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100 Converge on Orange County Taco Hell HQ
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 -- Irvine, CA -- Taco Hell's World Headquarters
About 100 people protested at Taco Hell's Irvine world headquarters because of Taco Hell's refusal to pay their tomato pickers a living wage, and their refusal to even meet with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), the organization Florida tomato pickers and supporters formed, to discuss a pay raise. Taco Hell's tomato pickers only earn 40 cents for every 32 pound bucket they pick, which is the same rate they earned in 1978. Workers must pick and haul 2 TONS of tomatoes to make $50 in a day, and only earn about $7,500 a year, according the U.S. Department of Labor. Workers are just asking for a one cent per pound raise, which would only cost 1/4 cent per Chalupa.
Protesters stayed outside Taco Hell's headquarters for almost three hours, from 3-6 pm. Many cars honked in support as they drove by. Several people drummed and people chanted things such as "Taco Bell take a stand, living wages we demand." Food Not Bombs had excellent food. Del Taco cups were spotted around the premises, and rumor has it that Del Taco guy on the commercials was spotted amongst the crowd. At two points, protesters walked around the Taco Bell high-rise to the front entrances and chanted, "Taco Bell go to hell." Hopefully Taco Hell executives got the message that people in their own Orange County and surrounding communities support a raise for their tomato pickers, but with their making over $5 billion in sales in 1999, they probably couldn't see past the stacks of money they worship.
As usual, police overreacted and had at least 20 police (including "Bart" the police dog in one police car) protecting the overpaid executives and headquarters of a company that is part of one of the world's largest restaurant systems. There was one undercover cop with a large video camera pretending to be from the media. He had on a fake press pass, just walked around videotaping people's faces, and asked some people who the organizers were and prying questions like that. The black bloc did an excellent job of keeping an eye on him.
This protest is merely a small buildup to the March 11 national protest where thousands of people from all over the country, unions, church groups, community organizations, and more will be marching on Taco Bell's world headquarters. The march will be lead by the CIW who are traveling across the country to try to meet with Taco Hell corporate executives, hoping to discuss a raise.
For further information on San Francisco organizing, including a March 8 protest, and busses coming down to Irvine for March 11, contact the Coalition of Immokalee Workers at http://www.cow-online.org.
Weekly organizing meetings are taking place in both Los Angeles and Orange County. For local events and organizing for this campaign, contact tbboycott [at] yahoo.com
Orange County Meetings are held in Santa Ana on Thursdays at 7pm at the SEIU office located on 1651 4th St. (on corner of 4th and Lyon), Suite #120.
The next Los Angeles meeting will be on Wednesday, January 16 7:00 PM at the Action LA/Quaker House: 4167 South Normandie, Los Angeles (south of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd in South Central LA)
Info call 626-695-3405
Email: tbboycott [at] yahoo.com
To find out more about the Taco Bell Boycott or the national TACO BELL TRUTH TOUR STARTING ON MARCH 1 IN FLORIDA AND ENDING AT THE TACO BELL NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS ON MARCH 17 please visit the National website at http://www.ciw-online.org
Protesters stayed outside Taco Hell's headquarters for almost three hours, from 3-6 pm. Many cars honked in support as they drove by. Several people drummed and people chanted things such as "Taco Bell take a stand, living wages we demand." Food Not Bombs had excellent food. Del Taco cups were spotted around the premises, and rumor has it that Del Taco guy on the commercials was spotted amongst the crowd. At two points, protesters walked around the Taco Bell high-rise to the front entrances and chanted, "Taco Bell go to hell." Hopefully Taco Hell executives got the message that people in their own Orange County and surrounding communities support a raise for their tomato pickers, but with their making over $5 billion in sales in 1999, they probably couldn't see past the stacks of money they worship.
As usual, police overreacted and had at least 20 police (including "Bart" the police dog in one police car) protecting the overpaid executives and headquarters of a company that is part of one of the world's largest restaurant systems. There was one undercover cop with a large video camera pretending to be from the media. He had on a fake press pass, just walked around videotaping people's faces, and asked some people who the organizers were and prying questions like that. The black bloc did an excellent job of keeping an eye on him.
This protest is merely a small buildup to the March 11 national protest where thousands of people from all over the country, unions, church groups, community organizations, and more will be marching on Taco Bell's world headquarters. The march will be lead by the CIW who are traveling across the country to try to meet with Taco Hell corporate executives, hoping to discuss a raise.
For further information on San Francisco organizing, including a March 8 protest, and busses coming down to Irvine for March 11, contact the Coalition of Immokalee Workers at http://www.cow-online.org.
Weekly organizing meetings are taking place in both Los Angeles and Orange County. For local events and organizing for this campaign, contact tbboycott [at] yahoo.com
Orange County Meetings are held in Santa Ana on Thursdays at 7pm at the SEIU office located on 1651 4th St. (on corner of 4th and Lyon), Suite #120.
The next Los Angeles meeting will be on Wednesday, January 16 7:00 PM at the Action LA/Quaker House: 4167 South Normandie, Los Angeles (south of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd in South Central LA)
Info call 626-695-3405
Email: tbboycott [at] yahoo.com
To find out more about the Taco Bell Boycott or the national TACO BELL TRUTH TOUR STARTING ON MARCH 1 IN FLORIDA AND ENDING AT THE TACO BELL NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS ON MARCH 17 please visit the National website at http://www.ciw-online.org
For more information:
http://www.ciw-online.com
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But you don't need to know that to become vice-president, as we all know...
the logic of ty's oh-so perceptive "argument" warms the hearts of exploiters everywhere.
As The Coup says:
"If everyone in the hood had a PhD,
You'd say that Doctor cooked that burger hella good for me."
Under Federal law, farmworkers do not have the right to organize unions, like most other workers have. Only state laws give farmworkers the right to organize unions, like the UFW in California. Florida farmworkers have no state law allowing them to unionize, therefore they have formed a coalition instead of a union. They don't have the laws behind them that other professions have. There isn't an abundance of jobs all these Taco Bell tomato pickers can just go out and find, even with so-called "education." Taco Bell tomato pickers aren't stupid, either. Come to Orange County March 11, and see how intelligent these people are for yourself when you can speak with them firsthand, instead of assuming they pick tomatoes because they are uneducated. The pickers are forced to pick a certain quota each day, or they will be let go, and they must pick 2 TONS a day to earn just $50. Clearly, their job is something even many very "educated" people wouldn't be capable of doing. If there is no one to pick the tomatoes because pickers are what you call "educated," they how the hell are all the "educated" people going to eat? Shouldn't all the people who harvest our food be entitled to fair wages, and not have to wait a quarter of a century or more for a raise?
Not likely you'll see tomato picking exported. Please.
Suck it up and take what you get in your paycheck or get another job.
By "Native American Youth," do you mean the native Americans who pre-dated the white genocide? I didn't know there were a lot of construction jobs available back then. By "illegal alien Mexican labor," you must mean those Spanish Conquistadors who came north after they got done slaughtering and "converting" the "native American youth" of that country.
If the natives of this continent had turned back illegal immigrants like Columbus, we wouldn't have these problems and the Native American Youth would have all the construction jobs they want.