36 legal, labor, social scholars urge Chipotle to work with CIW in open letter!

Scholars' letter to Chipotle: "Urgent need for reform in the fields
requires us to intensify our call and actions for justice"...

See the letter in its entirety at http://www.ciw-online.org

6/27/08: Nearly a year and a half ago, 36 leading scholars in the
fields of labor law, labor studies, and social research, joined by the
founding members of the Alliance for Fair Food, wrote a letter to
Chipotle CEO Steve Ells. They began their letter:

"It has come to our attention that in response to the CIW?s requests
to meet and to work together to address human rights abuses of
farmworkers in your company?s tomato supply chain, Chipotle has,
instead, decided to suspend purchases of Florida tomatoes and
unilaterally investigate the CIW?s 'claims.'"

The powerfully-written letter continued:

"Suspending tomato purchasing from Florida does not mitigate the
problem of sweatshop conditions in Chipotle?s tomato supply chain and
will not enable Chiplote to keep the public?s faith in your claim of
selling ?Food with Integrity.?  Nor will it satisfy the growing and
committed constituency taking action in support of human rights of
farmworkers.  On the contrary, it is an abdication of the very notion
of corporate responsibility at the heart of your aggressively-marketed
mission of 'integrity.'"

The letter was not immediately made public, in order to allow Chipotle
to respond before bringing public pressure. The signatories' patience,
however, would not be infinite:

"AFF has opted to give your company time and space to examine the
issues raised by this campaign, trusting that Chipotle would choose to
live up to its commitment to integrity.  Instead, with every day that
passes, farmworkers in Chipotle?s supply chain continue living a
nightmare of exploitation.

If Chipotle continues its current path of avoidance, however, the
urgent need for reform in the fields requires us to intensify our call
and actions for justice. As scholars concerned about the welfare of
working people, and as endorsers of the Alliance for Fair Food, many
with national membership bases, we are committed to continuing the
Campaign for Fair Food until fair wages and working conditions become
a reality for farmworkers."

With the successful conclusion of the Burger King campaign and the
support, now, of the three largest companies in the fast-food industry
for the principles of Fair Food, the time to "intensify our call and
actions for justice" in Chipotle's supply chain has come.

Check out the CIW website today at http://www.ciw-online.org to see
the letter in its entirety and to find more tools for conveying the
urgency of the need for real change in Florida's fields to your local
Chipotle restaurant, including a Manager's Letter and a flyer you can
download now.

Thanks, and stay tuned for more to come in the growing campaign for
real integrity in Chipotle's tomato supply chain - Coalition of
Immokalee Workers