ANGELES AND ! IRVINE

IMMOKALEE, FL -- Beginning on September 13, 2001, a caravan ofmigrant workers,
college students and activists will embark on a ten-city, cross-country bus tour to
raise awareness about theNational Taco Bell Boycott and the sweatshop conditions
faced by
migrant farmworkers in America\'s fields. The tour will culminatewith demonstrations
in Los Angeles, California on September 23 and at Taco Bell corporate headquarters in
Irvine, CA on September 24. The tour comes on the heels of five months of protests
at Taco Bell
restaurants across the country, with nearly 100 actions in states including Alabama,
Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Indiana.

In each city along the \"Taco Bell Truth Tour\", the workerswill be welcomed by
community activists and will participate in teach-ins, demonstrations in front of
local Taco Bells, and major community rallies. The tour, and in particular the LA
and Irvine protests, will be the first major public acti! ons to cast light on the
multi-billion dollar fast food industry\'s ties to the
sweatshop-like conditions faced by farmworkers in America\'sfields.

\"The tomatoes Taco Bell buys for its tacos and Chalupas are produced in what can only
be described as sweatshop conditions,\" said Lucas Benitez of the Coalition of
Immokalee Workers, one of the tour\'s organizers. \"Twenty years of picking at
sub-poverty wages, no right to overtime pay, no right to organize or join a union, no
health insurance, no sick leave, no paid holidays or vacation, and no pension is a
national disgrace.\"

\"We as farm workers are tired of subsidizing Taco Bell\'s profits with our poverty,\"
added Romeo Ramirez, also of the CIW. \"Most people we have met agree that a
multi-billion company can afford to pay more for tomatoes picked by workers that make
less than $7,500
per year. Sooner or later, Taco Bell, like Nike, is just going to have to learn that
consumers actual! ly do care about human rights when it comes time to decide where to
spend their money.\"

Key Dates in for the cross-country \"Taco Bell Truth Tour\":
September 13: Tour Kick-Off in Tampa
September 23: Los Angeles, California
September 24: Irvine, California, TACO BELL HEADQUARTERS
September 28: Washington, DC (organized outside of the Truth Tour)

Other stops and rallies on \"Truth Tour\":
September, 15: Atlanta, GA
September, 16: Chicago, IL
September, 17: Madison, WI
September, 19: Denver, CO
September, 21: San Francisco, CA
September, 22: Fresno, CA

HISTORY: Since 1997, tomato pickers in Immokalee, Florida\'s largest farmworker
community, have been organizing for the right to join in talks with the state\'s
corporate tomato growers to find ways to improve farm labor conditions and raise the
crop
pickin! g-piece rate. Despite signature drives, community-wide work stoppages,
marches, and a 30-day hunger strike by six members of the Coalition of Immokalee
Workers (CIW) -- ultimately ended by the
intervention of former President Jimmy Carter -- the growers continue to refuse to
meet with farm worker representatives and have only marginally raised wages.

When workers discovered that Taco Bell is a major buyer of the tomatoes they pick,
they informed company executives in January, 2000 of the deplorable wages and working
conditions in Florida\'s fields and requested a meeting to discuss possible
solutions. To date, despite numerous pleas from workers and growing public
pressure, Taco Bell has refused to meet with CIW representatives.


http://www.ciw-online.org/index2.html