Coalition Of Immokalee Workers March Today On BK Headquarters
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is leading a nine-mile march from downtown Miami all the way to Burger King headquarters near the airport. The reason is BK's refusal to demand that its tomato providers pay an extra penny per pound to its workers. (Most tomato pickers in South Florida earn about 45 cents for each 32-pound bucket they pick.) Eric Schlosser (he of Fast Food Nation fame) actually summed up the whole story quite nicely in yesterday's New York Times:
In 2005, Florida tomato pickers gained their first significant pay raise since the late 1970s when Taco Bell ended a consumer boycott by agreeing to pay an extra penny per pound for its tomatoes, with the extra cent going directly to the farm workers. Last April, McDonald’s agreed to a similar arrangement, increasing the wages of its tomato pickers to about 77 cents per bucket. But Burger King, whose headquarters are in Florida, has adamantly refused to pay the extra penny — and its refusal has encouraged tomato growers to cancel the deals already struck with Taco Bell and McDonald’s.So, basically, by not paying an extra penny per pound (which would cost BK $250,000 per year), the company is putting in jeopardy already-negotiated contracts with other fast food conglomerates — although that seems to be more the fault of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange's apparent disregard for prior contracts.This month the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, representing 90 percent of the state’s growers, announced that it will not allow any of its members to collect the extra penny for farm workers. Reggie Brown, the executive vice president of the group, described the surcharge for poor migrants as “pretty much near un-American.”
The coalition negotiated with Burger King, and three representatives attended the company's annual meeting, which ended yesterday, but no agreement was reached:
"If you're going to pay people for a measure of work, it's important to measure the work and a person accurately," said Steve Grover, head of quality assurance and regulatory affairs for Miami's Burger King Corp. He said he wasn't convinced that could be done under the coalition's proposal.Hmmm, interesting. It likely wouldn't be as easy for BK to simply raise the wage by a penny because the company doesn't seem to have direct oversight over the workers' wages; on the other hand, it should promise to refuse to buy tomatoes from any grower whose workers' wages don't meet a minimum standard. Which makes us think that perhaps the march should also be directed at the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange. One of the reasons Taco Bell agreed to pay an extra penny per pound was a fairly organized consumer boycott of the chain; will the same thing happen to Burger King?Burger King said that it based the decision on the fact that it has no direct relationship with the growers. Unlike Taco Bell, it purchases tomatoes from repackaging companies, generally located near the farms where the tomatoes are picked.
We tried to create a map of the route, although it didn't turn out as clear as we'd hoped. But it gives you a good idea of where the marchers will be. They began this morning at the Goldman Sachs offices downtown (Goldman Sachs owns a large stake in BK) and will be at the Burger King headquarters by 3:30 p.m. for a rally.
Penny Foolish [New York Times]
Burger King rejects tomato price hike, but offers job help [St Petersburg Times]
BK protesters march through Miami streets [Miami Herald]
Coalition of Immokalee Workers [Official Site]
