Student/Farmworker Alliance Victory in BK Campaign
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The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the Student/Farmworker Alliance just announced another victory in their campaign to improve the wages, working conditions, and rights of tomato pickers and agricultural workers.

This Whopper™ of a victory must be even tastier (sorry - couldn’t resist) as it comes after the discovery that Burger King hired a company to spy on the Student/Farmworker Alliance.



Burger King and CIW just announced an agreement that would increase wages for tomato pickers in Burger King’s supply chain, have Burger King join other companies calling for an industry-wide penny per pound surcharge to increase wages, a zero-tolerance policy for growers that participate in certain unlawful activities, and farmworker participation in monitoring BK suppliers for violations of their vendor code of conduct.

CIW and the Student/Farmworker Alliance are on a roll – they have reached similar agreements with Yum! Brands (Taco Bell) and McDonald’s, and have educated tens of thousands of people about the issues facing agricultural workers in the US along the way. They have also helped to expose slavery in Florida’s tomato fields.


Reader Comments
  
The slavery is a huge issue...
By Superduperficial May 25th 2008 at 6:48 pm EDT
...the low wages themselves are not.

If the wages are too low to make the jobs attractive, people will no longer be interested in doing the work, the supply of laborers will decrease, and the issue will be self-correcting.

Furthermore, wage subsidies actually hurt the most vulnerable workers -- higher wages mean that the farm owners will in turn be more aggressive about getting the most efficient farm workers possible, meaning those with lesser skill or other hard circumstances will have an even more difficult time finding any employment at all.

Sticking up for farmworker rights is a noble cause. Sloppily messing with the market forces determining their wages isn't.
Re: The slavery is a huge issue...
By A. Smith May 27th 2008 at 1:23 pm EDT
Yes - the best way for workers to improve their situation is not to organize, but do nothing. Doing nothing is why workers in the US are better off than in some other parts of the world - it had nothing to do with the labor movement.

In fact, if we just do nothing, maybe we will get universal health care! We wouldn't want to sloppily mess with market forces that have brought us the joy of uninsured children and higher per capita medical costs than.. well, just about everywhere. That would be irrational.. unlike the market..
  
With the market...
By Payday Loan Advocate Oct 13th 2008 at 7:18 am EDT (Updated Oct 13th 2008 at 7:18 am EDT)
With the market in shambles recently, it is becoming tougher and tougher to get a loan. The standards for getting a loan are getting harsh, and limits on credit cards are going down. The worst part is that this might only be the beginning of an already bad situation. Some fear that consumer and businesses will stop borrowing money all together. Most people with good credit can still get a loan if they have a steady job and are not currently in debt. But not all people meet these qualifications and can be accepted for a standard loan. But thankfully for them, payday loans are still readily available to consumers to provide extra cash when they are in need. If something unexpectedly goes wrong and you need money to fix it, but are currently facing financial difficulty, you can still apply for a payday loan with a very high chance of being accepted, much higher than a standard bank loan. All you need to be accepted for a payday loan is a steady income, so that you will be able to pay your loan back. You usually don’t even have your credit checked. The best part is that in most situations you will likely pay only about 15% interest on your loan.

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