Video: Forcing Burger King to Backtrack on Employee Free Choice

All week long, Brave New Films, SEIU and many progressive bloggers have been holding Burger King’s feet to the deep fryer. Together we exposed Burger King’s horrendous working conditions; launched a contest asking people to Have It Their Way with Goldman Sachs (Burger King’s top shareholder) for squandering $6.5 billion of the bailout on bonuses while average BK workers earn less than the federal poverty line; and staged peaceful demonstrations at Burger Kings across the country protesting the fast-food chain’s low wages, lack of healthcare, and lobbying against unionization legislation. So what was Burger King’s response? They served up this flamebroiled pile of garbage yesterday:

“Burger King Corp. (BKC) believes unions serve a purpose in some workplaces and a number of its guests, vendors and franchisees have positive union membership experiences. BKC is not anti-union. BKC and its franchisees serve a diverse consumer base and, therefore, aim to remain neutral on political issues.”

Neutral on political issues, eh? If that’s the case, why did Burger King spend $319,648 between 2006 and 2008 lobbying against pro-labor laws like the Employee Free Choice Act? Why did Goldman Sachs spend $15,849,000 in 2008 alone lobbying against the Employee Free Choice? And why, as SEIU’s Michael Whitney noted, has Burger King fought this legislation through their involvement with the National Retail Federation, which stands firmly behind an anti-union group called the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace?

If Burger King is “not anti-union” as they claim, then let’s see them stay out of their workers’ efforts to unionize. And if they’re “not anti-union,” does that mean they’re suddenly pro-worker? Then perhaps they should quit dropping hundreds of thousands on lobbying efforts to oppose federal minimum wage hikes. They should improve workplace conditions to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act. And while they’re at it, they could also provide their employees healthcare so they no longer have to rely on publicly-funded health insurance programs that cost taxpayers up to a quarter of a billion dollars a year.

If Burger King is really “not anti-union,” let’s see them put their money where their mouth is. Until then, we’ll continue to have it our way.

Free Acai Berries

Its quite an issue, burger king is "not anti-union" and spending $319,684 on pro-labor laws i don't think its a good statement saying that they are "not anti-union".

golfman_story

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D

Just read an artical on line that says now that Goldman Sachs wants out of the Tarp agreement and no longer wants fund from it. It appears that accountability is not something the big dog wants. Go figure!

DennisKnicely

Last week a report came out stating that neighborhoods where fast food joints abound have higher stroke rates. Put into consideration that places like Burger King make a fortune from selling greasy fried foods, you can see why.

Look what happens to kitchen drain pipes when lots of grease is washed down through the sink, and you can imagine what happens when grease, passing through lining of stomach, hits our blood stream. The net result is sometimes known as hardening of the arteries, heart disease, etc.

I once saw a "before and after" video of blood tests from a man eating a cheese burger. "Before" was a test tube with 2 1/2" of red blood. 1/2 hour "after" showed 1/2" of puss on top of the red blood

Frying foods at high temperatures also creates acrylamide, a major cause of numerous cancers.

It is SAD [Standard American Diet] that people really do not understand why they get sick, yet sometimes take huge amounts of extremely expensive pharmaceutical drugs thinking that makes them well. Just eating correctly could potentially save our country $hundreds of billions now spent on otherwise unnecessary surgery, chemotherapy, and big pharma, yet those concerns would all have to cut back some, and join the rest of us.

My opinion: Goldman Sachs is more a problem company than a solution, yet why are they getting bailed out after so much misappropriation of funds? Why not bypass the greedy Wall Street vultures, and get funding straight to average Americans, that really need financial help?

For more on this and other pertinent information: http://www.HealingNews.com

Acai

If Burger King is “not anti-union” as they claim, then let’s see them stay out of their workers’ efforts to unionize. And if they’re “not anti-union,” does that mean they’re suddenly pro-worker? Then perhaps they should quit dropping hundreds of thousands on lobbying efforts to oppose federal minimum wage hikes.