DC Represents at Farmworker Demo in Miami

Wearing bright yellow t-shirts reading "Burger King exploits farmworkers," over 1,500 members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and their allies - including DC-based leaders and activists -- marched through Miami last Friday, November 30, to demand that Burger King work with the CIW to raise farmworker wages and address sweatshop conditions in the fields. The high-energy, colorful procession made its way across the city to the beat of hip-hop and son jarocho, the lively music from Veracruz, Mexico, as chants such as "¡si se puede!" echoed through the streets. The 9-mile march linked Goldman Sachs, the private equity firm that owns part of Burger King, to Burger King's national headquarters for a rally and candlelight vigil. The rally featured the presentation of  a pile of worn work boots to a Burger King representative, asking company executives to walk a mile in farmworkers' shoes, in response to Burger King's claim that farmworker poverty was a "myth." Farmworkers currently make 40-45 cents for every 32-lb bucket of tomatoes picked, receive no overtime pay, healthcare or benefits, and are denied the right to organize. In extreme cases, workers have been held against their will in documented cases of modern-day slavery. The CIW, a organization of farmworkers in Central Florida who pick tomatoes for major fast food chains and grocery retailers, is asking Burger King to pay farmworkers a penny more per pound of tomatoes picked, disclose sourcing within their supply chain and work with the CIW to monitor conditions amongst its suppliers. Burger King has not only resisted working with the CIW, but has actively pressured Florida growers to stop paying workers the penny per pound increase the CIW had long fought for and won in agreements with Taco Bell in 2005, and McDonald's and Yum Brands Corporation in 2007. "In the wake of our agreements with Yum Brands and McDonald's," CIW spokesperson Lucas Benitez said, "we have arrived on the threshold of a more modern, more humane agricultural industry in Florida.  Yet rather than join us on that path toward further progress, Burger King has allied itself with tomato industry representatives to push us back, back toward the same abuse and exploitation we have experienced for decades."  Benitez continued, "But we will not be turned back.  We will not give up the gains we have already won, and we will continue forward until all of Florida's farmworkers can enjoy a fair wage and humane conditions in this state's fields." - reported by Ashwini Jaisingh