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Burger King fires two for filings about farmworkers
Burger King has fired two employees who made online postings that "did
not reflect the company's views and which were in violation of company
policy," the fast-food restaurant chain announced Tuesday.
In an e-mailed statement, the Miami-based corporation also said it has
stopped using Diplomatic Tactical Services, a Hollywood, Fla.-based
investigative firm, because it violated Burger King's code of conduct.
The company would not say which employees were fired.
"We do not comment on personnel matters," said Burger King spokeswoman
Denise Wilson.
The News-Press has reported that Steven Grover, the fast-food chain's
vice president of food safety, quality assurance and regulatory
compliance, used his daughter's online alias to make false and
derogatory comments about the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which is
asking the restaurant chain to raise tomato pickers' pay by a penny a
pound.
A woman who answered the phone at Grover's Miramar home said he wasn't
there and hung up on a News-Press reporter.
The News-Press also revealed in April that Cara Schaffer, who owns
Diplomatic Tactical Services but is not licensed as a private
investigator, infiltrated the Student Farmworker Alliance, a key
coalition ally.
Schaffer was denied a private investigator's license last year because
she failed to prove she had experience or training. Reached by phone at
her Hollywood office Tuesday, Schaffer had no comment.
In the e-mailed statement, Wilson said Schaffer's firm had provided
safety advice and security services for global conventions and
shareholders meetings.
"BKC is looking forward to meeting with the CIW as soon as possible and
is committed to finding practical, tangible ways to help ensure decent
wages and working conditions for all the tomato harvesters in
Immokalee," Wilson wrote.
The statement also included a quote from CEO John Chidsey saying, "I was
distressed to learn of the allegations. Neither I nor any of my senior
management team were aware of or condone the unauthorized activities in
question. BKC maintains a strict code of conduct for our employees and
vendors and we will not tolerate unethical or unlawful behavior."
Marc Rodrigues of the alliance said, "The steps announced today by
Burger King are welcome and necessary, but there remains a great deal
more to be done to clear the path toward a sincere partnership for more
humane conditions in Burger King's tomato supply chain.
"Having said that, we, like Burger King, hope that these are the first
steps toward the concrete change that our community has been denied for
so long."
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who held hearings last month on the
conditions tomato workers face, denounced Burger King's conduct as
"despicable."
"A major corporation like Burger King should not have a vice president
posting inflammatory anti-worker messages on the Web, nor should it be
hiring spies to infiltrate nonviolent, pro-worker organizations," said
Sanders "That is outrageous behavior."
Sanders also called for further investigation.
"I'm delighted that the corporation has fired those people involved in
those despicable actions, but we should make sure that we find out how
high up the corporate ladder this scheme went."
He urged Burger King to join other fast-food corporations such as like
McDonald's and Yum! Brands, which support a penny-a-pound increase for
the Florida's tomato workers -"perhaps the most exploited workers in the
United States today," Sanders said.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., agreed.
"The only way to end this honorably is for BK to act immediately to pay
(the) penny a pound increase."
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