Student government turns down free Chipotle burritos in support of farmworkers and CU student-members of the Boulder Network of the Student Farmworker Alliance.

Chipotle Mexican Grill offered to treat the University of Colorado Student Union (UCSU) executive staff to a free lunch of the grill's popular burritos. Despite the tremendous hunger due to finals and wrapping up a year of hard work in the student government, UCSU members respectfully turned down the free lunch.

The reason: Chipotle Corporation has refused to take responsibility for human rights abuses that occur in the fields that grow the restaurant's tomatoes. For over a year, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) has been requesting the support of Chipotle Corporation in addressing the sub-poverty wages as well as cases of modern-day slavery that tomato pickers in Florida are experiencing. Based out of Immokalee, Florida, the CIW is a community-based farmworker organization of Latino, Haitian, and Mayan Indian Immigrants that is asking the quickly-growing chain to pay a penny more per pound of tomatoes that would go directly to farmworkers.

The CIW, along with the Boulder network of the national Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) and allies in Denver are asking Denver-based Chipotle Corporation to live up to its slogan of "Food with Integrity." Recently, the students in Boulder gathered 930 signatures on a petition that urges fast food industry chains to join the CIW in its efforts to "establish and enforce a human rights-based code of conduct" for tomato pickers.

SFA member and CU student Courtney Antone says, "I don't understand why Chipotle has free range meat yet refuses to make sure its tomatoes are sweat-free. Are farmworkers less deserving of integrity than chickens? Chipotle has a great opportunity to make food with integrity a reality by ensuring that their tomatoes are picked under just conditions, but the company continues to refuse."

In a show of support for farmworkers and students in the Student/Farmworker Alliance, UCSU has formally declined Chipotle's free lunch (see attached letter). UCSU Tri-Executive Hadley Brown says, "We appreciate the offer from the Chipotle representative. However, our respect for the dignified people who harvest our food, as well as our respect for the work of our peers in the Student Farmworker Alliance is worth more than a free burrito." In turning down the free meal, UCSU hopes it sends a message to Chipotle Corporation about the urgency of human rights abuses in tomato fields and the restaurant's role in the situation. The letter also responds to Chipotle's questionable claim that it does not purchase tomatoes from Florida, and thus has no responsibility to the farmworkers. CU student David Staub of the SFA says, "We are tremendously grateful for UCSU's bold action. Although we are not promoting a boycott of Chipotle, we feel that UCSU has sent a powerful message to its corporate headquarters."

UCSU letter to Chipotle

Monday, April 28, 2008

Dear Chipotle Corporation,

On behalf of the University of Colorado Student Union Executive Staff, we would like to thank you for your offer of free Chipotle burritos, but we cannot accept it. Our rejection of this offer is meant as a gesture of support for CU's chapter of the Student Farmworker Alliance and for the workers in Florida who harvest tomatoes for Chipotle and other chains. Recently, students from CU Boulder obtained 930 signatures on a petition that urges fast food industry chains to join the Coalition of Immokalee workers in its efforts to "establish and enforce a human rights-based code of conduct" for tomato pickers. The provisions of the petition and our reasons for rejecting Chipotle's offer are explained in more detail below.

Chipotle Mexican Grill has continually been presented with the opportunity to foster real social responsibility in its tomato supply chain by working with an award-winning human rights farmworker organization, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). Unfortunately, the many attempts of the CIW, the Student/Farmworker Alliance, and the Denver Fair Food Committee to reach out to Chipotle have been repeatedly ignored.

As Chipotle has been informed many times: today, there is a human rights crisis in Florida's fields-the same fields that for many years have supplied Chipotle with tomatoes for its tacos and burritos. Tomato pickers face deplorable conditions every day:

· Sub-poverty wages: farmworkers earn, on average, only $10,000/year;

· No raise in nearly 30 years: tomato pickers are paid virtually the same per bucket piece rate (about 45 cents per 32 lb. bucket) today as they were in 1978. At today's rate, workers have to pick nearly 2 1/2 TONS of tomatoes just to earn minimum wage for a typical 10-hr day;

· Denial of fundamental labor rights: Farmworkers in Florida have no right to overtime pay, even when working 60-70 hour weeks, and no right to organize or bargain collectively.

Even worse, modern-day slavery rings, in which workers are held against their will and forced to work through violence and threats of violence, have been found in the fields. The CIW has assisted the Department of Justice in uncovering, investigating, and successfully prosecuting 5 such cases-involving more than 1,000 workers-since 1997.

Chipotle's purchasing practice of demanding the cheapest tomatoes without regard for the rights of the workers who harvest those tomatoes may help keep the company's costs down. But the costs for farmworkers are extremely high: continued poverty and exploitation.

Chipotle has a reputation as a leader in advancing socially responsible purchasing practices within the fast-food industry. Chipotle's indifference to the deplorable conditions faced by workers in its tomato supply chain, however, casts the sincerity of its "Food With Integrity" philosophy into serious doubt. We are well aware that Chipotle claims to no longer be purchasing tomatoes from Florida while it 'investigates' the issue.

That is not an acceptable response to the dire situation at hand. Chipotle should seize the opportunity and responsibility to rectify the injustices lived by farmworkers everyday, not run away from them

We are disappointed that Chipotle has refused to even discuss this issue with the CIW, much less take the necessary steps to ensure farmworkers receive fair wages and human rights. We also feel disrespected by Chipotle's disregard for the efforts our fellow students have taken to build bridges between the CIW and Chipotle. Since we value our relationships with our peers in the Student/Farmworker Alliance and those who do respectable work picking the tomatoes we eat, we cannot accept your offer of free burritos. Instead we encourage Chipotle to agree to:

· Pay a penny more per pound for the tomatoes that Chipotle purchases and ensure that this increase is passed along to tomato pickers in the form of increased wages; and

· Work with the CIW to implement an enforceable code of conduct to ensure fair and safe working conditions for farmworkers in Chipotle's tomato supply chain.

Thank you,

The UCSU Executive Staff