The skies were foreboding for Burger King as more than 250 students - attending the USAS winter conference in Miami - gathered to demand that BK stop the lies and start working with the CIW to improve conditions in Florida's fields.

But Miami wasn't the only place where CIW allies were hitting the streets for fair food. Austin, Texas, pictured above, also witnessed a march that brought together almost 200 people from Austin, the Rio Grande Valley, and even as far away as Lawrence, Kansas. Check out a report and video from the Austin march on BK here and a report from the delegation to Whole Foods headquarters here.

Back in Miami... one day before the action, a delegation of leaders from various organizations paid a visit to BK headquarters to deliver an important message to BK executive Steve Grover. Unfortunately, Grover was either "not here today" or "in a meeting," depending on who you asked.

Nevertheless, the message - including almost 15,000 signatures from concerned consumers across the US - was still delivered. Reps from American Rights at Work, USAS, Jobs With Justice, and SFA also stated their desire - and that of their hundreds of thousands of constituents - for a quick and just resolution to the conflict.

Carlos Isidro, a student at Florida International University and a member of that school's USAS chapter, also hinted at efforts to remove the Burger King restaurant from FIU and the possibility of similar campaigns across the US (a la Taco Bell Boycott) should Burger King fail to do the right thing soon.

Finally, the time for talkin' gave way to the time for walkin'. USAS members crammed into school buses and made their way to the protest site. Click here to check out the press release from the action.

250 students quickly and peacefully swarmed and overwhelmed the BK, slowing down traffic and drawing supportive honks and thumbs up from countless motorists...

...while they were joined shoulder-to-shoulder by 50 farmworkers who made the journey from Immokalee.

Hundreds of flyers were given out, exposing Burger King's role behind farmworker poverty....

...and our message was also carried forth by some great protest art...

...and energy.

Adding a bit of international flair to the action, Deiry Salazar (Fundacion por el Medio Ambiente y la Paz) and Gerardo Cajamarca (SINALTRAINAL; pictured above) spoke, drawing the connections between struggles against unaccountable transnational corporations and pledging to bring the BK campaign to Colombia as students in the US have taken up the fight to hold Coca-Cola accountable for human rights abuses in that country.

As the action winded down, Carlos from FIU, pointing at his campus across the street, declared FIU students' unwillingness to tolerate hosting much longer a corporation with no regard for human dignity...

...while this delegation of local students emerged victorious from the BK restaurant, having delivered dozens of manager letters signed by concerned consumers from across the US.

As the action drew to a close, farmworkers and their allies gathered their signs and bid farewell, for now...

...newly committed to seeing this struggle through to victory.

A special shout-out to some of the photographers whose pics we used: Sierra Brashear, Kate Kelly, and Isaac Silver. For more great pics from Miami and Austin, check out these links:
1 - 2 - 3 - 4

Click here to upload your own pictures from this weekend's events!