Lately, there have been some raised eyebrows in BK's direction, mainly because they won't agree to pay their tomato pickers an extra penny per pound of tomatoes. The tomato pickers have to pick 125 buckets worth of the fruit in order to get $50-60 per day, and work 10-12 hours in the hot Florida sun. The new measure would only cost BK an additional $300,000 per year, out of their $11 billion yearly revenue.
Other fast food joints have already agreed to pay their workers more, but BK continues to stall. Some people are afraid that tomato growers would wind up with the money, instead of the pickers, and others are worried the new agreement will violate antitrust rules.
But the shadiness doesn't stop there. BK execs admitted that they have a relationship with Diplomatic Tactical Services, a security firm with a creepy, amorphous name, which helps BK spy on its clients.
Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, recently wrote an op-ed for the Times on the subject, shedding light on BK's Big Brother tactics.
I always knew there was something hiding behind that awful molded plastic King in the commercials...
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-09-2008 @ 5:07PM
Karen said...
I believe these workers are mostly illegals as well.
Reply
5-10-2008 @ 5:48PM
STH said...
You know, I was initially sympathetic to the tomato pickers, but the commenters here have sure changed my mind. After all, those laborers could take the skills they've gained picking tomatoes and work as doctors, lawyers, fashion models, whatever. There are certainly no barriers to entry in those fields. And those people don't have citizenship papers, anyway, (thanks for all the evidence, karen!) so it really doesn't matter how they're exploited by a huge multinational corporation, does it? Yep, undocumented workers just LOVE to form unions and talk to the press--why wouldn't they? It's not like the companies they work for have anything they could hold over the workers' heads.
And isn't it interesting how Peter and Kevitivity use the same phrasing? Is that you, Mr. Grover? (http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080428/BUSINESS/804280351/1075)
Reply
5-10-2008 @ 5:48PM
Kevitivity said...
It's a free market and BK has a right to run it's business any way it sees fit. Workers can in fact go elsewhere if they don't like the pay.
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5-10-2008 @ 5:51PM
cheflovesbeer said...
You have a typo. 11 Billion in Revenue not 11 million. Other wise a good post.
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5-10-2008 @ 5:52PM
Peter said...
So what. If this bothers anyone, the same free market system that allows Burger King to run it's business how it sees fit also allows anyone to not visit Burger King. It's not like anyone is forcing people against their will to go there to purchase their lousy burgers.
However, what truly worries me about this article is this quote:
"...others are worried the new agreement will violate antitrust rules."
Which goes to prove that we have too much government regulation in free enterprise.
Reply
5-10-2008 @ 5:53PM
Karen said...
I believe these workers are mostly illegals as well.
Reply