wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Taco Bell boycott to be featured on PBS program on May

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8737 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05267
May 18, 2005

Taco Bell boycott is focus of PBS broadcast

PC(USA) officials to appear in "NOW" segment on May 27

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 ? 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 www.pcusa.org/fairfood.

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

Note: This segment initially was to be shown on May 20; PBS announced on May
19 that it had been rescheduled.

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