For Immediate Release:
Thursday, September 27, 2007 12:00pm EST
Contact:
Lucas Benitez, CIW, 239-503-0133
Brigitte Gynther, IA, 239-986-0688
Meghan Cohorst, SFA, 727-744-7706
COALITION OF IMMOKALEE WORKERS LAUNCHES TOUR OF FLORIDA TO EXPOSE BURGER KING´S ACTIVE ROLE IN FARMWORKER EXPLOITATION
Educational events, protests to be held in 14 communities exposing role of industry leader Burger King in ever-deepening farmworker poverty
Immokalee, FL: The (CIW) will launch a nine-day, statewide tour this Saturday, September 29th, to educate consumers, students, people of faith and other community members about Burger King’s continued refusal to work with the CIW and to address the reality of sweatshop conditions in the fields where Burger King’s tomatoes are picked.
CIW members will share their experiences and invite fellow Floridians to join them in Miami on November 30 in a historic nine-mile march. The march will begin in Miami’s downtown business district outside the offices of Goldman Sachs, a major investor in Burger King, and end at Burger King’s corporate headquarters.
The CIW has called on Burger King to pay a premium for their tomatoes to be passed directly on to tomato pickers to increase their wages and to work with the CIW to improve working conditions and ensure the respect of workers’ human rights in the fields. The CIW has previously garnered similar accords with fast-food giants Yum Brands (parent company of Taco Bell) and McDonald’s.
Presently, Florida tomato pickers earn roughly 45 cents for every 32-lb bucket of tomatoes they pick. At this rate, a farmworker must pick and haul approximately 2.5 TONS of tomatoes just to make minimum wage for a 10-hour day. Farmworkers regularly toil long hours with no overtime pay, no health insurance, no right to organize, no sick days and no benefits whatsoever. In the most extreme cases, farmworkers are subjected to conditions of modern-day slavery.
CIW member Leonel Perez stated, “Today, in the wake of the Yum Brands and McDonald’s agreements, we stand on the threshold of a more modern, more humane agricultural industry in Florida. Yet, facing this historic opportunity, Burger King seems to have chosen business as usual over progress, continued exploitation over justice. It is time for Burger King to seize the moment and stand with Florida’s tomato pickers in our fight for fundamental human rights in the fields.”
The CIW will be joined on the tour by members of Interfaith Action (IA), a coalition of religious allies organizing in solidarity with the CIW, and the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA), a national network of youth and students supporting the CIW.
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