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Lawrence Fair Trade demonstration
Lawrence Fair Trade demonstrators marched through the KU campus Saturday to the Burger King at 23rd and Naismith Streets. Demonstrators voiced their concern about farmers' wages.
Burger King protest
About 80 Kansas University students marched from the Kansas Union to Burger King, 1301 W. 23rd St., protesting what they called the burger chain's exploitation of farm laborers in Immokalee, Fla.
The group, representing Lawrence Fair Food, the city's branch of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, included students, residents of Oklahoma and Wichita, and at least one man who is a farm laborer in Florida. State Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, joined the protesters, who paraded a fanged effigy of the Burger King mascot, the King, outside the restaurant.
Sally Sanko, a KU sophomore from Great Bend, said the protesters were urging Burger King to provide better working conditions for laborers, as well as a pay increase of one cent per pound of tomatoes.
"There are a lot of farm workers in Kansas. I think it has a lot to do with Immokalee," she said. She said because Burger King's marketing targets young people, "for us to stand up and support the farm workers says a lot to Burger King."
Gerardo Reyes, 30, an Immokalee laborer, joined the marchers. He said the wages workers receive - which range from 40 cents to 45 cents per 32 pounds of picked tomatoes - have remained unchanged since 1978. He complained about the lack of benefits, working under threats of violence, and six documented cases of slavery as examples of worker exploitation. Authorities in southwest Florida arrested a woman in January for profiting off the work of unpaid laborers.
"There is simply a profound lack of respect for workers in agriculture," Reyes said, through a translator.
Chris Morain, a manager at Burger King, had no comment.
Burger King representatives did not respond to several phone messages and e-mail requests for comment.
Francisco, a member of the Senate agriculture committee, joined the protest after being invited by the group to participate last week.
"We want to have food that makes us healthy and food that helps the community stay healthy," she said. "I want to make sure that everybody (who is) eating a burger has fresh lettuce and a fresh tomato slice as part of that burger, and we also want to make sure that those people who have picked the lettuce and picked that tomato for us can also feed their families well."
Comments
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Godot (anonymous) says…
If the workers don't like their pay, they should find other jobs. They aren't prisoners.
LawrenceRules (anonymous) says…
These poor poor workers could probably get a job behind the counter at the BK making $10.00 an hour.
dragonwagon2 (anonymous) says…
Name calling and immature reasoning won't help the situation. If you actually read the article, neither of the two comments above mine make any sense at all!Respect for others right to a living wage is important and I'm glad attention is being focused (although I doubt Burger King is the only offender).
Agnostick (anonymous) says…
I march to Burger King every time I need a great "fast-food" burger at a reasonably fair price. Tastes better than McDonald's, their kid meals are better, and the BK I frequent is much more accurate--they don't screw something up on my order nearly as often as the ol' "Golden Arches."On the other hand, if you **really** want to support "fair food," don't march in some dumb protest; instead, march down to your local farmers' market and put your money where your mouth is. Locally-grown fruits and veggies, homemade baked goods, and often, even locally-produced beef, pork, bison, emu and other meats. Pasture-fed beef tastes a lot better than the stuff you get from the feedlots!Here's a pretty good guide...http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/farmersmarkets/Agnostickagnostick@excite.comhttp://www.uscentrist.orghttp://www.americanplan.org
BrianR (anonymous) says…
They should picket Burger King until they get rid of the big, scary king who seems to make a habit of breaking into peoples' homes and scaring the crap out of them with breakfast food.
cowboy (anonymous) says…
This makes sense , picket a local business who has no control over the process. nice job Marci ! What an idiot.
just_ducky (Claire Williams) says…
but BrianR, the King's hand's are magic!
LawrenceRules (anonymous) says…
I am all for respect and a living wage.........If your boss treats you like "s" and doesn't pay you worth and "s", go work elsewhere. That's the great thing about the US, there are opportunities abound, even for our migrant workers. Hell, the guy that cuts my grass makes 30k a year and has health insurance.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) says…
"On the other hand, if you **really** want to support "fair food," don't march in some dumb protest; instead, march down to your local farmers' market and put your money where your mouth is."Is it really an either/or situation? Why can't they do both?"This makes sense , picket a local business who has no control over the process"Well, you and others are now aware of how Burger KIng treats its employees. You may not care, but others might, and they can make an informed choice on whether they want to patronize BK-- and I guarantee you that BK is concerned about whether consumers aren't buying from them."If your boss treats you like "s" and doesn't pay you worth and "s", go work elsewhere. That's the great thing about the US, there are opportunities abound, even for our migrant workers. "That's the myth and the hype-- not the reality.
Puggy (anonymous) says…
Meh, i just avoid fast food altogether. Oh, and i saw the "march" and it wasn't much of anything. i obviously figured out it was a wage march, but i just assumed all such laborers were underpaid.i did not know the extent until i read this article. seems their message might be more effective if they pooled some resources and took out ad-space in the paper and wrote up some editorials.
labmonkey (anonymous) says…
I know I may be hitting a behive with a baseball bat here....but how many of these workers are legal immigrants? I agree with that it is stupidity to protest a local business who has no control of those wages. Why not protest McDonalds and Wendys who get their beef and chicken from Tyson?
volunteer (anonymous) says…
Hard to get upset about college kids marching and protesting, unless people are injured or property destroyed. They are passionate and believe they can change things.Soon enough they will become more conservative and cynical. At least that's the usual progression.
jumpin_catfish (anonymous) says…
I love Burger King and the burger King!
peachesncream (anonymous) says…
agreed monkey....
jonas (anonymous) says…
"We want to have food that makes us healthy and food that helps the community stay healthy,"Then don't eat at Burger King.
fascinating_person (anonymous) says…
"On the other hand, if you **really** want to support 'fair food,' don't march in some dumb protest; instead, march down to your local farmers' market and put your money where your mouth is."First off, agreeing with Bozo: why not do both?Further, buying local veggies does nothing to address the issue of underpaid laborers in Florida. A protest does. Whether any actual change comes about because of the march is irrelevant; the point was to bring attention to the cause. And based on the number of highly opinionated posters on this story, the march succeeded.
c_dubya (anonymous) says…
As part of my effort to protest all protests and protesters I'm going to eat at BK at least twice a week from now on. I'm sick and tired of everything requiring a protest in this town. It's time people stood up to these dregs and made it counter productive to stand around carrying signs. If they knew it would only hurt their causes perhaps they'd stay off the street.
fascinating_person (anonymous) says…
Godot (Anonymous) says: "If the workers don't like their pay, they should find other jobs. They aren't prisoners."You are aware of the current situation in this country, right? You know, the one where people can't afford to feed their families, and the number of unemployed persons was 7.8 million as of March?
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) says…
Way to go, c_dubya. We need more people like you out there acting out of sheer pointlessness and spite.
deskboy04 (anonymous) says…
I'm not sure how the food is grown...but I do know this, the Whopper is the best fast food item out there. The Big Mac and Burrito Supreme are close, but they just don't quite match up. The double whopper with cheese is amazing...but you've got to be really hungry to eat one of those.
fascinating_person (anonymous) says…
more posters on ljworld.com posting............ *sigh*get a cause
kansas778 (anonymous) says…
This protest has caught my attention. I think I'll get a whopper for lunch today...
ralphralph (anonymous) says…
The farm workers should get a Pell Grant, go to college, hang out and protest stuff.
faceit (anonymous) says…
I had a girlfriend who worked at BK. She kept trying to put cheese on my whopper so we split up.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) says…
"This protest has caught my attention. I think I'll get a whopper for lunch today:"Way to go, k778. We need more people like you out there acting out of sheer pointlessness and spite.
conservativepunker (anonymous) says…
Commies. Better dead than Red!
overplayedhistory (anonymous) says…
Once again I don't know who to be more annoyed with. People protesting for fairness in a faulted ground to mouth system which should not exist, Or the goobers on here that have nothing but there guns and God.Hey goobers, do us a favor show these weenies how to protest BK, go kill and eat something. Hey protesters, it is kinda like protesting the the treatment of prisoners in the dungeon when you should be trying to overthrow the King and burn down his castle.
deskboy04 (anonymous) says…
I think that Taco Bell should never have gotten rid of the Bellbeefer. It was awesome.
OldEnuf2BYurDad (anonymous) says…
"Respect for others right to a living wage is important and I'm glad attention is being focused (although I doubt Burger King is the only offender)."The issue here is FAR below the idea of a living wage. Holy crap, these people are getting pennies per hour.I'm not a fan of organized labor or minimum wage hikes, but clearly someone is looking the other way on this one. This is immoral.And, since I'm now on a diet: "Down with the King!!"
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
You are aware of the current situation in this country, right? You know, the one where people can't afford to feed their families, and the number of unemployedpersons was 7.8 million as of March?---or, they could stop coming to america for jobs? they could respect our border? they could refrain from breaking our laws and breaking into our country. some of the same fringies who support this protest also endorse open borders. open borders means cheap uneducated workers come to work in u.s. and keep wages low for everybody. these people really are hypocrites. if you really want to help the ag workers in FL/KS, secure the border! require only legal workers do this work! stop the bleeding of jobs and wages. btw, in u.s. the group most seriously impacted by the invasion of illegal workers is the low educated legal mex/black workers who are here and abide by our laws.finally: reyes...illegal?
OldEnuf2BYurDad (anonymous) says…
I'm usually on the side of wishing the hippies would shut up, put down the bong, wash their flannel shirts and get real jobs. But I think this protest was dead on. I don't WANT tomatoes if that's how they are getting on my burger. It's slavery. When wages are so low they are written with a "." in front of the hourly rate... something is very, very wrong. What these people make in ONE DAY wouldn't buy them one meal at Burger King.The fact that they are here illegally is a non-issue. We emancipated all our slaves because keeping slaves was beneath us.
Agnostick (anonymous) says…
To bozo and others who responded to my previous post, along the lines of, "Why not do both (protest *and* buy at farmers' markets)?"Well, no reason you can't do both--but I kinda try to follow the old adage of "Work smarter, not harder." The protest made it into the paper today; how many people will remember a week from now? In the end, I think the employees working at that BK location will probably laugh about it later in the year.On the other hand... shifting some of your grocery dollars (as little as 5%) away from the big stores, to the local growers? And doing that regularly, maybe every Saturday morning, from now until the end of October? Imagine that impact!So yeah, go ahead and do both, if you have the time. I don't have that kinda time.Besides... my kid *likes* going to the farmers' market! ;)--Ag
Openedup (anonymous) says…
Marci Francisco is a joke. How does this lady get elected to anything? Did she ride her bike and ring the bell? These people should protest Burger King's translucent tomatoes they put on their Whoppers that gives me the diarrhea.
World_Vision (anonymous) says…
I see no reason for anyone to work for such low wages and mistreatment. And unless they have shackles on, I see no reason why they can't just walk off the job and go work elsewhere.But that is also blaming the victim. However at this point they are choosing to remain victims.What confuses me about the entire immigration thing is why are things so bad in Mexico, and so good in the USA? Why is working for chicken scratch here better then working there? Instead of having protesters championing their cause here in the USA, why don't they fix the problems in their own country that they fled? Maybe these protesters should champion that cause?Maybe we could all be growing and eating our own food? And maybe they could too?
Newell_Post (anonymous) says…
I don't defend illegal immigration. It's a big problem and we need to fix it. However, I also know a few people who came here illegally from Latin America, who are now legal US citizens. In every case, they came here because there were absolutely no jobs and absolutely no opportunities in Mexico or wherever. In some cases they were literally starving where they were. They risked their lives to try to win a better life.Many years ago, Eric Hoffer wrote an essay named "The Role of the Undesirables." I haven't read it in a long time, but one of his basic ideas was that the people who came to America from the very beginning were neither the wealthy aristocrats nor the abject losers of the "old world." The aristocrats stayed home and enjoyed their wealth and the total losers just gave up. The people who came to America were, in most cases, ambitious malcontents who just wouldn't accept their status quo. In some cases, this meant they were "troublemakers" in one way or another who didn't fit into the established order of things. But the "troublemakers," for all of their problems, are usually the ones who expand the frontiers and invent the new paradigms. This is why the US has the character it has today.Even though we need to fix illegal immigration, as long as some of their ambitious malcontents slip through, I have great hopes for the US. If we ever start getting lots of their aristocrats and total losers, that's when we need to start worrying....
sailorette (anonymous) says…
Do you folks even read the article before commenting? They are paid based on the number of tomatoes picked. Thus, those who work hard are able to make a great hourly rate, and those who don't pick as many pounds of tomatoes have rates that fall under the national minimum wage. I wish more jobs were able to compensate based on actual performance! Might drastically reduce the salaries of some of the posters on here who comment twice an hour during workdays...
monkeywrench1969 (anonymous) says…
World You had a great point. Fix the country they are running from because the majority of the people in this situation are illegal. THe standing outside with signs will not help the situation. I know a couple of sisters who traveled to Latin America on several occasions during breaks to actually help people where they live. They would work with small villages in purchasing live stock and then setting up programs to help them use the livestock to create income for the families and village as a whole. Now for a couple of gringo girls that is pretty guttsy because you know how US people are not well liked. That is making change and getting it done. Unfortunately the sign carriers don't have the same dedication. Their idea to fix a problem is give them more money. I have done picking work when I was younger of this farm type and the concept is about working hard to earn your wage. THis is an evolution problem not a math problem. If you don't work hard you don't eat. We have changed that concept in the US where if you don't work you still get money. I have a hard time with these protestors anyway. They pick and choose what is "right and wrong" depending on their opinion. I saw the king of the protestors Dave Strano, who is involved with most of these protests hawking a parking lot for $10 a space prior to the parade yesterday. That's capitalism at its finest when it suits him.
gr (anonymous) says…
"protesting what they called the burger chain's exploitation of farm laborers in Immokalee, Fla."What are they doing protesting a local retail store in Lawrence? Pulling a Phelps?
hopeful (anonymous) says…
ignorance..kinda really breaks my heart into pieces.this response to the countless negative comments posted is.. harsh. but. i'm a little peeved. eat at Burger King. obesity is quite becoming of you. criticize activism. feel high and mighty about you're eagerly pessimistic and mindless indulgences. fuel this hopeless society with your contempt for those who actually care to spread awareness about injustice in the world. you think on such a shallow and vapid level that America.. American media.. politics.. "American" sources to the outside world are so fulfilling.. that you do not take the time to actually do the research. yes, consult alternate press. God forbid..actually venturing outside of the comfort of your egocentric, uninformed, realm of conformity and neglect ...maybe visiting another country would challenge your coached ideals about life, liberty and justice.. i have been outside of this "free" country.. i understand the effects of NAFTA, capitalism, imperialism, neoliberalism..tourism.. "Americanism"..why are illegal immigrants risking their lives to cross the border..ah. yes. that's right.. the United States of America has been a key player in the exploitation of vital resources down south.. setting up "free" trade agreements that have had absolutely devastating effects on the economies of developing Latin American countries which have resulted in unprecedented percentages of unemployment..and wait..isn't america the land of opportunity..give me your tired.. your poor.. hmm. america..what a sham. So. why don't you. get off your lazy American ass. and do something. other than revel in the fact that you are a good for nothing stereotypical complacent whopper loving..American dreg..who much of the world despises..along with our puppet of a president.. "stupid hippies" eh. they had more courage and compassion to actually inform themselves of what modern day slavery really means..to constantly question the powers that be.. to love. to CARE.http://www.sfalliance.org/http://www.ciw-online.org/
consumer1 (anonymous) says…
Thanks, I am hungry now.