The new slave laborers?

"Tell Burger King: 'Farmers Deserve Fair Wages'" (Sojourners, "Take Action").

Farm workers who pick tomatoes for Burger King's sandwiches earn 40 to 50 cents for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick, a rate that has not risen significantly in nearly 30 years. Workers who toil from dawn to dusk must pick two tons of tomatoes to earn $50 in one day.

McDonald's and other fast-food chains have committed to guaranteeing improved wages and enforcing a code of conduct for conditions in the fields. But Burger King -- the second-largest hamburger chain in the world -- has so far refused to work with farm workers and heed the call of the faith community to improve wages and working conditions for those who pick their tomatoes.

Our friend Sean Fagan, on leave this summer from his seminary training in New York, has drafted an online letter to Burger King management, which you can edit or sign as is and send along to make your opinion (hopefully) heard. (Click on the link above and scroll down.)