Burger King finds social media not its 'friend'

Facebook has been a mixed bag for activists and the labour movement, Eric Lee of labourstart.org and UnionBook, a social networking site for the union members, has warned unions about outsourcing their campaigns to a for-profit website. But, the world has been given an example of how Facebook can be a tool for social justice. When 27 year old Burger King worker Julie Tyler posted a status update reading “Real jobs don’t underpay and overwork people like BK does” The company called this “serious misconduct” and attempted to fire her.

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Her union, Unite, came to her defense “It’s a comment most New Zealanders know to be true about the fast-food industry in any case,” said Unite National Director Mike Treen. “We all know these companies are tied at the hip to the minimum wage and workers are frequently run off their feet.” The company withdrew its threat of dismissal after two dozen people braved the rain to picket the Dunedin store she works at. Instead she was given a “final warning” which the union is appealing. While it was likely the on the ground action that made the difference, social media no doubt helped Julie's cause. The 'Justice for Julie' Facebook page gained over a hundred members who re-posted Julie's original status update, emailed complaints to Burger King New Zealand, and took the argument to Burger King NZ's official Facebook page. The slew of critical comments saw Burger King take down its page, only to change their mind and put it back up soon later with the message:

Burger King likes you to have it your way, so we have let your postings run over the past few days, and we won't stop you doing that. What we won't do is talk about our team members here, so we've stayed silent until now out of respect to the process we needed to work through privately with one of our team. Every one of our team is important to us, and because of this, we won't be joining the conversation when it is about them directly - even if that means taking some heat.

Burger King is just one of many companies using Facebook to advertise, but unlike the old advertising methods of TV, radio and print, the internet isn't a one way conversation, and Burger King has just learned that if they don't treat their workers right, their online marketing will suffer.