On my way home from work Tuesday, I happened to notice a large banner that had been hastily posted in the parking lot of the Taco Bell on Tennessee Street. It read "Taco Bell supports human suffering."

I decided to drop my chalupa and find out what was going on. That’s when I noticed about five people standing across the street handing out fliers with a large, bold headline "Think before you enter!"

"Would you be willing to pay a quarter of a penny more for your chalupa if it meant that farmworkers could earn a living wage?" asked Seth Benschoter, who handed me the flier explaining the reasons for their parking lot protest. "Migrant farm workers in Immokalee are paid 40 cents for every 32-pound bucket they pick. That wage has not increased since 1978."

Benschoter and friends were there to celebrate the one-month anniversary of a boycott against Taco Bell. Farm workers, students and human rights organizers have announced a boycott against Taco Bell for subjugating Immokalee tomato pickers to a life of abject poverty.

"These people are being forced to suffer and nobody cares, especially the corporations," said Tony Williams, who had organized the May Day protest. "But these people are not tools of production, they are human beings, and corporations who make a lot of money and have a lot of power also have a lot of responsibility."

Readers of the Tallahassee Democrat will remember a series of front-page articles from August of last year recounting the plight of migrant farmworkers and their families who have come to Florida in search of a better life. Instead, according to Democrat reporter John Sevigny, most found "poverty, academic disadvantages and life-threatening illnesses and endure the solitude that accompanies a life of endless travel and field work."

Now, it seems these farmworkers are seeking a living wage. But the Immokalee packing company that hires them doesn’t want to pay them more. And Taco Bell doesn’t want to enter into a labor dispute between its tomato supplier and farmworkers.

"We definitely respect the rights of all employees and value human rights," Taco Bell spokesperson Laurie Gannon told me. "But we will not get involved in labor disputes between our suppliers and their employees. That has been our position in the past and will continue to be our position."

However, as Williams points out, by wielding so much power (Tricon Global, which owns Taco Bell, owns more restaurants than any company in the world), Taco Bell does indeed have a responsibility to ensure that its business practices aren’t vile and disreputable. If you question this assertion, I would encourage you to talk to Nike executives who were persuaded by student protesters to change the company's sweatshop labor conditions in Third World nations.

As is the case with Taco Bell, this labor was outsourced. But as Nike learned, corporate power brings corporate responsibility.

Tomato pickers in Florida earn an average of $7,500 a year, which is well beneath the legal minimum wage. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has had some success in raising piece rates to 50 cents per bucket. But this is still far short of a living wage, and even far short of the value this work had two decades ago.

Farmworkers are paid by the number of tomatoes they pick. The average Immokalee farmworker must pick and haul two tons of tomatoes to make $50 in a day. Workers are denied the right to organize and the right to overtime pay for overtime work. They receive no health insurance, no sick leave, no paid holidays, no paid vacations and no pension.

"If Taco Bell would voluntarily pay one penny more for every pound of tomatoes it buys, it could double the picking price rate paid to farmworkers," said Benschoter. "Even if the cost is passed on to consumers, it would only be a quarter of a penny more for your chalupa."

While corporations are not accustomed to voluntarily spending more money, maybe Taco Bell should consider such an action. Even if the monthlong boycott against Taco Bell doesn’t seem to be hurting its bottom line, farmworkers will continue to protest, students will continue to agitate and human rights advocates will continue to hang signs in Taco Bell’s parking lot that read "Taco Bell supports human suffering."

Like Nike, Taco Bell can be persuaded to change. Unless it does, it really will be supporting human suffering. And who wants to be seen eating a taco from a corporation that supports human suffering?