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Proposed resolution submitted
by the Florida District to the 27th National Convention of the Communist Party
USA

WHEREAS:
Farm workers in the Florida’s tomato-picking industry have been struggling
since 1995 for a decent living wage;

WHEREAS:
More than half these workers and their children live below the poverty
level, on an average income of $7,500.00 annually;

WHEREAS:
Florida tomato pickers are paid .40 to .45 cents per 32-lb. bucket which
equates to having to pick and haul 2 tons of tomatoes per day to earn
$50;

WHEREAS:
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ nation-wide boycott is asking for
a raise of only one cent per bushel, which would nearly double their income
while resulting in a mere 1/4-cent increase in the cost of a taco;

WHEREAS:
Neither Federal nor Florida State law requires growers to negotiate with
or recognize a farm workers’ union;

WHEREAS:
Protests by the farm workers and their supporters are designed to demonstrate
consumer support for holding Taco Bell accountable for working conditions
of the women and men who pick the tomatoes that top the burritos, tacos
and chalupas;

WHEREAS:
Taco Bell is a multinational corporation with $5.2 Billion in annual sales,
and as part of Tricon, the world’s largest restaurant system with $22
Billions in sales annually;

WHEREAS:
Taco Bell’s tremendous global profits are based on cheap ingredients and
cheap labor provided by the farm workers who make sub-poverty wages, thereby
subsidizing Taco Bell’s profits;

WHEREAS:
Farm workers are tired of accepting starvation wages for their labor when
Taco Bell is making obscene profits as their expense;

WHEREAS:
Boycotts against sweatshop conditions and starvation wages paid by companies
such as Nike have won significant reforms;

AND WHEREAS:
Florida workers supply most of this country’s winter tomato crop, estimated
at around $500 million annually;

THEREFORE,
We call on the National Convention of the Communist Party USA to join
the CIW in demanding that Taco Bell, its parent company, Tricon Global
Restaurants, and its tomato supplier, Six L’s Farms, sit down and negotiate
a living wage and decent working conditions with the representatives of
the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

Signed: Florida
District National Convention, Tampa, FL, April 28, 2001

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