NAPLES DAILY NEWS

May 21, 2004

Company's 'solution' misses the mark, say CIW

representatives

By MIREIDY FERNANDEZ

May 21, 2004

For the first time, Yum! Brands, which owns Taco Bell, took steps Thursday to end a three-year

tomato picking war with Immokalee farmworkers.

But it failed.

Collier County farmworkers and their supporters contended Yum! broke a confidentiality

agreement during recent talks and used the media to do so after the fast-food company

proposed assessing a universal surcharge on Florida tomatoes. The proposal, company

officials said, was a recommended solution and compromise to end the three-year

farmworker-led boycott against the corporation.

"If the CIW (Coalition of Immokalee Workers) ended its boycott, the company is prepared to

support an industry-wide solution, such as a penny a pound surcharge applied to all purchasers

of Florida tomatoes, not just Taco Bell," said Yum! Brands Chairman and CEO David Novak in

a prepared statement.

"We think it's only fair, since everyone who buys Florida tomatoes should be part of the solution

and Taco Bell shouldn't be put in a competitive disadvantage."

The proposal means that all companies and brokers that buy Florida tomatoes would be

obliged to pay the one penny surcharge, which would then be passed on to farmworkers.

Novak's remarks came the same day about 35 Immokalee farmworkers joined students and

church leaders at Yum! headquarters in Louisville, Ky., where they held a protest and hunger

strike in front of Yum! offices. Several coalition members, including leader Lucas Benitez, were

allowed to address Novak directly during the scheduled annual Yum! shareholders' meeting

Thursday.

Under the proposal, Taco Bell would be willing to be the first company to sign up for the surcharge,

if it was applied universally to all tomato buyers.

Boycott supporters weren't pleased or impressed with efforts by the company, which for the

first time in more than three years announced its intentions to at least consider a solution that

would benefit both sides.

"This is absolutely not a step toward a solution," said Noelle Damico, coordinator of the Taco Bell

boycott for the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., when reached by phone in Louisville.

Taco Bell officials said they considered the decision a giant step in the right direction to helping

Immokalee's impoverished farmworkers.

"I think we're willing to do quite a bit and it would be disappointing if they don't take us up on this

offer to assist them," Taco Bell spokeswoman Laurie Schalow said when reached at company

headquarters in Irvine, Calif.

"We're willing to pay the penny more per pound but it has to be an industry-wide solution because

it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. But they've got to get the growers to agree that the industry

will pay the surcharge."

The coalition has been waging a tomato battle against Taco Bell, which purchases tomatoes

from Immokalee brokers at the cheapest price. Farmworkers began a boycott of the Mexican-style

food chain in an attempt to pressure the company to voluntarily pay a cent more per pound of

picked tomatoes. The additional penny per pound, farmworkers have insisted, will boost their

salaries, giving them a fair wage.

Boycott supporters, however, blasted the company's decision to make its intentions public.

"If this was a step toward a solution, they would not have said this publicly. They would've

worked this out with the coalition at the table," said Damico, whose religious denomination

encompasses 2.5 million members. "That's not what they did. They walked away from the talks

and they went to the press, taking the content of those talks and manipulating it for their own

advantage."

Taco Bell officials countered claims that the company had breached any kind of confidentiality

agreement.

"We absolutely did not break the confidentiality agreement," she said. "This is what was said

today at the Yum! Brands annual shareholders' meeting, which is open to the public when

Lucas Benitez asked a question."

Benitez called Novak's proposal "not serious" and "not even close to what we're asking for.

"We're disappointed with this," said Benitez, a Mexican national. "They (the company) need

to take action and not just talk about it. They're not really ready to make a real change in the

lives of the agriculture workers. We want the change and we'll continue the boycott."

In his statement, Novak, sent a message to the coalition's persistent campaign to target Taco Bell.

"First, you must stop using Taco Bell as a stalking horse in your labor dispute with the farmers,

and you must end your boycott," Novak told Benitez, according to Yum!'s news release. "If you

do that, we pledge to give you our help."

Farmworkers weren't celebrating or budging after Yum!'s announcement, Benitez said.

"What they're (the company) saying is nothing more than a publicity stunt and public relations

campaign and spin," he said. "Our supporters aren't falling for it. The boycott will continue until

Taco Bell and Yum! Brands own up to what we want."

So far, the three-year boycott has cost Taco Bell, coalition members have said. About 20

universities nationwide have booted Taco Bell concessions off their campuses, as a result

of the student movement against the fast-food giant. Benitez said other universities have

expressed interest in doing the same.

More students have joined the boycott, which is unstoppable, Damico said.

"The student movement has been strong and it continues to grow," she said. "I think

(the corporation is) very concerned about that. I think they're also concerned because

the religious community's support has been growing."