Wendy’s ad “deeply troubling, as it highlights a meticulous process for developing a new product in which the human beings who actually pick and serve the product are a mere garnish…”Over the weekend, visitors to the New York Times website were greeted with a sleek, high-value Wendy’s advertisement in the form of a “paid post,” an extended format report on the development of a new blackberry salad that blurred the lines between reporting and marketing.  While less informed readers might have fallen for Wendy’s glossy tale of concern for how its blackberries are treated, for the countless consumers boycotting Wendy’s precisely because of […]

Wendy’s gets stern talking to from online news hub Talk Poverty…Just this morning, Wendy’s got an earful on the Talk Poverty blog, a hub for news and data on the fight to end poverty and promote a just society run by the Center for American Progress.  And the hamburger giant wasn’t called out by just anyone.  Reporter Greg Kaufmann, formerly of The Nation, has been following the fight for Fair Food for many years now, watching the Campaign for Fair Food win victory after victory, all the while watching the Florida agricultural industry transform into the “best working environment in American agriculture,” as described […]

“Wendy’s has turned its back on successful efforts in Florida to protect workers’ basic human rights and has moved its supply chain to Mexico where human rights abuses are rampant…”Joining the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as well as T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, the United Church of Christ has, once again, taken a stand alongside farmworkers and formally endorsed the Wendy’s boycott.  In a sweeping resolution, the UCC, which represents over 1 million worshippers in the United States, affirmed the just cause of farmworkers fighting for dignity in the fields, and condemned Wendy’s for its stubborn refusal to support those efforts.In announcing the […]

Top Publix tomato supplier fined $1.4 million by Department of Labor, ordered to pay $150,000 in back wages; DOL: “Red Diamond Farms and its owner willfully disobeyed federal labor laws and exploited vulnerable, low-wage workers. These actions are unacceptable.”We’ll begin this post with a bit of history:“If there are some atrocities going on, it’s not our business.”Those were the words of Publix spokesperson Dwaine Stevens back in December, 2010, in response to questions from the press about the discovery of a brutal farm labor slavery operation in Publix’s suppliers’ fields.  Mr. Stevens went on to add:“Maybe it’s something the government should get involved with.”The government […]

“We stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in their longstanding struggle for fair labor practices in the agriculture industry …”In an historic act of support, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) moved last week to endorse the boycott of Wendy’s, becoming the first major Christian denomination to formally commit to carry forward the boycott until Wendy’s joins the CIW’s Fair Food Program!Representing nearly 2 million Christians nationwide, the church has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the CIW since the earliest days of the Campaign for Fair Food.  Over the past several months as the CIW’s Wendy’s campaign evolved into a national boycott, the […]