Tomato Workers Gain Massive Support in One Month

by James Parks, Jun 2, 2006

In little more than a month, AFL-CIO activists have sent nearly 125,000 messages to McDonald’s and Chipotle Mexican Grill executives urging them to partner with workers in Florida’s tomato fields to improve wages and working conditions. 

The AFL-CIO and several affiliated unions have joined the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which represents some 3,500 Florida farm workers, in calling for McDonald’s and Chipotle to pay the farm workers a living wage. Chipotle once was owned by McDonald’s, which now holds 49 percent of the company.

As we reported here, for every 32 pounds of tomatoes they pick, the Immokalee workers are paid 45 cents—nearly the same amount they earned 30 years ago. Working for local farmers and growers that supply McDonald’s and Chipotle, they toil from dawn to dusk and are not paid for overtime and have no health insurance, no sick leave or vacations.

The coalition wants to build on its historic 2005 agreement with Taco Bell/Yum! Brands, which owns Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and other fast-food outlets. The deal includes paying a penny more per pound of tomatoes to raise workers’ wages, supply chain transparency and working together with Immokalee farm workers in the protection of their rights. 

McDonald’s, which rang up profits of $2.6 billion last year, is refusing to pay another 1 cent per pound to improve their wages, according to the coalition. In fact, the fast-food giant is urging its suppliers to resist improved wages, the coalition says. Students who took part in Student Labor Action Project week events in March staged rallies supporting the Immokalee farm workers at McDonald’s restaurants across the country.

You can take action to help gain a better deal for the farm workers, too. To send a message to McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner and Chipotle CEO Steve Ells urging them to improve wages and conditions for farm workers, click here.

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