New York City Council Calls on Wendy’s to Join the Fair Food Program and Support Farmworkers’ Human Rights

New York City, NY:

The New York City Council this week resoundingly passed a resolution demanding Wendy’s join the Fair Food Program, a groundbreaking initiative that guarantees the rights of farmworkers on farms under its protection. The FFP has won high praise for its unique effectiveness, including a Presidential Medal for its “extraordinary efforts” in fighting forced labor, and is widely recognized as the “gold standard” for protecting farmworkers against sexual harassment, assault, wage theft, and inhumane living conditions.

The resolution, introduced by Council Member and Chair of the Committee on Civil Service and Labor Carmen De La Rosa, highlights the Pro- gram’s unparalleled success in ensuring farmworkers are provided basic protections and fundamental human rights, and denounces the fact that Wendy’s is the only major fast food chain in the U.S. to refuse to join the Program. The resolution comes at a time of increased national attention to worker exploitation within corporate supply chains, from child labor to systemic forced labor within agriculture. The New York City Council resolution will deepen scrutiny of Wendy’s and bolster the growing call for the hamburger giant to bring its network of supply farms under the Fair Food Program’s bestin-class protections.

“The workforce that supplies the food we eat should not have to endure abuse in exchange for pennies that they depend on to feed their own families. If large corporations are going to operate in our city, they must do so sustainably. New York City has a globally influential economy, and we have opportunities here as leaders to create a more socially-just economy,” said Civil Service and Labor Chair, Council Member Carmen De La Rosa. “The workers who care for us on a daily basis deserve sustainable wages and humane working conditions. That’s why we are passing Resolution 131 to call on Wendy’s to join the Fair Food Program and support farmworkers’ human rights.”

“The resolution sends a clear message not only to Wendy’s, but to major food retailers everywhere: New Yorkers stand with farmworkers in their fight for dignity and freedom.“ said Lupe Gonzalo, a staff member of the CIW who was a farmworker for 12 years and today educates her fellow workers on their rights under the Fair Food Program on participating farms. “It is time for Wendy’s to follow the lead of its competitors and join the battle against forced labor in our food system by participating in the Fair Food Program, which is the gold standard of human rights protections in the fields.”

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) – a workerbased human rights organization founded by farmworkers in the early 1990s in the agricultural community of Immokalee, Florida – pioneered the Fair Food Program in 2011. The CIW and its consumer allies have campaigned for over a decade calling on Wendy’s to join the FFP. In 2018, dozens of farmworkers and allies fasted for five days outside the Manhattan office of Nelson Peltz, who is the Chairman of Wendy’s Board of Directors and the company’s largest shareholder. In March of this year, the CIW organized a march of nearly 600 people in Palm Beach, FL, home of Nelson Peltz, demanding his company join the Program. p