[lbo-talk] Pennies for Wendy's - Street Theater in support of tomato workers union - video

[Gar Lipow]

Tomato workers in Florida are treated badly - wage theft, wages less than
minimum wage, harassment up to and including unprosecuted rape, and working
conditions so bad that in extreme cases growers were prosecuted for slavery
as recently as 2010.  You can find out more from "The coalition of
Immokalee Workers" (CIW) http://ciw-online.org/ .   The CIW has
successfully pressured many tomato buyers to join a program where they pay
a penny more per pound for tomatoes but buy only on condition that workers
get treated with minimal decency and dignity. Some of the largest fast food
giants including McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell and Subway. Wendy's is
the largest fast food holdout, saving itself less than a penny per meal.

So, at a local Olympia festival, a group of us filmed passers by donating
pennies as a charitable gift to Wendy's so that they could afford such
costly change in policy, and then brought the hat load of pennies to a
local Wendy's to pass on to corporate headquarters. (We made sure to as
non-disruptive as possible since none of this is the fault of the local
workers.) Here is the link to youtube:  http://youtu.be/KsLXI_2Xypc

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