Recently the Coalition of Immokalee Workers forced Taco Bell and its parent company, Yum! Brands, to agree to a one-cent increase in the wage for its tomato pickers, which almost doubles the pay rate per bucket. The coalition, which worked with students (including Washington University’s Student Worker Alliance), faith-based groups and farm labor unions, showed true power in numbers to force the change.
According to sophomore SWA member Nikhil Kothegal, 22 other universities had already gotten Taco Bell removed from their campuses before Yum! Brands agreed to the wage increase. This was very fortunate for SWA, because the recent campuswide food survey showed just 15.9 percent of students willing to boycott Taco Bell out of concern for the Immokalee workers.
The national coalition effectively employed hunger strikes, rallies, information sessions and students from across the country who gave up their spring break to travel with the campaign. Kothegal explained that our campus was just one of many campaign stops.
Ironically, now that Taco Bell has reformed its labor practices, SWA cannot encourage students to reward the chain with their patronage; Taco Bell will be replaced on campus after next year following the food survey that SWA pushed for. Hopefully, SWA will use its influence to encourage another socially responsible chain to replace Taco Bell.
While the SWA has seen great success as part of the coalition and other national partnerships, progress on campus has been less fruitful. The living wage campaign forced the chancellor to appoint a task force to explore the issue but as of yet has not changed wages on campus. To its credit, SWA plans to use new tactics in the future to continue to fight the issue, hoping to frame the issue in comparison to recent tuition increases and using an SWA Week to focus attention on the issue of living wage.
But it seems that what really worked for the Taco Bell campaign was a national coalition that not only raised public awareness but also created bad press and economic pressure on the company to force change. Unless SWA plans on boycotting all University food, cleaning and landscape services, it seems unlikely that its living wage campaign will be as successful as the “Boot the Bell” campaign.
Hopefully, members will learn from their own success instead of changing tactics in the face of an impressive victory. SWA has shown it can raise awareness of an issue; setting up a system of economic incentives for organizations to have responsible social practices, Washington University included, is the next step.