Florida farmworkers tell Burger King: Yes, You Will
Si, Se Puede" may be becoming an over-used Presidential campaign slogan, but the message of "Yes, We Can" still has meaning for members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida.
This week, the group launched a national campaign to get Burger King to boost wages and use their economic clout to ensure better treatment of farmworkers:
Burger King's reluctance to join has brought Congressional scrutiny: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is promising hearings before the Senate labor commiteee.
For more on the Coalition and the Burger King campaign, visit here.
This week, the group launched a national campaign to get Burger King to boost wages and use their economic clout to ensure better treatment of farmworkers:
They've been asking for years but haven't gotten what they want.The Coalition has a strong track record: using similar tactics, they pressured Yum! Brands -- owners of Taco Bell -- to make similar concessions in 2005. McDonald's followed in 2007.
So the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is bringing out its big guns: a high-profile, multi-faceted national campaign and the threat of a boycott designed to persuade Burger King to pay a penny more a pound for tomatoes and "eliminate slavery and human rights abuses from Florida's fields."
This week, coalition members are fanning out across the country to gather support for the effort, which is tied to the 200th anniversary of the U.S. ban on the importation of slaves.
Burger King's reluctance to join has brought Congressional scrutiny: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is promising hearings before the Senate labor commiteee.
For more on the Coalition and the Burger King campaign, visit here.
Labels: bernie sanders, burger king, coalition of immokalee workers, farmworkers
2 Comments:
Not sure what economic clout you are referring to. The Burger King system purchases less than 1 percent of tomatoes grown in the Immokalee region. The CIW might be better off attacking the grocery chains and retail purchasers that actually wield influence over the growers.
To: anonymous,
prehaps the clout to which they're referring is the purchasing practices that BK has used to push down the price of tomatoes which in turn holds down wages for workers that are referred to in this article by a tomato repacker in the produce industry journal the Packer:
http://www.ciw-online.org/images/Packer2005.pdf
Or perhaps it is referring to the 2/28/08 Miami Herald article, "Costs are squashing the tomato industry" by Elaine Walker, in which the possibility of Burger King moving tomato purchases outside Florida in an effort to avoid working with the CIW is referred to as "a staggering blow for an industry that has grown increasing dependent on restaurants."
Burger King has a significant amount of power over its suppliers and could use that power to ensure improved wages and working conditions for farmworkers. Perhaps BK can't single handedly change the entire industry, but as a major buyer and influential company it could, along with other fast-food companies, restaurant chains and yes grocery chains, to a change in the entire industry.
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