071218 Tomato Pickers Protest At Burger King Over WagesNovember 30, 2007Miami, FL - Farm workers, union members and activists marched through city streets to Burger King headquarters Friday to protest low wages for tomato pickers and alleged exploitation of field workers. Three hundred to 400 protesters gathered under the skyscrapers of Miami's downtown, many wearing yellow T-shirts reading "Exploitation King" and "Burger King Exploits Farmworkers," others holding signs saying "Dignity" or "Justice for Tomato Pickers." The marchers, some strumming guitars and banging large tin cans with sticks, then began their nine-mile trek to Burger King's offices. The protesters are pressuring the Miami-based fast-food giant to pay a penny more per pound for Florida tomatoes - with their suppliers passing the money on directly to farm workers. Burger King has not accepted the deal. The company says it is willing to negotiate with the workers on a code of conduct for its vendors to prevent worker exploitation, but it sees no legal way to directly pay the workers. Growers say it would be illegal to let outside groups set wages. "We want just a penny [more] per pound; that's not a lot," said Sonia Lopez, 50. "It will help our quality of life. It will help people make more money and be able to live a decent life, a better life." Steven Grover, Burger King vice president in charge of food safety and quality assurance, said the door remains open for negotiation, but the mechanism of paying the extra penny directly to the workers "is very obscure and legally questionable." "This protest is a colossal waste of resources and time that could be focused on helping the migrant workers in Immokalee [Fla.]," he said.
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