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Nearly one month ago, the Progressive Student Alliance set out on a mission to inform the public about Taco Bell’s treatment of its workers and collect signatures for a campus-wide boycott. 500 signatures and one Mexican dinner later, the PSA can rest happy.
Last Tuesday, in an unprecedented move, fast-food leader Taco Bell, a division of Yum! Food Brands, agreed to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a Florida-based organization, in hopes of addressing the wages and working conditions of their farm workers. Taco Bell agreed to pay the penny-per-pound surcharge demanded by the workers. The settlement helped to extinguish a four-year national boycott of Taco Bell by CIW and several other widely-recognized groups.
Sarah Bigney, initiator of the boycott on campus and secretary of the PSA, took time Monday to discuss news of the agreement.
“We were thrilled to hear that Taco Bell has decided to agree to the farmer workers conditions,” Bigney said. “We are very excited because it’s been a four-year boycott, although we just started this year at UMaine.”
“The boycott is over,” Bigney said. “The penny-a-pound doesn’t sound like a lot but it makes a huge difference.”
Bigney discussed the boycott’s benefits.
“It goes to show that people make a difference and what we do can create change,” said Bigney. “Its great because being the largest restaurant chain in the world, it’s very groundbreaking and hopefully sets a precedent in the fast-food industry.”
Dating back to Feb. 10 the PSA made it their business to inform the UMaine community about what they felt was a considerable injustice towards the farm workers. Stressing the issue of mistreatment on the behalf of Taco Bell, PSA campaigned for the boycott with a table twice a week in Memorial Union. The PSA also held a special Mexican Dinner on Feb. 23 to make students more aware of the situation. At the presentation, groups served Mexican dishes. while a film about the farmer workers slight played. Bigney said the dinner went a long way in helping stress the importance of the boycott.
“I think the Mexican dinner was fabulous,” Bigney said. “We got 100 signatures on that night alone and really educated people.”
Tracy Allen, another key figure in the PSA’s Orono boycott, commented on the successful dinner.
“I think that the dinner was really successful, free food always works,” Allen said.
During the dinner, PSA also directed its attention towards parent company Yum! Food brands.
“We sent around 40 postcards to the CEO of Yum! Food brands,” Bigney said. “So knowing that only two weeks later the boycott ended was exciting.”
Wertheim touched upon the negative feedback and how he dealt with it.
“I tried to explain the effects and that enough people can band together to get something done,” Wertheim said. “A big part of what our group is about is that often low numbers and grass roots stuff can cause change.”
“I found word of mouth was a big component when getting the message across,” Allen said. “It seemed to be a little controversial for some people, so they would talk about it.”
Allen said the group could have made more of an impact if the boycott lasted longer on campus.
“I think we have made a dent,” she said. “But if the campaign had continued I would like to think that we would have gotten to reach to more to people.”
However, Allen said she was pleased with how things ended with the campaign.
“I am happy with how it ended,” she said. “The point wasn’t to kick Taco Bell off campus for the sake of kicking it off campus. The point was to get Taco Bell to work with us.”
Bigney said the resolution with Taco Bell will lead the group to various endeavors in the future.
“There is a lot more that goes way beyond Taco Bell,” Bigney said. “I think the Progressive Student Alliance is going to take a look at coffee next, there is a lot of coffee that is consumed on this campus.”
“We are just stepping back and celebrating this victory and saluting Taco Bell for making this change,” she said. “Everyone should now go and have a chalupa.”
Bangor Daily News