CIW’s Cruz Salucio:  Wendy’s “cannot run away from farmworkers’ human rights…”

This past Sunday, even the sweltering, 100-degree heat of a late summer day in Orlando could not suppress the contagious energy of over 120 protesters who packed the sidewalk outside a Wendy’s restaurant for a festive afternoon picket.  Seventy farmworkers and their families, many just starting to return to Immokalee after a summer season up north, rolled up in a nine-car caravan from Immokalee to the highly-trafficked Wendy’s to find a massive coalition of local organizations supporting the Wendy’s Boycott locally, including members of the Youth and Young Adult (YAYA) Network of the National Farmworker Ministry, the Iron Workers Union, I.S.L.A.M, Inc., QLatinx, the Florida Student Power Network, the First Unitarian Church of Orlando, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations – Florida. 

The Orlando action, which came on the heels of a beautiful protest in Naples just a week before, marked a pivot point in the campaign, from an inspiring series of fasts for farmworker justice — from April’s 19-student, 7-day fast by Ohio State University students, all the way through last month’s 30-day rolling Interfaith Fast for Farmworker Justice by over 40 faith leaders from seven religious traditions across Florida — to the fast-approaching fall season of protest.  With both the Florida tomato harvest and university classes just around the corner, the fall of 2017 is promising to be new high-water mark in the Wendy’s Boycott!

For a taste of the most recent wave of energy in Orlando, here below are highlights from the photo report from the Alliance for Fair Food:

… Before the protest kicked off, Faiza Begani, representing YAYA, welcomed the boisterous crowd: 

“Today we stand outside of Wendy’s boycotting their continued lack of responsibility and responsiveness when it comes to the abuses of farmworkers.”

As participants led spirited chants and allies with bright yellow flyers educated passersby about the Wendy’s Boycott, a delegation gathered to deliver a letter to the local Wendy’s manager urging the fast food holdout to join the Fair Food Program.  And even though they received a no-longer-surprising rejection, the group returned to the picket line determined to speak even more strongly about their support for the campaign. 

Cruz Salucio of the CIW led the closing reflection, addressing Wendy’s unconscionable decision to move their tomato purchases to Mexico, where reporting abuses can have serious and life-threatening consequences (including the recent disappearance of 80 farmworkers in Chihuahua): 

“Human rights cannot be ignored.  You cannot run away from farmworkers’ human rights.”

Luis Quintana, a former farmworker and representative of the Iron Workers Union, spoke to the heat, humidity, lack of shade, and other conditions that make farm labor some of the most difficult work in the country — and the fact that the CIW’s unique model to uproot those abuses is the only solution to ending violence in Wendy’s produce supply chain! 

Orlando’s principal newspaper, The Orlando Sentinel, reported on Sunday’s protest and Wendy’s questionable response to the boycott:

Fair Food Advocates Protest Downtown Wendy’s

“… For the past five years, [Wendy’s] refused to sign on to the Fair Food [Program],” said Ofelia Sanchez, a protester from the Youth and Young Adult Network of the National Farm Worker Ministry. “Instead of preventing abuses in the fields, they’ve chosen to take their business from Florida tomato farms to Mexican tomato farms.”

In those fields, Sanchez said farm workers face wage theft, sexual abuse and human trafficking threats.

Wendy’s disputed the groups’ claims in a statement and said the Coalition of Immokalee Workers “objects to the fact that we don’t pay fees to their organization.”

“We do not believe that joining the Fair Food Program is the only way to act responsibly, and we pride ourselves on our relationships with industry-leading suppliers who share our commitment to quality, integrity and ethics,” Wendy’s spokeswoman Heidi Schaurer said.

Supporters of the Fair Food Program say it works toward educating farmworkers on their rights and also has created a 24-hour hotline aimed at curbing abuses.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers said it has educated about 35,000 workers in meetings, and reached thousands more with video and written materials.

“The conditions of farms where we now have the Fair Food Program … have changed tremendously,” said Nely Rodriguez, who works with the Coalition. “Abuses are being eliminated and workers are able to report abuses.”

Of course, Wendy’s hollow Code of Conduct is no match for the Fair Food Program’s gold standard of human rights protection, an internationally-lauded worker-driven solution to farmworker abuse in the fields.

As over 120 farmworkers and their allies made clear in Orlando this weekend, “This action does not end today… Let’s use all we can to push this boycott forward until one day, we can shout that we beat Wendy’s!”

Sunday’s protest is but a taste of the tremendous energy and support that is building up for the coming Campaign season as the Student/Farmworker Alliance Encuentro (September 7-10) and fall action plans roll out. Stay tuned for more soon! 

For now, here is a slideshow of even more beautiful photos from the action!