Taco Bell accord reached

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which sparked a boycott of Taco Bell that eventually led to the eatery’s removal from UCLA, reached an agreement Tuesday with the fast food giant to end its four-year boycott in exchange for improvements to worker wages and working conditions.

Under the agreement, coming about four months after the eatery left campus, Taco Bell will pay a penny per pound surcharge on every bucket of tomatoes picked for certain Florida growers, which will then be given to the workers.

The company also said in a statement it will “undertake joint efforts with the CIW on several fronts to improve working conditions in Florida’s tomato fields.”

The CIW’s Web site carried the headline “IT’S OVER...AND WE WON!” Tuesday afternoon.

“We have started on a new path with the corporation, a path of reconciliation and peace,” said Lucas Benitez, co-founder of the CIW, speaking in Spanish.

Taco Bell was removed from campus in October when the Associated Students of UCLA board of directors, which operates restaurants on campus, voted not to renew the eatery’s contract amid allegations of labor violations against tomato pickers and protests from groups on campus.

Taco Bell President Emil Brolick said in a joint statement released with the CIW that the company is willing to “play a leadership role within our industry to be part of the solution” to worker’s rights issues.

“We recognize that Florida tomato workers do not enjoy the same rights and conditions as employees in other industries, and there is a need for reform,” Brolick said in the statement.

There is a possibility that ASUCLA could decide to bring Taco Bell back on campus, said Bob Williams, interim executive director of ASUCLA, but he added he wanted to talk with members of the Social Justice Alliance student group about their opinion of the agreement before commenting further.

The board of directors had said it would consider re-entering into a new agreement with Taco Bell if there was progress in the talks with the CIW.

Laurie Schalow, spokeswoman for Taco Bell, said the eatery’s return to campus is a possibility the company “would definitely consider” and that the company would discuss the issue with Williams in the next day or so.

David Novak, CEO of Yum! Brands Inc., the parent company of Taco Bell, offered a proposal to CIW in May 2004 saying Yum! would “support an industry-wide solution,” such as a penny per pound surcharge that would be applied to all tomato purchasers in the region, if the coalition agreed to end its boycott.

In a statement posted on its Web site, the coalition called Novak’s offer “empty promises with no real commitment to change. When you’re ready to talk about real change for real people, we are ready, too.”

Schalow said Tuesday’s agreement was different because Yum! was able to negotiate with select tomato growers to ensure the extra penny per pound funded by Yum! would reach the workers. Taco Bell will only buy tomatoes from those select growers which support the surcharge, she said.

The CIW had been calling for the extra penny since the beginning of the boycott. Workers are typically paid between 40 and 50 cents per 32 pound bucket, according to the CIW’s Web site.

Dozens of groups and individuals spoke out against Taco Bell and joined the CIW during the course of the boycott, including the Presbyterian Church, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, and the Carter Center, a human rights organization established by former President Jimmy Carter.

Benitez called on all the organizations to end their boycotts and work to “convince other companies that they have the power to change the way they do business and the way workers are treated.”

Carter praised the CIW in a statement for its “principled leadership in this very important campaign” and Taco Bell for having “committed to use its power to effect positive human rights change.”

With reports from Adam Foxman, Bruin staff.