Today’s New York Times ran a terrific Op-Ed piece, “Penny Foolish.” (Thank you to our friend the World Traveler for the heads-up!) Turns out the King isn’t so generous when it comes to treating farm workers fairly. Here’s an excerpt:“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... ”
A penny? C’mon. How cheap can one get? The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is marching on Burger King’s corporate headquarters tomorrow in Miami, to protest this silliness. Not in Florida? Our friends at Sojourners have posted a link that allows you to send an email message directly to Burger King executives urging them to treat farm workers fairly.
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