Want sour cream with your purchase from Taco Bell? You might be required to cross a picket line. Numerous individuals consider sour cream an indispensable condiment for their preferred Mexican dishes. Although Taco Bell is not an authentic Mexican restaurant, many of its most popular menu items include the beloved condiment. Unless workers’ rights become a priority, the days of savoring fresh sour cream with your Taco Bell order may be numbered.
Borden Dairy’s subsidiary New Dairy Select Milk, supplies numerous Taco Bell locations with dairy products. On July 25, Taco Bell received an open letter from the company warning that sour cream would no longer be available if certain problems at the company were not resolved soon. New Dairy Select Milk employees are on strike, and until their employer meets their healthcare requirements, Taco Bell will no longer serve sour cream.
An Open Letter To Taco Bell Asserts That A Strike Could Deprive Them Of Sour Cream
In an open letter to Taco Bell, Tom Strickland, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 662, “Employees are striking for a better health insurance plan that will provide cost savings for them, the company, and the customers.” In 2022, workers at a Kansas City Taco Bell went on strike, with one employee referring to her workplace as “Taco Hell.”
Workers are presently on strike to protest what they perceive unfair healthcare coverage that Borden Dairy requires its employees to purchase. Since the facility with striking employees is the only source of sour cream for every Taco Bell east of the Rocky Mountains, the chain will experience a sour cream shortage if the company does not comply with workers’ demands.
Peter Finn, vice president of the Western Region and director of the Teamsters’ Food Processing Division, describes Borden Dairy’s actions as “irrational, irresponsible, and bad for business.” He added, “We’re encouraging Taco Bell customers to reach out to the company’s leadership and demand that their suppliers treat these hardworking men and women with the dignity and respect they deserve.” Workers’ rights are even better than sour cream, so let’s hope both will be available shortly.