Avert Your Eyes

Today is a dark, dark day in the life of this blog. Today it's going somewhere I never, ever, in a bazillion years thought it would go. It's going political.

On Facebook, I follow, or like, or am a fan of, or somehow get occasional updates from a group called The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, or IATP. Last week, they posted a link to a website called Chipocracy. They also posted a link to this story, which I'm cutting and pasting in its entirety, because it's quite pertinent to my ranting.

January 20, 2011

Chipotle's "integrity" challenged over treatment of workers

Ten blocks north of IATP's office in Minneapolis, a boisterous crowd braved 5-degree temperatures to march in front of Chipotle. The restaurant chain, who touts "food with integrity," was under fire over its mistreatment of workers. A few weeks before Christmas, Chipotle fired—without notice—nearly 700 immigrant workers in Minnesota, and at least some were fired without paying back wages.

"We’re seeking the truth and to get the company to sit down and engage in dialogue with us because they have refused to do so," said Maria Cortes, a former Chipotle employee who had been fired along with 13 co-workers at the restaurant where she worked. "We’re here because we are seeking that our rights be respected."

Chipotle has been national leader in sourcing environmentally friendly food from family farms, often within regional food networks. The company has told the media that it is simply following the law after it was subjected to a 1-9 audit by U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). But it is standard practice for employers to give employees 90 days to clear up any problems with their immigration documents, according to the Service Employees Interational Union (SEIU). Instead, Chipotle fired employees in question immediately. SEIU also believes Chipotle has potentially violated a number of Minnesota state employment laws.

Minnesota's local food leaders, including IATP, have sent a letter to Chipotle CEO Steve Ells, calling for the company to pay back wages to workers, and to stand up for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Signs at today's protest stated, "Chipotle Treats their Chickens and Produce Better than they Treat their Employees" and "Chipocrisy: Selling Mexican Culture and then Selling Out Mexican Workers." A website, Chipocrisy, has more details.

"I worked at Chipotle for over nine years and always treated my job as if I owned the restaurant, wanting to do my best for my managers and for my customers," explained Jaunita Cruz, a Chipotle employee fired in December. "But getting fired so abruptly was a disrespect to my nine years of service."

While the rapidly growing local and healthy foods movement has made many gains over the last several years, food and farm workers are often left out of the equation. But there can be no "food with integrity" without fair treatment of workers.

—Ben Lilliston

All I can say is, "CRAP." Those who know me well know that I have a thing for Chipotle that quite possibly borders on addiction. I generally eat there at least once a week, frequently taking my daughter out to lunch on grocery shopping day. We kind of view it as our reward for enduring the rigors of the grocery store, which be both LOATHE. Additionally, it is my pre-race meal of choice on evenings before running events.

My first response to this was that I needed to do some research and figure out what the hell was going on. Well, days went by, and said research never happened. I'll spare you my lame excuses. But, last Friday evening, my daughter and I decided it was a good night for a burrito. The boys of the house were in Kansas visiting family, we'd both had a long day, and some beans and rice seemed like the perfect way to end the day. The store we went to has one of those dispenser things (technical term) where you can buy a paper. The headline on the paper caused me a major DOH! moment, reminding me that I needed to do a little research. It went like this:

Chipotle fires hundreds, draws protest

Chain dismissed workers at its 50 Minnesota restaurants after an immigration audit.

Since I eat like a pig, and my daughter does not, I finished eating before her (yes, we went ahead and ate there, feel free to judge me, I certainly deserve it). I pulled up the article on my phone and read as she finished eating. No new information, really, but here's the full story, should you care.

I then sent the story to my husband. He does not salivate over the food with quite as much fervor as I do, but he is a fan. He basically replied with, "I'm going to need more information."

Well, now it's Monday. Monday's suck, but today's a good one, because I'm getting a long overdue new oven. The project required a whole new cabinet, and my kitchen's currently in a bit of upheaval. So, Elise and I headed to the gym in an effort to get out of their way. I knew that the current state of the kitchen was going to make lunch prep a little difficult, so I decided we'd grab lunch. Guess what dining establishment is right on the way home??!! I know, I know. I SUCK as a person.

Now I'm going to rewind to about four weeks ago. Obviously the girl and I know a thing or two about dining at Chipotle. All of a sudden, the line was not moving like the well-oiled machine it had once been. Back in the day, when the line went out the door, you didn't sweat it, because you knew they were going to get you through that line in a jiffy. No mas. That is not the case now. I mentioned this to my husband, thinking maybe I was just being impatient and crabby, but he concurred. Something was definitely different, and it wasn't hard to see that the workforce had changed quite a bit. Obviously, now we know why that was.

Coming back to today. When I ordered Elise's quesadilla, the gal working put the thing directly on the tortilla heater upper, presser thing (another technical term). As in, no foil. I stood there wondering if I should open my mouth and tell the employee how to do her job. I ultimately couldn't do it. I have big time issues with asserting myself. That's another post. The result of the absent foil was a big mess. The cleaned it up quickly and got the gal on the right track, but COME ON. Chipotle should know how to make a quesadilla.

This whole situation just makes me sad and mad. I'm sad that eating at what's basically my favorite restaurant now leaves me feeling guilty. I'm also mad. Mad about the completely screwed up state of immigration in this country. I do have some sympathy for the company. My take on it is that they were between a rock and a hard spot. I do wonder, though, about how the hiring process for these folks went. It is a little hard for me to believe that the Chipotle powers that be really thought all the Hispanics they were hiring were legal.

MOST OF ALL, though, I'm mad that the employees are in this position. Don't give me any noise about them taking jobs from Americans, because you and I both know Americans are not chomping at the bit to work on the burrito making line. If anyone was being hurt by the way things were, it was the employees. I don't know what they're compensation package looked like, but I'm guessing they were working for less that they would've been if they had white skin. Feel free to provide me with some documentation saying I'm wrong.

In all honesty, though, my real thoughts on this are pretty selfish and superficial. Why the hell did immigration officials feel the need to put Chipotle under fire? What harm was being done to society by these folks working for a living and supporting their families? Why could we not just leave well enough alone? Right wing rhetoric claims that government needs keep their hands off of people's lives. I guess that doesn't apply to this situation, because Hispanics aren't people. Or maybe government officials just don't like burritos. I don't know.

This whole Chipotle debacle is just a microcosm of the completely eff'd up state of immigration in this country. I love this country, I really do. But we've got some serious issues, and this is certainly one of them.