[Seattle-editorial] editorial request from Coalition of Immokalee Workers

[Coalition of Immokalee Workers]

To whom it may concern,
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is a grassroots workers 
organization made of mostly undocumented migrant farmworkers 
from Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti.  We are currently organizing a 
week long hunger strike to take place in Irvine, California starting 
on Feb. 24th, ending with a national demonstration and rally on 
friday, Feb 28th.  We have posted this event through your online 
publishing channels, but we are contacting you to request support.  
Indymedia is a primary source for many people concerned with 
social justice, and we recognize the role a prominent place on 
Indymedia sites can play in helping mobolisations.  We hope that 
you can discuss with us the possibility of running a piece on our 
struggle on your opening main page, to raise awareness and 
support for our struggle for dialogue and a living wage.  We could 
provide photos in electronic form to assist you.  Thank you for 
considering this and we look forward to hearing from you.  

In Solidarity,
Coalition of Immokalee Workers
www.ciw-online.org

**********************************************************************

Contact: Coalition of Immokalee Workers 
(941) 657-8311 or
(941) 821-5481
workers at ciw-online.org
www.ciw-online.org


Farmworkers and supporters cry: “We’d rather go hungry than eat 
sweatshop tacos!”

IRVINE, CA- On February 24, 2003, farmworkers from the Coalition 
of Immokalee Workers and the CIW’s student, religious, and labor 
allies will begin a historic hunger strike.  The action -- a hunger 
strike outside one of the world’s largest fast-food corporations -- is 
a powerful contradiction that will dramatically highlight the injustice 
of fast-food profits derived, in significant part, from farmworker 
poverty.  The strike, which comes after a year of silence from Taco 
Bell executives, will culminate in a national convergence at Taco 
Bell headquarters on Friday, February 28.

Last year’s historic cross-country tour brought unprecedented 
national pressure on Taco Bell, as 70 workers and 30 students 
led a caravan of protests from Atlanta to LA, on their way to a 
march of nearly 2,000 angry consumers on Taco Bell 
headquarters in Irvine.  The tour led to the first-ever talks between 
farmworkers and fast-food executives, but not to the concrete 
changes in wages and working conditions that the Coalition of 
Immokalee Workers is demanding of Taco Bell.

“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. “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.”

While the hunger strikers stand vigil at Taco Bell headquarters, a 
caravan of workers and allies will head south from Sacramento, 
California, stopping at college campuses and communities along 
the way and spreading word of the hunger strike through teach-ins 
and protests at local Taco Bell restaurants.  And throughout the 
week, solidarity fasts and protests will take place in communities 
throughout the country.

The caravan will reach Irvine on Friday, February 28th, joining 
forces with the hunger strikers and with thousands of fair-food 
activists from California and across the country for a national day 
of convergence at Taco Bell headquarters - a huge day of protest 
and music that will rock Taco Bell.

“We are asking that people send representatives from their 
schools, churches, community organizations and unions to fast in 
solidarity with the Immokalee tomato pickers as well as attend the 
demonstration on Friday, Feb. 28” said Francisca Cortez of the 
CIW. “If people cant make it, they can still support our struggle by 
holding solidarity fasts, teach-ins or rallies during the week in their 
own cities.”




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 picking-
piece rate.  Despite signature drives, three general strikes, 
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, Taco Bell has not addressed the concerns of the CIW, and
the CIW continues to call for a boycott of Taco Bell.  

--
Taco Bell Boycott Headquarters
www.ciw-online.org
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