Take Action: One Penny More for Worker's Rights
- by: Oxfam America
- recipient: David Novak, Yum Brands Chairman and CEO
SUPPORT A LIVING WAGE FOR U.S. FARM WORKERS
While global food giants like Yum Brands -- parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut -- rake in massive profits, farmworkers labor long hours every day for rock-bottom wages. These workers have no healthcare and no overtime pay. Yet, these food giants drive prices lower and lower, forcing growers to reduce their only elastic variable -- farmworkers' salaries and benefits.
To earn just $50 in a day, a farmworker must pick two tons of tomatoes. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a community based farmworker group in Florida, demands that pickers be paid one penny more per pound of tomatoes, a modest measure that would almost double the workers' daily pay!
Those who grow and labor for our food deserve to make a living wage that allows them to see a doctor when they need to, live in adequate housing, and send their children to school!
Tell Yum Brands (which owns Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut) to pay farmworkers ONE PENNY MORE for their backbreaking labor! SIGN BELOW
While global food giants like Yum Brands -- parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut -- rake in massive profits, farmworkers labor long hours every day for rock-bottom wages. These workers have no healthcare and no overtime pay. Yet, these food giants drive prices lower and lower, forcing growers to reduce their only elastic variable -- farmworkers' salaries and benefits.
To earn just $50 in a day, a farmworker must pick two tons of tomatoes. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a community based farmworker group in Florida, demands that pickers be paid one penny more per pound of tomatoes, a modest measure that would almost double the workers' daily pay!
Those who grow and labor for our food deserve to make a living wage that allows them to see a doctor when they need to, live in adequate housing, and send their children to school!
Tell Yum Brands (which owns Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut) to pay farmworkers ONE PENNY MORE for their backbreaking labor! SIGN BELOW
I am a consumer who is concerned about how your company's purchasing practices lead to the violation of basic rights for farmworkers in Florida.
Today, farmworkers receive a piece rate wage that is 65% lower than it was in 1978. Tomato pickers, for example, earn less than a penny for each pound of tomatoes picked; they need to pick two tons of tomatoes a day to earn just $50.
Yum Brands and your subsidiary Taco Bell buy in huge volume, driving down prices and offloading risks onto producers. Growers, in turn, are forced to squeeze their only elastic variable: labor. As a result, the pickers must work longer hours for less pay, with no health benefits and no overtime pay.
Yum is the corporate leader in the industry. You have the market power and the profit margin to ensure that the workers in your supply chain can earn a living wage, and are treated with dignity and respect. You can pay a penny a pound more for worker rights. I urge you to convene a roundtable with growers and farmworkers to make this happen.
I acknowledge that Yum Brands now has a Supplier Code of Conduct, but it's woefully inadequate and contains no real enforcement mechanisms. You still need to 1) address the protection of core labor standards -- including the right to organize 2) guarantee that workers in your supply chain receive a living wage while working in decent conditions and 3) ensure that your suppliers are monitored and comply with this code.
As a consumer faced with multiple choices, I prefer to buy my food from companies that respect workers rights. I do not want to purchase food tainted by association with human rights abuses. As Chairman and CEO of Yum Brands, please tell me what actions you are taking to ensure that your products are not linked to the violation of farmworkers' rights.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
YOUR ADDRESS
Sign PetitionSign PetitionToday, farmworkers receive a piece rate wage that is 65% lower than it was in 1978. Tomato pickers, for example, earn less than a penny for each pound of tomatoes picked; they need to pick two tons of tomatoes a day to earn just $50.
Yum Brands and your subsidiary Taco Bell buy in huge volume, driving down prices and offloading risks onto producers. Growers, in turn, are forced to squeeze their only elastic variable: labor. As a result, the pickers must work longer hours for less pay, with no health benefits and no overtime pay.
Yum is the corporate leader in the industry. You have the market power and the profit margin to ensure that the workers in your supply chain can earn a living wage, and are treated with dignity and respect. You can pay a penny a pound more for worker rights. I urge you to convene a roundtable with growers and farmworkers to make this happen.
I acknowledge that Yum Brands now has a Supplier Code of Conduct, but it's woefully inadequate and contains no real enforcement mechanisms. You still need to 1) address the protection of core labor standards -- including the right to organize 2) guarantee that workers in your supply chain receive a living wage while working in decent conditions and 3) ensure that your suppliers are monitored and comply with this code.
As a consumer faced with multiple choices, I prefer to buy my food from companies that respect workers rights. I do not want to purchase food tainted by association with human rights abuses. As Chairman and CEO of Yum Brands, please tell me what actions you are taking to ensure that your products are not linked to the violation of farmworkers' rights.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
YOUR ADDRESS
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