Fair Food Austin: Exposed: Burger King spying on CIW and SFA!

April 14, 2008

Exposed: Burger King spying on CIW and SFA!

"Who would spy on a couple of nonprofit human rights groups? Who would hire a professional infiltrator to sit in on the organizations’ planning sessions? Who would attack them on the Web for their efforts to improve the lives of workers who pick produce for the world’s largest fast food chains? That’s something the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Student/Farmworker Alliance would like to know." Read the full article on this breaking story:

"Tomato pickers feeling spied on," Ft. Myers News-Press (4/12)
"Did Burger King target and spy on tomato pickers rights groups?" Democracy Now! (4/14)

Who We Are

Since 2001, Fair Food Austin has organized with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) for fair wages and dignified working conditions in the U.S. agricultural industry. The CIW is a farmworker organization headquartered in Immokalee, Florida with over 4,000 members. The CIW has aided in the prosecution by the Department of Justice of six slavery operations and the liberation of well over 1,000 workers.

We use creative methods to educate consumers about the human rights crisis farmworkers face and to promote the Campaign for Fair Food. The campaign requires large food corporations -- from Taco Bell to Whole Foods -- to demand more humane labor standards from their Florida tomato suppliers, to pay a premium price for more fairly produced tomatoes, and to buy only from growers who meet those higher standards.

Brutal conditions in Florida's fields may seem distant to consumers deep in the heart of Texas, but many of the restaurant and supermarket chains that have helped create this crisis are present in our community and buy Florida tomatoes at some point during the year. Human rights are universal, and by working together, farmworkers and consumers can create a better world.