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Burger King
From SourceWatch
Burger King, based in Miami, Florida, USA, is the world's second largest hamburger chain (behind McDonald's). The company has "more than 11,200 restaurants in all 50 states and 69 countries and U.S. territories worldwide," according to its website. [1] Started in 1954, Burger King is owned in part by the investment firms TPG Capital, Bain Capital, and Goldman Sachs, each owning about 25% of the company. [2]
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Tomato pickers' pay
"[F]or the past two years, Burger King has stood firm and said no" to a demand from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) that the company pay a penny more per pound for its tomatoes. "[T]hat would double [tomato pickers'] wages and cost BK $250,000 a year," reported NPR's Marketplace in January 2008. [3]
"Just after Thanksgiving [2007], the Florida tomato pickers held a large rally outside Burger King headquarters in Miami. Now it's surfaced that three weeks later, BK sent a note to suppliers saying it may no longer buy tomatoes from southwestern Florida," reported Marketplace. [3]
In March 2008, CIW announced plans to launch "a high-profile, multi-faceted national campaign and the threat of a boycott designed to persuade Burger King to pay a penny more a pound for tomatoes and 'eliminate slavery and human rights abuses from Florida’s fields,'" reported the Ft. Myers News-Press. [4]
CIW previously used similar grassroots pressure tactics to get Taco Bell / Yum! Brands to agree to the penny-a-pound increase in 2005, and McDonald's in 2007. Burger King's refusal to do the same has prompted "Senate labor committee member Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to call for Senate hearings on farm conditions, tentatively scheduled for next month [April 2008]." [4]
Burger King director of external communications Keva Silversmith has said, of the penny-more-per-pound demand: "We have no evidence it will improve the lives of the farm workers. ... For an increase in wages, it will have to be the farm employers who directly influence the farm workers." [5]
Smearing farmworkers online
"When articles or videos about the coalition [of Immokalee Workers, or CIW] were posted on YouTube and various Internet news sites, someone using the online names activist2008 or surfxaholic36 would attach comments coalition member Greg Asbed has called 'libelous'," Amy Bennett Williams reported in April 2008. One comment, from "surfxaholic36" read: "The CIW is an attack organization lining the leaders pockets ... They make up issues and collect money from dupes that believe their story. To (sic) bad the people protesting don't have a clue regarding the facts. A bunch of fools!" [6]
Burger King vice-president Stephen Grover posted the anti-CIW comments, according to his daughter, Shannon. She "also uses the name surfxaholic36," but "said the anti-coalition posts are her father's alone. 'I don't really know much about the coalition and Burger King stuff,' she said, reached by phone at the family's Miramar home Friday. 'That was my dad. My dad used to go online with that name and write about them.'" [6]
CIW's Gerardo Reyes called Stephen Grover's anonymous anti-CIW comments "truly disturbing." He added, "When you realize the person posting those things is actually Burger King's vice president in charge of the ethical operation of the company's supply chain, it really makes you wonder just how high up does this whole thing go? Does Burger King, as a company, approve of this sort of behavior? If not, we'd expect to see some changes now that this has come to light." [6]
Spying on farmworkers
In March 2008, "a woman named Cara Schaffer contacted the Student/Farmworker Alliance, saying she was a student at Broward Community College. Her eagerness aroused suspicions, but she was allowed to join two of the group’s planning sessions. Internet searches by the alliance revealed that she was not a college student," but the owner of the firm Diplomatic Tactical Services, wrote Eric Schlosser. [7]
"In an interview, a Burger King executive told me that the company had worked with Diplomatic Tactical Services for years on 'security-related matters' and had used it to obtain information about the Student/Farmworker Alliance’s plans -- in order to prevent acts of violence. 'It is both the corporation’s right and duty,' a company spokesman later wrote in an e-mail message to me, 'to protect its employees and assets from potential harm.' ... John Chidsey, the chief executive of Burger King, knew about the use of Diplomatic Tactical Services." [7]
Schlosser added, "But the Student/Farmworker Alliance and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers are not dangerous, extremist groups. Both are pacifist, mainstream nonprofits inspired by the work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The coalition is supported by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Foundation, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Pax Christi, the Catholic peace movement." [7]
Agreeing to the raise
In May 2008, following revelations of online smear campaigns and espionage against farmworker advocacy groups, Burger King signed an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Under the deal, Burger King "agreed to pay 1.5 cents more per pound of tomatoes it buys from Florida growers, with a penny of that given to workers. To encourage participation, the rest will go to growers to help cover any additional payroll taxes and administrative costs." [8]
Implementation of previous similar agreements signed by McDonald's and Yum! Brands stalled, after "the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange threatened $100,000 fines to any grower member who participated" in the penny-more-per-pound agreement. "About 90 percent of the state's tomato growers belong to the exchange." But, also in May 2008, the exchange said "it would no longer threaten members with those fines ... in response to 'inordinate and inappropriate focus on the (fines) by the media.'" [8]
Public relations and lobbying
Burger King Corporation retains the major public relations firm Edelman. [9]
Its lobbyists include Khalil G. "Karl" Saliba, of the firm Saliba Action Strategies. Burger King vice-president Craig S. Prusher is also a registered lobbyist for the company. [10]
Political contributions
Burger King gave $17,000 to federal candidates in the 2006 election through its political action committee - 9% to Democrats and 91% to Republicans. [11]
Personnel
| Key executives and 2006 pay: [12] | Options exercised |
|||
| John W. Chidsey, Chief Executive Officer | $7,950,000 | $0 | ||
| Russ Klein, President of Global Marketing Strategy and Innovation | $1,990,000 | $2,110,000 | ||
| Anne Chwat, Secretary and General Counsel | $1,770,000 | $752,000 | ||
| Peter C. Smith, Chief Human Resources Officer | $2,320,000 | $1,880,000 |
Selected Burger King board members
From their October 2007 financial report: [13]
- Brian Thomas Swette, Chairman of the Board, Former Chief Operating Officer of eBay
- Andrew B. Balson, Also Director, Bain Capital, Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' Brands
- David A. Brandon, Also Chairman and CEO of Domino’s Pizza, Director of The TJX Companies
- Ronald M. Dykes, Former Chief Financial Officer for BellSouth Corporation (now part of AT&T)
- Peter Raemin Formanek, Also Director, The Sports Authority, Co-Founder of AutoZone
- Adrian Jones, Also Managing Director, Goldman Sachs
- Kneeland C. Youngblood, Also Director, Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Other personnel
- Keva Silversmith, director of external communications; fired in 2008 for online smear tactics against farmworker advocacy groups [4] [8]
Contact details
5505 Blue Lagoon Drive
Miami, FL 33126
Phone: 305-378-3000
Fax: 305-378-7262
Web: http://www.burgerking.com
SourceWatch resources
External links
References
- ↑ "Domestic and global facts," Burger King website, accessed April 9, 2008.
- ↑ Burger King Profile, Hoovers, accessed October 2007.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dan Grech, "A cent too far for Burger King: Burger King's two-year battle with Florida tomato pickers over a penny-per-pound raise is coming to a head with the news that BK has begun planning to buy tomatoes elsewhere," Marketplace, January 16, 2008.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Amy Bennett Williams, "Immokalee workers raise stakes; May boycott fast-food chain in try to raise tomato prices" Ft. Myers News-Press (Florida), March 5, 2008.
- ↑ Sasha Roe, "[ Activists rally at Burger King locations: Coalitions unite behind farm workers for better wages]," The University Daily Kansan (University of Kansas), August 24, 2007.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Amy Bennett Williams, "Burger King VP puts self on grill: Daughter says dad wrote anti-coaltion postings," The News Press (Fort Myers, Florida), April 28, 2008.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Eric Schlosser, "Burger With a Side of Spies," New York Times, May 7, 2008.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Amy Bennett Williams, "Tomato pickers celebrate deal with Burger King: After three years, Immokalee workers receive increase," The News Press (Fort Myers, Florida), May 24, 2008.
- ↑ "Edelman," PR Firms Database, O'Dwyer's PR, accessed April 9, 2008.
- ↑ "Burger King Corporation," profile, Lobbyists.info (sub req'd), accessed April 9, 2008.
- ↑ 2006 PAC Summary Data, Open Secrets, accessed October 2007.
- ↑ Burger King Key Executives, Yahoo Finance, accessed October 2007.
- ↑ Board of Directors, Burger King, accessed October 2007.
