Taco Bell boycott succeeds in helping farm workers

Last May, I poked a little fun at my United Methodist brothers and sisters by noting that I doubted few of them realized the denomination had officially endorsed a boycott of Taco Bell.

At the time, as now, our attention was so focused on sexuality issues confronting the church that most of us paid little heed to other actions by our denominations. As it turned out, in endorsing the Taco Bell boycott, the Methodists were joining a range of other religious folks - the Presbyterian Church (USA), Disciples of Christ and others, as well as the National Council of Churches - in attempting to pressure the restaurant chain to exert its influence over tomato growers in Florida.

The situation was this: Taco Bell buys tomatoes from packers who haven't raised the prices they pay to farm workers in 20 years - about 40 cents for a 32-pound bucket. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which represents the laborers, called for the boycott three years ago.

Although Taco Bell buys a lot of tomatoes from Florida - 10 million pounds last year - its purchases still amount to less than 1 percent of the state's entire crop. Nevertheless, the chain's decision this month to voluntarily increase the price it pays by 1 cent per pound could prove to be a significant breakthrough in the treatment of those farm workers.

Taco Bell said it has agreed to pay the equivalent of a penny a pound more in a "pass-through" arrangement with several of its suppliers. The full increase is to go directly to the farm workers in a process that will be monitored by the workers' coalition.

Smell of success

The skeptical side of my brain wonders just how much impact the boycott had on Taco Bell. As I said last year, I doubt that most members of the denominations that officially supported the boycott even knew about it.

I certainly never heard anyone mention it in any church I attended.

And the fact is, this change will only cost the company $100,000 a year, assuming it continues to buy its tomatoes from Florida. That amount should be hardly noticeable to Yum! - the parent company that owns Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and Long John Silver's - which made $777 million in 2004 operating profit from its U.S. operations alone.

And in spite of the boycott, Taco Bell reported 3 percent growth last year.

But even if Taco Bell's policy change wasn't driven by a sudden dearth of church-attending customers, I'd like to believe that it was influenced by the stand those churches took.

In a statement this week, Emile Brolick, Taco Bell's president, sounded more like a social reformer than a hard-charging, profit-driven corporate exec: "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. ... [W]e are willing to play a leadership role within our industry to be part of the solution."

Of course, his hope that others will follow suit is simply good business - evening the profit-playing field. But we can hope that the company also is truly willing to take some moral responsibility for the conditions of workers who provide the raw products it uses.

While the $100,000 expense to the company may be minute, the penny-a-pound increase almost doubles the wage paid the farm worker. For most of us, it still won't amount to great pay - about 72 cents per bucket.