been no call for a boycott.)  But, in my mind, its inarguable that action,

whatever that action may be, needs to be taken to demand that Chipotle, like

the rest of the fast food industry, care about how the workers who pick its

food are treated.  Chipotle happens to be one of the targets at this particular

time because it is agressively marketing itself as a socially responsible

company (which has played no small part in its amazing success; see

http://www.zacks.com...

for example) and before that image can go any further it needs to include a

respect for farmworkers rights.

Chipotle, as a leader in “Food With Integrity,” is in many ways setting the

standard for what defines corporate social responsibility in the fast food

industry and there is a danger in that.  If that standard is set to include

animal rights and environmental concerns, but ignore human rights and economic

justice than the abuse that farmworkers face that has gone on for decades will

continue.

Farmworkers want their voice included in any definition of what constitutes

social responsibility and are unwilling to be marginalized any longer.

Excluding their voice runs the risk of making “social responsibility” a white

wash for an exploitative system.  That's why Chipotle is being approached in my accessment.

As for Chipotle being the “only chain the would even consider their voice,” that just doesn't bare out in reality.  Chipotle has refused to so much as talk to the CIW on the phone, while Yum! Brands (parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silvers and A&W;) and McDonald's (Chipotle's former owner)–the two largest fast-food companies in the world–have (as a result of hard-fought campaigns) signed legally-binding agreements with the CIW.

Chipotle is making an effort, it seems, just not as good as this specific group wants it to be.  But if everything must be letter perfect, I guess you'll have to find another fast-food joint…. or make 'em yourself.

Chicken burrito with rice and red tomatillo salsa and some cheese: 927 calories (328 from fat).  Astonishingly about a third of that is in the flour tortilla (maybe that's why I prefer soft corn).  Leave off the torilla it's just 597 (248 from fat), leave off the cheese and drop another 100 calories.

The 927 figure is still half of a 2000 calorie diet, and the portions are huge (though it's very easy to cut the thing in half), but a good bit less than your guess.

responsibility? And the only reason that they stopped buying Florida tomatoes is so they'd have an excuse to not talk to the CIW.  Chipotle ignored the the plight of farmworkers for years, it ignored them during the Taco Bell boycott, it ignored them during the McDonald's campaign, it ignored them when the CIW wrote Chipotle a very friendly letter (http://www.ciw-onlin...), and then when the CIW turned up the heat a little in order to try to bring Chipotle to the table by visiting Denver last year (http://www.ciw-onlin...), Chipotle declares it's stopped buying Florida tomatoes and expects that to be the end of it.  That does nothing to improve the lives of farmworkers. That's not integrity, that's hypocrisy!

Their burritos must be about 1500 calories EACH!

WOW.

Chicken burrito with rice and red tomatillo salsa and some cheese: 927 calories (328 from fat).  Astonishingly about a third of that is in the flour tortilla (maybe that’s why I prefer soft corn).  Leave off the torilla it’s just 597 (248 from fat), leave off the cheese and drop another 100 calories.

The 927 figure is still half of a 2000 calorie diet, and the portions are huge (though it’s very easy to cut the thing in half), but a good bit less than your guess.

Chipotle is making an effort, it seems, just not as good as this specific group wants it to be.  But if everything must be letter perfect, I guess you’ll have to find another fast-food joint…. or make ‘em yourself.