WHY WE ARE MARCHING
“FOLLOW THE MONEY” BOYCOTT WENDY’S MARCH
Every day, millions of migrant farmworkers do the back-breaking work of harvesting the fruits and vegetables that feed the entire country and, in turn, generate billions in profits for the trillion-dollar retail food industry. Yet despite the essential nature of their labor, for generations farmworkers have endured extreme poverty, sexual assault and modern-day slavery.
But in 2011, after nearly two decades of hard-fought organizing with consumers across the country, farmworkers with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) built an award-winning program of worker-led monitoring and enforcement. In a few short years, the Fair Food Program has virtually ended decades of gender-based violence, forced labor and other long-standing human rights violations.
All of the largest fast-food companies — McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Taco Bell and Chipotle — along with nine other major food retailers, from Whole Foods to Walmart, have joined. All except Wendy’s.
Building on years of massive, colorful marches in New York City, farmworkers from Immokalee, their families and consumers are taking the fight for Fair Food directly to the Wall Street power players behind Wendy’s with a 3-day “Follow the Money” March through the city’s bustling boroughs from March 10-12.
Instead of using their influence to help protect farmworkers against sexual assault, forced labor, and a host of other human rights violations, Wall Street investors doing business with Wendy’s make a fortune investing their money in an industry founded on unconscionable farmworker exploitation.
Join us in demanding transparency and human rights protections for farmworkers in Wendy’s produce supply chain by holding major Wendy’s investors accountable for the company’s failure to join the leading social responsibility program in the U.S. agricultural industry!