The New Whopper: Burger with a Side of Spies

[kpete]

Op-Ed Contributor
Burger With a Side of Spies

By ERIC SCHLOSSER
Published: May 7, 2008
Monterey, Calif.

WHILE the Patriot Act has raised fears about government spying on ordinary citizens, the growing threat to civil liberties posed by corporate spying has received much less attention. During the late 1990s, a private security firm spied on Greenpeace and other environmental groups, examining activists’ phone records and even sending undercover agents to infiltrate the groups, according to an article in Mother Jones. In 2006 Hewlett-Packard was caught spying on journalists. Last year Wal-Mart apologized for improperly recording conversations with a New York Times reporter.

And now it turns out that the Burger King Corporation, home of the Whopper, hired a private security firm to spy on the Student/Farmworker Alliance, a group of idealistic college students trying to improve the lives of migrants in Florida.

The Student/Farmworker Alliance and an affiliated nonprofit, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, have for years been urging the fast-food industry to accept some responsibility for the plight of Florida migrants who harvest the tomatoes for its hamburgers and tacos. I am a longtime supporter of their work. The wages of these farm workers, adjusted for inflation, have declined by as much as 70 percent since the late 1970s. And hundreds, perhaps thousands, of migrants have been enslaved by labor contractors and forced to work without pay. The McDonald’s Corporation and Yum Brands (which owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC) have agreed to subsidize a modest pay raise for their tomato pickers and work closely with the coalition to eliminate slavery from the fields. Burger King, however, has pursued a different strategy.

In March, 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.

more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/opinion/07schlosser.html
via:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7303

[Richard Steele]

1. Grrrecommended

[The Doctor.]

2. If I didn't already avoid BK, McD, and the slew of them, I'd say 'boycott'.

I avoid corporate entities wherever possible.

I also avoid "Chinese" food as much as possible. Even the Chinese don't eat the kind of garbage most so-called "Chinese" food places serve.
Ever since I found an authentic Vienamese restaurant that serves real Pho, I've made a point of getting take out there once a week. It's healthy and wonderful stuff.

Burger King is a fucking plague.

[formercia]

3. Private security firms will engage in surveillance that would be illegal

for law enforcement to engage in.

There are too many ex-intel and law enforcement people that have fallen for the lure of money and are willing to violate peoples' rights for a few dollars.

[Quantess]

5. And she's only 25

running her own private investigation business.

[formercia]

6. I knew someone who made his bones at 18

he started as a chauffeur. He was driving a couple of bigwigs across the Capitol when he inadvertently ran over a homeless person. Rather than stop, he accelerated away from the scene and his passengers laughed saying that he was just the kind of guy they needed.

[Quantess]

8. That's horrible.

I hope you tell more about this story.

[formercia]

9. He was transferred to operations

people like him are useful for them to have around.

[Pool Hall Ace]

4. Giving this a kick.

Everyone needs to see this.

[dogday]

7. Gives new meaing to the word whopper, does it not???

[Canuckistanian]

10. I thought KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut were owned by PepsiCo

Did they sell out to this "Yum Brands"?