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Reneging on a Living Wage
November 7, 2007

Northern tomato lovers dread the approach of cold weather. It means we’re largely stuck with mealy tomatoes picked unripe in Florida and California and shipped north if we want a fresh product. I’d just as soon not buy them.

Of course, in my own tiny way, I’m not doing any favors for the folks who pick those tomatoes—or, for that matter, for the businesses that grow and pack them. But do I feel guilty for exercising my “right” as a consumer to avoid buying what I deem an inferior product?

These days, yes.

That’s because I want to help tomato pickers earn that penny more per pound that growers agreed to pay them last season after Taco Bell and later McDonald’s Corp. leaned on growers to pass the money to the pickers.

The deals were all in the name of providing a “living wage” and, as importantly, avoiding the bad publicity that comes with a nationwide fast-food boycott.

What’s more, I feel a twinge of guilt for growers, whose businesses depend on the fast-feeders to ink contracts for truckloads of tomatoes.

Today, however, I’m feeling a lot less guilty about the growers, who are now refusing to cough up that extra penny they agreed to. According to the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, a growers’ cooperative, officials cite “legal concerns” for the refusal:

Our cooperative has expressed legal concerns about the coalition's much-publicized deals with two quick-service restaurant companies. Because of legal concerns over federal and state laws relating to antitrust, labor and racketeering, we strongly urge our members not to participate in any labor deal that requires them to adhere to terms and conditions for their employees set by unaffiliated organizations. Involvement in such a potentially unlawful sales enterprise with unaffiliated third parties is not an option for any American farmer and should not be an option for restaurant and retail companies.

There is no further explanation of the legal problems the growers are risking. Yet in another report, a Florida grower makes the hard-bitten case that no one but a business should have the right to determine pay scales:

"McDonald's doesn't allow someone down the street to establish a wage rate for McDonald's," he said. "Why would [growers] allow anyone other than their own management to set wage rates. It's nuts....I think there's something a little bit un-American about that."

Maybe the growers should have a little talk with American automakers before rushing to conclusions.

Posted by David Farkas on November 7, 2007 | Comments (0)