May 18, 2005
by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE – The Taco Bell boycott settlement will be featured in a segment of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) program "NOW" on Friday, May 27.

The broadcast will include interviews with leaders of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Yum! Brands, Taco Bell's Louisville-based parent company.

The PC(USA) officials who will appear are the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly; the Rev. Gary Cook, the PC(USA)'s associate director for global service and witness, who was coordinator of the Presbyterian Hunger Program during most of the boycott; and the Rev. Noelle D'Amico, the boycott coordinator.

Cook told the Presbyterian News Service that the producers of the award-winning show – who were in Louisville when the settlement was announced on March 8 3/4 asked about the religious community's role in supporting the boycott, why it supported the farmworkers with such fervor, and what the churches learned about the struggle for workers' rights.

"I expect it to be a carefully analytical program," he said.

The Taco Bell boycott, initiated by the CIW early in 2001, was endorsed by the 214th General Assembly in 2002. Other supporters included the AFL-CIO, the National Council of Churches, the United Methodist Church and such celebrities as actor Martin Sheen, actress Susan Sarandon and singer Bonnie Raitt.

The farmworkers sought a 1-cent-a-pound increase in pay for the tomatoes they pick, improved housing, and an end to indentured servitude in the fields. Yum! agreed to those conditions and pledged to work for similar agreements between farmworkers and other fast-food giants, such as McDonalds, Burger King and Subway.

The PC(USA) is supporting those efforts through a program called "Fair Food." For more information, visit the Web site http://www.pcusa.org/fairfood/.

To find out when the program will be shown in your area, consult your local listings or visit http://www.pbs.org/now/.

This program initially was to be broadcast on May 20; PBS announced on May 19 that it had been rescheduled.

Presbyterian News Service