BK rebuffs request for farmworker subsidy

MIAMI Burger King has refused a request from a farmworkers’ group to pay a penny-per-pound surcharge on tomatoes to fund a welfare program for Florida tomato pickers.

The group, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, convinced Taco Bell parent YUM! Brands Inc. in 2005 to pay the surcharge, with the benefits going directly to farmworkers. The agreement followed a four-year CIW-led boycott of Taco Bell by religious, student and labor groups across the country.