March 20, 2005

Cheap tomatoes, hard times

Corporations that buy produce bear some responsibility for farm workers.

When the Immokalee, Fla., tomato pickers began a bus tour to publicize their boycott of Taco Bell restaurants, they first stopped for a blessing at nearby Our Lady of Guadeloupe Church, then rode two hours north for encouraging words from Bishop John Nevins of the Diocese of Venice. Seemingly, these prayers, plus their three-year boycott supported by national labor and religious groups, convinced Yum! Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, to meet the demands of the Immokalee workers, including an additional penny per pound for picking tomatoes. The jubilant workers and their organization, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), congratulated Taco Bell for doing the right thing and canceled the boycott.

Tomato pickers rise before the sun to board buses for the fields. There they labor, often in blistering heat, to fill 32-pound baskets with large green tomatoes that bring them the same piece rate of 40 to 50 cents a basket as workers received 25 years ago. Minimum-wage laws do not apply to agricultural workers. They get no overtime pay, and they have no right to organize a union. In addition, a full day’s pay depends on the vagaries of the weather, and most tomato pickers live in poverty, earning less than $8,000 a year. They spend 10 to 12 hours a day to make $50, meaning they pick two tons of tomatoes for their daily wage.

The Taco Bell boycott began in 2001 as a way to force a fast-food company to address human-rights abuses in the fields. Yum! Brands, a conglomerate larger than McDonald’s, owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silver’s, and A&W Restaurants. The pooled buying power of the five brands exerts a significant force on the tomato grower for the lowest possible prices. Because the grower has little control over external industrial costs (e.g., tractors, seeds, and chemicals), labor remains the most vulnerable link in the supply chain. 

At first Taco Bell, with 6,500 outlets and gross sales of $5.4 billion in 2003, protested that the tomato pickers were employed by the grower, not the restaurant chain. Taco Bell argued it could not change the plight of tomato workers. The same argument came from Wal-Mart when questioned about the sweatshop conditions of its suppliers and from Starbucks when asked about unfair labor practices concerning coffee production.

Large corporations, by contracting out services, claim no responsibility for labor abuses. But the fact that corporations exert so much pressure for volume discount prices perpetuates workers’ powerlessness and poverty. Taco Bell has supply-chain inspectors that check safety and quality standards of the tomatoes but not the labor conditions of the workers.

The Taco Bell boycott got obvious traction from student and religious groups. The “Boot the Bell” campaign blocked or forced Taco Bell from 21 college campuses, and several Protestant groups and some Catholic religious issued statements of support.

In the end Taco Bell became the first in the fast-food industry to help improve farm workers’ wages. The agreement with workers means Taco Bell, using its suppliers, will pay a penny per pound “pass-through” to the tomato workers. Taco Bell also pledges cooperation with the workers to improve conditions in the tomato fields.

The Taco Bell boycott reminds believers they are economic actors. Believers cannot live as isolated consumers trolling the mall for the cheapest prices. Gospel justice demands asking about a corporation’s values, labor policies, and service of the common good. This week believers can joyfully ring the bell for the Immokalee workers and Taco Bell.

Father Rausch lives in Stanton, Ky.