08406
May 23, 2008

Burger King and CIW strike deal

PC(USA)-backed farmworkers will receive higher wages, improved work conditions

by Evan Silverstein
Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE — The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-backed Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and Burger King Corp. announced plans today (May 23) to work together to improve wages and conditions for the farmworkers who harvest tomatoes for the hamburger chain.

Burger King Corp. (BKC) has agreed to pay an additional penny-per-pound for Florida tomatoes to increase wages of the farmworkers, according to a press release issued by the company. The extra penny would add about $20 to a daily wage of $50, farmworkers have said.

The Immokalee, FL-based CIW, which receives support from the PC(USA) and other faith groups, has been pressuring Burger King and other food industry leaders to pay a penny more a pound to farmworkers harvesting tomatoes and to improve work conditions.

“The events of the past months have been trying,” CIW co-founder Lucas Benitez said in the press release. “But we are prepared to move forward together now with Burger King, toward a future of full respect for the human rights of workers in the Florida tomato fields. Today we are one step closer to building a world where we, as farmworkers, can enjoy a fair wage and humane working conditions in exchange for the hard and essential work we do every day.”

To encourage grower participation in the increased wage program, Burger King will also fund incremental payroll taxes and administrative costs incurred by the growers as a result of their farmworkers’ increased wages, or a total of 1.5 cents per pound of tomatoes, the press release said.

The release said Burger King Corp. also joins other fast-food industry leaders and the CIW in calling for an industry-wide penny-per-pound surcharge to increase wages for Florida tomato harvesters. 

BKC and the CIW have also established “zero tolerance” guidelines for certain unlawful activities that require immediate termination of any grower from the Burger King supply chain, according to the press release.

It said the BKC and CIW collaboration additionally provides for farmworker participation in the monitoring of growers’ compliance with the company’s vendor code of conduct. 

The press release said BKC’s franchisees will work with the company to foster improvements and sustainable changes throughout the Florida tomato industry. It said the CIW and BKC will also work together in developing an industry-wide vendor code of conduct and increased worker wages through encouragement of full buyer and grower participation. 

 “We are pleased to now be working together with the CIW to further the common goal of improving Florida tomato farmworkers’ wages, working conditions and lives,” said John Chidsey, chief executive officer of Burger King Corp. “The CIW has been at the forefront of efforts to improve farm labor conditions, exposing abuses and driving socially responsible purchasing and work practices in the Florida tomato fields.”

In the press release, Chidsey apologized for negative statements about the CIW and its motives that recently had been attributed to employees of the company and that Burger King now realizes were wrong.  
“Today we turn a new page in our relationship and begin a new chapter of real progress for Florida farmworkers,” Chidsey said. 

Benitez said he hopes the agreement with Burger King will send a strong message to the rest of the restaurant and supermarket industry that it’s time to join Yum! Brands, McDonalds and Burger King in “righting the wrongs that have been allowed to linger in Florida’s fields for far too long.”

Both McDonald’s and Taco Bell parent Yum! Brands Inc. have already agreed to pay growers a penny more per pound for the tomatoes they buy. The deal also calls on the companies to work with the CIW to establish a code of conduct for their suppliers.

Yum! Brands had been paying the increase to farmworkers since 2005 and McDonald’s was set to begin paying the penny-per-pound increase in the fall of 2007 as a part of the agreements with the CIW. 

Both companies are currently paying this money into an escrow account, but the money isn’t reaching farmworkers because the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, an agriculture cooperative opposed to the increase, is prohibiting its grower-members from participating in the agreements, saying it believes farmworkers are treated fairly.

The CIW, which is one of the nation’s most respected anti-slavery groups, waged a successful national boycott of Taco Bell several years ago. The PC(USA)’s 214th General Assembly in 2002 endorsed the boycott and called for discussions involving the Mexican-style fast-food chain, its tomato suppliers and CIW representatives.

Burger King’s earlier refusal to agree to the penny-a-pound raise prompted U.S. Senate labor committee member Bernie Sanders, I-VT, to call for a hearing on farm conditions last month in Washington, DC. During the proceedings, lawmakers called for an investigation into Florida tomato picker wages and labor conditions.

Sanders visited the CIW in Immokalee last January, calling their living conditions among the worst in the agriculture industry.

 “I am very pleased that Burger King has agreed to help the tomato pickers who have worked for too long for too little,” Sanders said in the press release. “I know that this has been a long and hard road for Burger King, and I believe the American people will appreciate what they are doing. I hope now that other corporations will join Burger King, McDonalds and Yum Brands in doing the right thing.”

Burger King Corp. is the second largest fast-food hamburger chain in the world with more than 11,300 restaurants in all 50 states and 69 countries and U.S. territories worldwide, according to the company’s Web site. Approximately 90 percent of its restaurants are owned and operated by independent franchisees, many of them family-owned operations that have been in business for decades.