They just want to talk tomatoes.
UF students working for the rights of tomato farm workers in Immokalee, Fla., will protest outside Chipotle Mexican Grill on West University Avenue on Friday at 11:30 a.m.
The students are involved with the Coalition of Hispanics Integrating Spanish Speakers through Advocacy and Service, or CHISPAS, a UF student group trying to raise awareness of the minimum wages and human rights issues with Immokalee's migrant tomato farmers, said Grey Torrico, CHISPAS president.
"All we want Chipotle to do is sit down and write an agreement," Torrico said. "We want to talk about wages, conditions in the field and how to try to fix it."
CHISPAS, which has about 50 members, provides free English classes to the local immigrant population at beginning and intermediate levels.
The group held a forum with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers on Saturday in support of fair wages and conditions for farmers.
Immokalee is Florida's largest farm worker population and accounts for about 20 percent of fast-food corporations' ingredients across the nation, she said.
Chris Arnold, Chipotle spokesman, said the restaurant is in contact with the Immokalee coalition about how to resolve the problem.
"We already let them know that we would pay an additional penny per pound for any tomatoes we buy from Florida," Arnold said.
The Immokalee coalition has had success receiving an extra penny per pound of potatoes with Burger King, McDonald's and Wendy's in the past five years.
"All they (the coalition) are asking is to put an extra comma on their philosophy for the migrant workers," Torrico said.
