If Taco Bell moves to campus, students will be able to eat their burritos with a clear conscience.
Yum! Brands, Taco Bell's parent company, had faced complaints about the pay and working conditions faced by tomato pickers in Florida, from which Yum! receives a portion of its tomato supply.
However, after a three-year boycott organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Yum! Brands and the CIW announced a settlement last Tuesday to end the boycott.
Due to complaints about the treatment of tomato pickers, some students and campus groups were upset after learning that Taco Bell and Penn are in active negotiations to bring the Irvine, Calif.-based fast-food Mexican restaurant to the Moravian Cafes at 34th and Walnut streets.
"We recognize that Florida tomato workers do not enjoy the same rights and conditions as employees in other industries," Taco Bell President Emil Brolick said in a press release.
Previously, the CIW had claimed that workers employed by Yum! Brands' suppliers earned 40 to 50 cents for every 32 pounds of tomatoes picked.
Under the agreement, Yum! will pay a one-penny-per-pound surcharge directly to farm workers.
Yum! Brands had maintained that it did not have enough market leverage to affect change. It had, however, offered a similar proposal in May, 2004.
According to the Department of Labor's National Agricultural Workers Survey, the median farm worker's income was $7,500 in 2000. That is less than half of the poverty level -- $17,050 for a family of four.
The CIW was pleased with the outcome of the agreement.
"This is an important victory for farm workers, one that establishes a new standard of social responsibility for the fast-food industry," said Lucas Benitez, co-director of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
-- Evan Goldin
