2016 Year in Review: A look back at the work that moved us

As allies and believers in the Fair Food movement, we can help ensure the sustainability and viability of the Fair Food Program and the Campaign for Fair Food on which it rests — because of this, we are calling on you to become a Fair Food Sustainer today and support us in building an even stronger movement for justice in the fields in 2017. 

When we entered 2016 twelve months ago, we didn’t leave behind the old — we carried forward a history over two decades-long of CIW farmworker leadership, and another nearly as long of ally dedication and commitment into the new year.

Twelve months later, we stand another year older and another year wiser, having learned from our challenges and losses, but never once putting those above our gains — and indeed, we had many gains. We spent the year working shoulder-to-shoulder with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, building a world in which workers’ rights are respected, in which consumers see themselves as critical agents in the U.S. agriculture and food systems, and in which human rights are implemented rigorously. It’s because of people like you, allies new and old who continue to act following the leadership of farmworkers, that we can say that the New Day is here to stay.

Take a moment to reflect on the incredible year we have had, and how your contribution to sustain this work can continue to make this all possible:

CIW announces the Workers’ Voice Tour, thousands prepare for 2016’s major spring mobilization
2016 started off with a bang as Immokalee farmworkers announced a major five-city, 10-day national Workers Voice Tour, inviting farmworkers, people of faith, students, grassroots organizations, fellow workers, and consumers of conscience to take action — all to amplify the Fair Food Nation’s call urging Wendy’s and its leadership to finally join the Fair Food Program!

CIW launches the Campaign for Fair Food’s second-ever boycott as the Workers’ Voice Tour kicks off
The Workers’ Voice Tour packed a punch in what had been, at that point, a 3-year long Wendy’s campaign when nearly 500 farmworkers and NYC residents marched to the offices of Wendy’s Board Chairman and major shareholder Nelson Peltz on the tour’s first major stop. The march followed a momentous announcement: for the second time in the Campaign for Fair Food’s 15-year history, the CIW announced a national boycott of a corporate holdout! The brand new Wendy’s Boycott reached tens of thousands of consumers as thousands of allies took to the streets in the following city stops, committing themselves and their communities to building a strong movement for human rights in Wendy’s supply chain.

News breaks of Wendy’s shameful supply chain practices, and “Month of Outrage” spreads in response
In April, Harper’s Magazine revealed a key Wendy’s tomato supplier in Mexico to be none other than Bioparques del Occidente — a producer that, in 2013, was the subject of a massive slavery prosecution by the Mexican government. The news sparked outrage in people of conscience across the Fair Food Nation, strengthening allies’ resolve to boycott the fast food giant. The action-packed “Month of Outrage” spread the news and the call to boycott from coast to coast, following scores of high-spirited pickets and letter deliveries at Wendy’s locations across the country.

Fair Food Nation puts faith into action to bring Wendy’s to the table
As some of the first-ever supporters of the CIW, communities of faith drew from their own traditions to mobilize in force during the lead-up to the annual Wendy’s Shareholder Meeting. From the boycott endorsement letter signed by 300+ rabbis and delivered personally by leaders from T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights to the Manhattan offices of Nelson Peltz; to the National Day of Prayer anchored by institutions such as the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and National Farm Worker Ministry; to the poignant letter penned to outgoing Wendy’s CEO Emil Brolick, Nelson Peltz, by nearly two dozen religious leaders from more than 12 faith traditions, the call for true justice from Wendy’s rang loud and clear across the country.

Farmworkers and allies take action at Wendy's Annual Shareholder Meeting
Nearly 100 farmworkers and allies from Wendy’s hometown of Columbus, OH descended upon Wendy’s annual shareholder meeting to take the boycott straight to the fast food retailer’s corporate leadership. Standing their ground with an unshakeable presence, CIW farmworker Silvia Perez, Ohio State University student Amanda Ferguson, and T’ruah leader Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster entered the heart of Wendy’s operations in order to confront company leadership and demand that they become part of the solution to farmworker exploitation. Between powerful statements delivered directly to executives inside and the resounding protest outside, the Fair Food Nation took a step closer to bringing Wendy’s to the table!

CIW heads north to bring “Know Your Rights” education to thousands of workers laboring in the summer harvest
The Fair Food Program expansion into new crops and states is now a fierce reality. In June and July, CIW farmworker leaders made their way up north for the second summer in a row to conduct “Know Your Rights” trainings with farmworkers who, previously, only enjoyed the “new day” of human rights during the winter season on participating Florida farms. Around 2,000 workers joined tens of thousands of Florida workers in the Fair Food Program, receiving worker-to-worker education as they reflected on their experiences in the fields and came face-to-face with the unprecedented protections and responsibilities created by the new day.

Boycott Wendy’s petition goes viral on Change.org , garners 75k signatures (and counting!)
Nearly six months since the announcement of the historic Wendy’s Boycott, Change.org — one of the giants of online social justice with over 100 million petition starters and supporters in more than 196 countries — turned its spotlight on Wendy’s! The petition went viral with swelling numbers of consumers who signed and committed to boycotting the hamburger giant until they join the CIW’s Fair Food Program. Today, the online petition boasts  over 75,000 signatures from supporters coast to coast. Make sure to sign and share the petition if you haven’t already!

Allies from across the network gather for first-ever Wendy’s Boycott Summit in Immokalee, kickstart campaign organizing for the season ahead
Nearly 90 allies from our vibrant national AFF network of people of faith, students, youth, food justice advocates, and grassroots organizations came together in Immokalee for a successful first-ever Wendy’s Boycott Summit. Hailing from nearly twenty different states and from dozens of high schools, universities, congregations, and community organizations from coast to coast, participants gathered in the heart of the movement for Fair Food to develop skills, build relationships, and, most importantly, forge a winning strategy for victory in the Wendy’s Boycott.

Behind the Braids tours take nearly two dozen cities by storm, Wendy’s issues most direct public response to CIW yet
Throughout the fall, CIW farmworker leaders and allies from Immokalee packed their bags to join thousands of allies for powerful Wendy’s Boycott actions and educational events. Wendy’s, taken aback by the renewed wave of campaign pressure, issued its most direct public response to the CIW in the four years of the Wendy’s campaign — a response rife with half-truths, and outright fabrications that the CIW breaks down point by point on its website. From the Southeast all the way to cities in the Midwest, Northeast, Texas, and Mid-Atlantic regions, consciousness of the truth behind Wendy’s empty code of conduct generated a whirlwind of action, all with resounding message for Wendy’s: Consumers will continue to boycott your restaurants, until you join the Fair Food Program!

Return to Human Rights tour announced for spring of 2017
Wrapping up a year of nonstop action, and looking to make the boycott even bigger, even more powerful, and finally victorious in the year ahead, a few weeks ago the CIW announced 2017’s major spring mobilization: The Return to Human Rights Tour! In the tradition of the Taco Bell Truth Tours that successfully mobilized tens of thousands of consumers toward victory in the Campaign for Fair Food’s historic Taco Bell Boycott, farmworkers from Immokalee plan to join countless allies on tour next March. In the last weeks of 2016, plans are already underway to take the boycott deep into Wendy’s territory throughout the Midwest and the Southeast, culminating with a major action in Wendy’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio and finishing strong with a powerful concluding vigil in Tampa — stopping in nearly a dozen cities over the 13-day journey, including Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, and more.

Powerful and influential institutions, organizations, and individuals officially endorse the Wendy’s Boycott
Since the launch of the Wendy’s Boycott back in March, a vast representation of religious, student, food justice, human rights, and grassroots supporters have lent their weight by officially endorsing the boycott. By endorsing, longstanding and new partners alike pronounce their determination to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the CIW in the continuing boycott of the final fast food holdout. The full and growing list can be found on the Wendy’s Boycott website, and includes institutions such as the National Council of Churches, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Assembly, and the National Farmworker Ministry.

Give the gift of human rights for farmworkers!

What if this holiday season, you could give a loved one the gift of human rights for farmworkers?  

In 2016, never-before-seen rights for tens of thousands of farmworkers have reached tomato fields across the East Coast, as well as bell pepper and strawberry fields in Florida. Over the past 15 years, through the tenacious Campaign for Fair Food, hundreds of thousands of consumers and farmworkers have partnered together to bring corporate giants to implement human rights in their supply chain. And the unprecedented result of that partnership — the creation and implementation of the award-winning Fair Food Program — is guaranteeing freedom to work free from sexual harassment, an end to forced labor, access to shade, water, bathrooms, the right to report abuse without fear of retaliation, and many other rights to farmworkers in the U.S. agricultural industry. 

Now, our challenge is not only to strengthen and expand these rights, but to also sustain them for the long haul. And that’s why this holiday season, we invite you to give the gift of human rights to a friend or family member by making a sustaining donation in their honor.

Finally, we are sharing an example of the impact of donations to the Fair Food Sustainer Program directly from the CIW’s website:

“If 25 people gave $25 a month, the CIW worker-to-worker education team would have the resources necessary to bring Fair Food Program education to 1,000 workers in the northern states of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina each summer, where the team rises before dawn each morning, drives to distant fields, and informs workers, face to face, of their right to work free of violence, sexual harassment, and dangerous working conditions.”

Your gift in someone’s honor to the Fair Food Sustainer Program is an investment in a different future: A future where the New Day of human rights dawning in fields across the East Coast becomes the norm. It is an investment in the future of the world we are creating together – one where all people are treated with dignity and respect on the job, at home and beyond. 

Join us in making that future a reality.

The Fair Food Nation puts hope into action on Human Rights Day!

JESSICA RINALDI/GLOBE STAFF

JESSICA RINALDI/GLOBE STAFF

With December upon us, many in our community are preparing to celebrate hope, lent by the stories and values of our different faith traditions. That is, whether we ready ourselves recognizing the halfway mark of the joyful, expectant season of Advent, or remarking the rapid approach of the miraculous nights of Chanukah (and for the students in our community, rejoicing in the semester drawing to a close!). As we reflect on the significance of hope, the words of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Nely Rodriguez come to mind, spoken as she accepted the Roosevelt Institute’s Freedom from Want Medal in 2013 for the CIW: “More and more every day, the humanity of farmworkers is being recognized.  Today, we are feeling a light of hope, thanks to the Fair Food Program we created together.”  

In the past weeks, farmworkers have challenged us both to recall the human rights we have won together, and also to determinedly continue to fight for their expansion as we join in solidarity with all facing injustice.  Responding to a call to participate in the Wendy’s Boycott on Human Rights Day, hundreds of people put their commitment to boycott into action over the past week in the streets, in their congregations and communities, and through the power of their pens.  Today we bring you reports from several of those actions -- beginning with some of the AFF’s youngest members.


Human Rights Day Protest in Boston

After participating in the CIW’s “Behind the Braids” tour events in Boston this October and spending months learning about the history of Jewish labor organizing, a group of fifth graders at Boston Workmen’s Circle decided that their community needed to join the Wendy’s Boycott -- so, they organized a 60-person protest this Sunday in front of the Downtown Crossing Wendy’s.  Despite the insults an apparent Wendy’s employee hurled at the group, the young students led the protest with energy and enthusiasm, chanting, “Hold the burgers, hold the shakes!  A penny more is all it takes!”  The Boston Globe reported, including this quote from 10-year-old Jay Rochberg of Cambridge: 

““It’s one thing to see these issues with garment workers in 1912. It’s another thing to see it now in 2016 with farmworkers who can’t support their families because corporations like Wendy’s can’t pay a penny more per pound.” ”

Wendy’s referred reporters to their October statement on the Fair Food Program, which includes half-truths about their auditing practices, avoids addressing the human rights of workers in their tomato supply chain (largely in Mexico), and lies about the function of the Fair Food Program.  But the Workmen’s Circle students spelled out the truth about Wendy’s clearly in a letter they wrote and read aloud to all gathered.  Here’s an excerpt:  

““Instead of agreeing to the Fair Food Program, Wendy’s is now buying tomatoes from Mexico. We’re here to support the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and want Wendy’s to pay a penny more per pound of tomatoes. Many of the tomato farmworkers can’t support their families. By buying tomatoes from Mexico, you are continuing to support poor labor conditions.” ”

Flood of Human Rights Day Letters to Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor

Meanwhile, just a day before -- on International Human Rights Day -- members of the National Council of Churches, the Sisters of St. Joseph, allies in Ohio, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Tampa, Orlando, Oregon, and Georgia, members of the Riverside Church in New York City, residents at the Stony Point Center in Stony Point, New York, and everywhere in between exercised their voices as consumers to write letters to Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor, demanding that he heed the Wendy’s Boycott and change the company’s egregious record on farmworkers’ human rights.  Here’s what Anne McCudden of Georgia wrote: 

“As I write to you from South Georgia, I can tell you that my community and others around me have joined this boycott and we no longer consume the Wendy’s brand (nor do my siblings and family across the country).  This movement is growing, so I urge you to respect the fundamental human rights of farmworkers in your supply chain by bringing Wendy’s into the Fair Food Program.”

The Little Red Schoolhouse in New York took their letter-writing action further and took their call to a nearby Wendy’s.  They reported, "Today the LREI Farmworker Rights club delivered a letter to the manager of our local Wendy's. We encouraged him to tell his supervisor that all of us, and many more students, have pledged to boycott Wendy's until they sign up with the Fair Food Program. We unfurled a long list of all the people who've signed our petition and flyered around the restaurant. We hope the message makes it's way to Wendy's management and that customers will think twice about spending their money at Wendy's."


Pittsburgh Joins the Wendy’s Boycott

Two weeks ago, Duquesne University Student/Farmworker Alliance invited the CIW to the City of Bridges for a lineup of Fair Food events during Spiritan Campus Ministry’s annual Fair Trade Week, including an interactive tomato bucket relay race activity and a screening of Food Chains. Two full days of classroom presentations, exchanges with community groups, and a solidarity action with Pittsburgh workers calling for respect in the workplace and fair wages, set the stage for a high-energy, 50-person strong Wendy’s Boycott action in Lawrenceville. Members of Pittsburgh UNITED, organizers at the Thomas Merton Center, Duq SFA and USAS Local #31 at the University of Pittsburgh, among others, stood up for farmworkers’ human rights and made the commitment to stay steadfast in taking action in the Wendy’s Boycott until the hamburger giant joins the Fair Food Program.


The Fast Food Grinch

On a very festive note, this past weekend members of the Student/Farmworker Alliance created a series of fantastic videos declaring Wendy’s as this year’s Fast Food Grinch.  You can head over to SFA’s site, for the full selection, but for now, here are a two videos proving Wendy’s heart is a few sizes too small: 

And One More Thing ...

Wendy’s: Consumers’ profound hope and determination to boycott you until you respect workers’ human rights should be clear as day.  But until you join the Fair Food Program and decide to stop losing the business of thousands of consumers, people of faith, students, and grassroots groups around the country, here’s a reminder. Farmworkers have announced their plan to once again take the Wendy’s Boycott all over the country this March with the Return to Human Rights tour.

Fair Food Nation: With stops in a dozen cities over the course of two weeks, we know that by taking action together in the Return to Human Rights tour, we can bring Wendy’s to the table, and we can lift up struggles for justice around the country. Read up on last week’s post for all the details, and start making your plans to join us in Columbus as we bring the Wendy’s Boycott home!

SAVE THE DATE: CIW's Return to Human Rights Tour announced for March 16 – 29, 2017!

Mark your calendars, because it’s official! Today, the CIW announced next year’s major spring action: the Return to Human Rights Tour, March 16-29, 2017!

In the tradition of the Taco Bell Truth Tours that successfully mobilized tens of thousands of consumers nationwide toward victory in the Campaign for Fair Food’s seminal Taco Bell Boycott – and on the heels of last year’s successful Workers’ Voice Tour – farmworkers from Immokalee will join countless allies on next year’s Return to Human Rights Tour to take the Wendy’s Boycott deep into Wendy’s territory throughout the Midwest and the Southeast. 

The Return to Human Rights Tour will culminate with a major action in Wendy’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio on March 26 and finish strong with a powerful concluding vigil in Tampa on March 29 – stopping in nearly a dozen cities over the 13-day journey, including Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, and more.

So, start making plans to meet us at major stops in Columbus or Tampa! And get in touch with us at organize@allianceforfairfood.org to begin mobilizing your congregation, campus, or community to support this year’s major Return to Human Rights Tour!

It’s time for Wendy’s – and the country – to return to human rights. To read more about 2017’s Return to Human Rights Tour, check out the full tour announcement on the CIW’s website!

Fair Food Nation, see you in the spring!

-The Immokalee Crew

Take Action: On Human Rights Day, December 10, write to Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor!

As the basic human rights of so many are being challenged across the country, it is now more important than ever that we protect the human rights gains we’ve won and struggle together to push them forward. And as the year comes to a close, allies across the Fair Food Nation will take a stand on Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, by sending letters to Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor to call on him to bring the final fast food holdout into the Fair Food Program.

The Fair Food movement is fundamentally a human rights movement, broad and inclusive of immigrant rights, labor rights, women’s rights, and even consumer rights. Indeed, this is the right to demand that, in the 21st century, food corporations no longer turn a blind eye to abuses in their supply chains, but use the power of the market to help fix the poverty and exploitation that their purchasing policies have driven for so long.

Wendy’s refusal to join the Fair Food Program-- called “one of the great human rights success stories of our day” in the Washington Post for its achievements in transforming the U.S. agricultural industry -- continues to pose one of the largest threats to the protection and expansion of basic rights for thousands of farmworkers. Wendy's recent response to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, published on their Corporate Social Responsibility blog in October, misconstrues completely the function of the Fair Food Program and worse, extolls their decision to purchase from farms in Mexico where there have been well-documented human rights abuses.

So this Human Rights Day, Saturday Dec. 10, take action by writing a letter to Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor calling on him to bring the final fast food holdout to the table and into the Fair Food Program. 

In this letter-writing guide, you’ll find more information, talking points, and instructions about where and how to mail your letter to Wendy’s CEO. The guide also includes ideas for engaging your congregations, families, and communities in writing letters to Mr. Penegor and flooding his mailbox with our movement’s clarion call for justice. These include creative ways to amplify the letters’ impact by arranging deliveries of letter copies to local Wendy’s restaurants. 

Wendy’s and CEO Todd Penegor must respect the human rights of the farmworkers in its supply chain, or else continue to face a growing national boycott.

Write us at organize@allianceforfairfood.org if you plan to participate on Dec. 10! 

This Giving Tuesday, support human rights – become a Fair Food Sustainer!

In the fall of 2008, Sen. Bernie Sanders visited Immokalee on a fact-finding tour.  He came to investigate the human rights crisis in the fields of Florida and the then fierce industry resistance to the CIW’s vision of a more modern, more humane agricultural industry.  His intervention helped break that resistance and launch what today has become the single most successful human rights program in US agriculture, the Fair Food Program.  It was also the inspiration for this remarkable video from his campaign earlier this year:

Following his visit, Sen. Sanders summed up his impression of the CIW and their struggle with these words:

“The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has proven that when you get up every day to fight for what is right, when you don’t give up even when all the odds are against you, when you don’t compromise on basic principles of fairness, and when you build a strong grassroots movement, economic justice will prevail over greed, and the least fortunate can successfully stand up to the powerful.” — U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, 2008

The new world of dignity and respect for fundamental human rights born of the Fair Food Program is truly a singular achievement.  But the movement that has won those gains can’t stop now.  Hundreds of thousands of farmworkers across the country continue to suffer from the grinding poverty and unspeakable abuse at the hands of their employers that has characterized farm labor for generations.  The Fair Food Nation’s challenge today is to continue expanding the Fair Food Program into new states and new crops, to continue — against all odds — bending the arc of the moral universe toward justice.  

And to reach that next level, we need the help of allies and supporters, now more than ever. Today, on Giving Tuesday, we are joining the CIW to call on allies like you to become Fair Food Sustainers.

We need you to join the growing ranks of Fair Food allies who make a monthly donation — whether it is $1,000 or $100 or $10 a month.  With your sustained support, we can continue to ensure that farmworker women who face sexual violence have access to swift and decisive justice in the fields, and that the world’s largest corporations are held to account for the human rights abuses in their supply chains.

To be sure, defending farmworkers’ basic human rights in this country has never been an easy task.  This year’s stunning election results stand to make that task only more daunting.

Yet we know that, in the face of the extraordinary challenges that lie ahead of us, there are millions of people across the country like you asking themselves how they can step up in the years ahead to support the vision of a better world they believe in.  Becoming a Fair Food Sustainer is an immediate, concrete step that you can take to advance fundamental human rights and dignity for some of this country’s least protected workers.

Now more than ever, we must remain steadfast in our principles, we must get up and work hard every single day, and we must defy the odds.  This Giving Tuesday, join the Fair Food Sustainer Program today, and share the call to action with your community!

PHOTO REPORT: Mississippians bring the Wendy’s Boycott to the Deep South!

After nearly two decades, and thousands upon thousands of protests from Maine to California, there are very few corners of this country that the Campaign for Fair Food has yet to reach. But today, we are pleased to bring you news of a new milestone in the Fair Food movement —  a photo report from the campaign’s first-ever splash in Jackson, Mississippi!

Last week, a delegation from Immokalee traveled to Jackson to take part in the Mississippi Food Summit and Agricultural Revival, hosted by the Mississippi Sustainable Agriculture Network.

The Summit featured the voices of farmworkers alongside those of small farmers and food justice advocates from around the state, all of whom were held up as the leaders sorely needed to fix the cracks in the country’s vast food system. Conversations drew parallels between the CIW’s farmworker-led fight for fundamental human rights in the fields and the ongoing struggle of Mississippians to cultivate local, healthy food — as well as thriving, equitable communities — in the shadow of the region’s long history of deep racial and economic injustice.

Pictured (from left): Dr. Ricardo Salvador of the Union of Concerned Scientists, Dorothy Grady-Scarborough of Mississippians for Greener Agriculture, Rukia Lumumba of Cooperation Jackson, and Ben Burkett of the Indian Springs Farmers Co-Op. PHOTO CR…

Pictured (from left): Dr. Ricardo Salvador of the Union of Concerned Scientists, Dorothy Grady-Scarborough of Mississippians for Greener Agriculture, Rukia Lumumba of Cooperation Jackson, and Ben Burkett of the Indian Springs Farmers Co-Op. PHOTO CREDIT: Creceda LeMaire

After a long, inspiring day of dialogue and exchange between small farmers, community leaders, students, food justice advocates, and farmworkers, it was time to take action!

On Saturday, nearly 50 allies gathered at the Mississippi Farmers’ Market for the state’s inaugural boycott march on a local Jackson Wendy’s. The protest, organized by the Mississippi Sustainable Agriculture Network, was well-attended by students and faculty from Ole Miss and the University of Georgia, local elementary school students, and community leaders active in environmental, immigrant rights, and racial justice movements in Jackson and other parts of the state.

CIW’s Lupe Gonzalo kicked it off by welcoming the crowd…

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Williams

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Williams

…which included allies of all ages!

Warmed up and ready to go, the marchers stepped off, steady chants rising as the crowd made its way to the prominent Wendy’s just down the road…

Arriving at the Wendy’s, protesters formed a loud and joyful picket under the afternoon sun outside the store.

Though the local Wendy’s manager, like many of his peers, rejected a local delegation’s letter, the protest and its impact were felt all the way up the food chain and throughout Jackson. As Lupe concluded, “Whether or not they accepted the letter, we showed Wendy’s the power that consumers have across the country!”

PHOTO CREDIT: Creceda LeMaire

PHOTO CREDIT: Creceda LeMaire

The local Jackson Free Press caught wind of the action, and published an excellent report on the day’s event and the overall movement for Fair Food across the country, titled “Protesters March on Wendy’s for Workers’ Rights”:

Protesters March On Wendy’s for Workers’ Rights

Wendy’s on High Street got traffic from more than just the lunch crowd this week. The Mississippi Sustainable Agriculture Network and the Florida-based Coalition for Immokalee Workers brought dozens of activists from around Mississippi and as far away as Florida together at the Mississippi Farmers Market Saturday at the biannual Mississippi Food Summit and Agricultural Revival, and then marched to the nearby fast-food restaurant. The march was in protest of the world’s third-largest fast food chain’s refusal to participate in the Fair Food Program.

“We’re here in Mississippi today joined by dozens of allies here locally to educate people about the conditions in which Wendy’s brings the tomatoes that it sells to its customers,” said Lupe Gonzalo, a member of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

Gonzalo said Wendy’s participation would show commitment not only to better wages for workers, but also respect for the people who farm their tomatoes.

“(Joining means) committing to a code of conduct in which the workers’ rights are respected and which has zero tolerance for the worst of abuses including sexual harassment and modern-day slavery, and that the voice of the worker is respected throughout the supply chain, she said at the Jackson protest. She added that farm workers must have the right to speak out against abuses they face without fear of retaliation… Read More

The CIW’s first visit to Jackson will surely not be its last, as the ties that were formed there during this brief but brilliant stay will carry on well into the future. Our struggles are too similar, our fates too bound up together, for us to go our separate ways now. We thank our friends in Mississippi for their heartfelt reception, and are already looking forward to returning the favor in Immokalee and the next time we can be together in this long fight for food justice, dignity, and fundamental human rights.

National religious leaders visit Immokalee and bear witness to transformative changes taking place within the Fair Food Program!

truahvisit.jpg

Over the past six weeks, the Fair Food Nation has been on the road, as crews from Immokalee joined allies to take the call for farmworker justice to diverse corners of this country – from the grand metropolises of Chicago, Atlanta, and New York, to the small rural towns of Appalachian Maryland and Pennsylvania. 

But the Behind the Braids tours have not been the only momentous events taking place in the Fair Food Nation! Over the past two weeks, Immokalee has hosted two sets of powerful faith leaders, first from the Presbyterian Church (USA) and then T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, representing millions of individuals from coast to coast. Since the earliest stirrings of a worker-led movement in Immokalee, farmworkers have counted on the moral weight, hospitality, and friendship of leaders of faith and conscience from all corners of the United States. Today is no different.

Two weeks ago, the CIW and AFF had the honor of welcoming the Rev. Jan Edmiston, Co-Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to Immokalee. Representing nearly two million Christians nationwide in the highest elected position within the PC (USA), Rev. Edmiston and her visit signify the latest demonstration of deep and unwavering commitment from an institution that, over the course of our history, has been a driving force in the movement for Fair Food.

Accompanied by the Rev. Graham Hart, General Presbyter of the Peace River Presbytery in Southwest Florida, Rev. Edmiston received a warm welcome from CIW members and a tour of the very community center and low-power radio station that both the PC(USA) and the Peace River Presbytery generously helped to launch thirteen years ago. After hearing firsthand from CIW leaders about the transformations that have taken place in the fields, Rev. Edmiston both met with Judge Laura Safer Espinoza of the Fair Food Standards Council and traveled to Sunripe Certified Brands (formerly, Pacific Tomato Growers), to hear from a participating grower how this unique, unparalleled partnership is bringing dignity and human rights to the fields for the first time in decades.

The church leaders even received a tour of Sunripe’s new, in-progress training facility – tailored specifically to host the worker-to-worker education sessions farmworkers receive as part of the Fair Food Program.

Before departing, Rev. Edmiston shared the hope she felt during her visit to Immokalee, a welcome ray of inspiration in trying times. 

Only a week or so after Rev. Edmiston’s visit, Immokalee hosted the ninth delegation of “Tomato Rabbis” from T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. During a profound, three-day immersive exchange, the eight Jewish leaders (hailing from all across the nation, Boston to Miami) held lively discussions with CIW members as well as the Fair Food Standards Council and Fair Food Program participating growers, acquiring a deep understanding of all facets of the FFP.

Remarkably, these rabbinic delegations – the first of which took place in September of 2011 – have borne witness to the dramatic changes experienced by farmworkers since that first season of the Fair Food Program’s implementation. Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, director of Programs for T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and organizer of the yearly trip, observed poignantly that the first visit to Southwest Florida came on the heels of the area being dubbed “ground-zero for modern-day slavery” in the U.S. by a federal prosecutor – and yet today, the visit provides an opportunity for religious leaders to observe an extraordinary and unique program that has virtually eradicated 21st-century slavery in the fields. 

The #tomatorabbis visit would not be complete, however, without strategizing for the year ahead or taking action in the Campaign for Fair Food – which represents the consumer power and resulting market consequences foundational to the Fair Food Program. 

Donning prayer shawls and taking up the shofar – the traditional ram’s-horn trumpet used in Jewish prayer – the rabbis concluded their visit by heading to a Wendy’s on busy highway 41 in Bonita Springs. The rabbis entered the fast food restaurant to deliver a letter to the local manager, chanting prayers while handing out copies of the letter to customers inside. To their surprise, the manager instructed the rabbis to return 20 minutes later, when a representative from Wendy’s regional leadership would be in attendance.

Though their second visit to the store did not bear much fruit – as the Wendy’s representative merely demanded that the rabbis cease disrupting Wendy’s business, and instructed them to leave the premises – the rabbinic delegation left determined to take the boycott to their congregations and communities back home.

Leaders of many faiths have a mighty and venerable history of standing with farmworkers, lending both their moral voice and consumer power to achieve what was once seen as impossible – real, verifiable human rights in an industry once built on poverty and exploitation of workers at the bottom of the supply chain. The deep-rooted commitment of people of faith continues to build across the country, and will only grow as the struggle for justice continues to expand beyond Florida’s tomato industry and spread to new states, new crops, new industries, and beyond.

GRAND FINALE: Boycott Wendy's actions from Miami to Chicago wrap up "Behind the Braids" fall mobilization!

It’s a wrap! Following the tremendous leadership of the CIW, the Fair Food Nation has been at the forefront of the movement for farmworker justice since the birth of the Campaign for Fair Food in 2001. And this fall – even as the country has been adjusting to the new political landscape – the commitment to heed the call for farmworkers’ human rights shone brighter than ever as the Wendy’s Boycott ballooned in over 25 cities from Miami to Austin to Chicago to Boston.

There’s much to share from the final stretch of this fall’s boycott mobilization, including on-the-ground reports from the last of the Behind the Braids regional tours, which hammered the Wendy’s Boycott throughout the fast food giant’s territory in the Midwest, and a recap of the Weekend of Action finale. Here we go!

The final Behind the Braids Midwest Tour kicked off on November 5 in Chicago, a community with deep roots in the Campaign for Fair Food ever since the city mobilized tirelessly during the CIW’s 2005-2007 campaign against McDonald’s.  Touching down in Chicago, it was more of a homecoming than a visit: we were warmly welcomed by excited members of the Son Jarocho community as well as many longtime community allies, including Interfaith Worker Justice and El Centro Autónomo — all ready to drum up some Fair Food spirit in the Windy City!

From there, we hit the ground running.  We stretched out across the city for Food Chains screenings; countless classroom presentations at college campuses, elementary schools, and high schools, including Oakton Community College, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Kenwood Academy; and exchanges with community groups, such as the Autonomous Tenants Union and El Centro de Trabajadores Unidos.
On November 9 — even as we confronted news of the election results that shook communities across the country — nearly 50 allies stood strong alongside farmworkers outside of a local Wendy’s with even more determination and ánimo to defend human rights — of farmworkers, and of all human beings.  CIW’s signature energy of hope and resilience remained unbroken as the first leg of the Midwest Tour laid the groundwork to continue growing the Wendy’s Boycott in Chi-Town!
With spirits running high, we continued north to Wisconsin’s largest city the next day, making whirlwind stops at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University, Escuela Vieau and Escuela Verde to educate high school and college students on the longstanding human rights abuses in the fields – and the proven solution that is now transforming conditions for tens of thousands of farmworkers in the U.S.
After inspiring exchanges with SEIU Local 1 and members of Young People’s Resistance Committee at UW-Milwaukee as well as a lively community Food Chains screening, we joined an animated group of allies for a letter delivery to a local Wendy’s manager, declaring that consumers in Milwaukee refuse to accept the fast food giant’s polished public relations ploys as an excuse to reject the Fair Food Program.
Delegation.jpg
We hit the road for Madison, where we took the time to re-connect with Fair Food veterans – many of whom had pledged their unwavering support to the CIW even before the Fair Food Program was born – and to cultivate relationships with newcomers to the Fair Food movement.  On Monday, we spent a full day trekking across the landmark Bascom Hill at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to over a dozen classroom presentations, spreading the message of the Wendy’s Boycott to hundreds of students.  Later that night, we had a powerful exchange with campus strongholds MEChA de UW-Madison and the Student Labor Action Coalition.  The gathered students learned about the importance of continuing to build on the long legacy of student solidarity with the CIW that has existed at UW-Madison since the Taco Bell boycott years — and committed to take action the following day.
It was time to hit the streets!  We were met by over 60 students, professors and local community members ready to bring the Wendy’s Boycott to town.  Colorful art lined the sidewalk and lively chants echoed between the Capital Building and the UW-Madison campus buildings, as hundreds of students paced the restaurant-lined street during their lunch hour.

As the culminating action of the six “Behind the Braids” fall tours wrapped up, plans for what’s coming next were already in the works.  Madison — echoing the determination and commitment we saw in Chicago and Milwaukee — promised to keep the pressure up on Wendy’s, for as long as the fast food chain continues holding out on protecting the human rights of farmworkers!

Simultaneously, over in Cleveland, Ohio, we met by hundreds of Ohioans, from students at John Carroll and Case Western Reserve Universities to stalwart allies with the InterReligious Task Force on Central America and Colombia, listeners of FCB Radio Network, and groups who had tirelessly been getting out the vote.  Women of the Presbytery of the Western Reserve and the national offices of the United Church of Christ welcomed CIW with the open arms — a spirit of support that has humbled us since the beginnings of the campaign all the way through the Presbyterian Church (USA) and UCC’s endorsements of the Wendy’s Boycott earlier this year.  
The week of raising consciousness turned into action on Friday as a 40-strong group of Clevelanders came out in the bitter cold to protest at a Shaker Heights Wendy’s.
In the blustery evening, representatives from all the above-mentioned organizations, as well as from Forest Hills Presbyterian Church, the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, and many who had never taken action before joined the growing demand from Ohio:  Wendy’s must support and expand human rights for farmworkers rather than run from its responsibility as a massive corporate buyer of fresh produce.  
We headed from there down to Columbus.  Following a protest of thousands after the November 8 election, Ohio State University students took to the streets once more with CIW to demand that the University refuse to renew its lease with Wendy’s. 
Just days after the Diocese of Southern Ohio of the Episcopal Church officially endorsed the Wendy’s Boycott at their Columbus meeting, members of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus, the Methodist Theological Seminary, Franklinton Community Gardens, Central Ohio Worker Center, and students from OSU marched to the administration building where President Michael Drake has his offices.

After attending a powerful action in solidarity with Standing Rock activists, connecting the fight against exploitation of the environment with that against the abuse of human beings in the fields, we wrapped up our time in Ohio with a final action alongside Real Food Challenge.  Representatives of environmental justice movements, small-scale farmers, rural communities, and workers’ organizations spoke powerfully to the need to hold OSU accountable for their investment and spending as it affects our food system. 

Oscar Otzoy of the CIW closed the rally with these words:  “On behalf of all workers in Immokalee who everyday do the hard work of putting food on the tables of everyone in this nation, we are grateful for the support of everyone here.  What is clear now more than ever is that we must all be united.  It may seem that these corporations are the ones with power — but that is not true!  Power lies right here, now, with us.  And with that strength, it doesn’t matter what we are up against — I know we will win!”

As the final of the six regional Behind the Braids Tours came to a close, the rolling wave of energy for the Wendy’s Boycott hit Florida’s sunnier shores for a spectacular Weekend of Action finale!

On Saturday, students at Barry University and St. Thomas University in Miami coordinated a spirited march of more than 150 on Wendy’s in the neighborhood of Coral Gables, near the University of Miami’s campus.  Joined by dozens of CIW farmworker members from Immokalee and numerous faith and community allies from Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties – including representatives from South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice and the Presbytery of Tropical Florida – marchers began in a downtown community park with a rousing reflection on the uncertainty of the times we are living in, and the importance of taking action and continuing to unite in the struggle for human rights.

From there, the march kicked off with a long, loud picket outside of a nearby Publix.  The group took advantage of the moment to remind the Florida-based supermarket chain that it, along with Wendy’s and other resistant retailers, needs to hear the call for justice coming from farmworkers and Publix’s own consumers. After a successful delivery of letters written by students at St. Thomas University for Publix management, the march looped around the block and over to the busy U.S. 1 thoroughfare to make its way to the main event: a colorful picket outside a very prominent Coral Gables Wendy’s on that same road.  Though the manager refused to take a delegation’s letter, the group left the scene buoyed by the march’s high energy and the unmistakable joy of the Fair Food Nation.

The action wasn’t just in South Florida.  Central Florida was also present this past weekend, with two consecutive protests in the Fair Food strongholds of St. Petersburg and Tampa!  In St. Pete and Tampa, students at Eckerd College and the Tampa community invited others to join them in two dozens-strong marches to Wendy’s.  In a surprising move, the local manager met the delegation in St. Pete with openness – even while informing allies that Wendy’s corporate offices had warned many Wendy’s chains that Fair Food protests might be taking the boycott to their stores that day.

The Weekend of Action finished off in Fort Myers the next day, just a stone’s throw from Immokalee itself, with over 50 farmworkers and allies from across Southwest Florida. 

Participants ranged from congregations whose support stretches back to the pre-Campaign for Fair Food days, to students at Florida Gulf Coast University who had first learned of the CIW’s work only a few weeks ago.

The multigenerational crowd proudly raised their voices in solidarity with farmworkers as a sizable delegation of CIW farmworker women and faith allies, including youth from the nearby Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers, approached the store to deliver their letter.  In the second surprise of the weekend, meeting them at the door were two Wendy’s representatives who introduced themselves as the Director of Operations and the regional Wendy’s manager.  Instructing the delegation to deliver their letter to Wendy’s headquarters in Dublin, OH, the pair turned away even after hearing local consumers and farmworker leaders argue persuasively in favor of Wendy’s joining its peers in the Fair Food Program.

BONUS: Video from the Washington, DC “Behind the Braids” action!
And to wrap up this marathon report, we have a video produced by students in Washington DC, documenting the final action of the Mid-Atlantic Behind the Braids Tour just a few short weeks ago. Enjoy, and get ready for the next big wave of action this December 10, International Human Rights Day!

The battle for human rights continues...

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

We have had occasion to quote those words, attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King, many a time over the 25 years that we have been organizing here in Immokalee. The quotation reminds us that, though at times it might seem that progress has grown unbearably slow or even ground to a halt, it never truly stops, and that, when viewed from a sufficient distance, the trajectory of history bends only one way — toward greater freedom and equality. 

The Fair Food movement is fundamentally a human rights movement. Yes, it is about immigrant rights, but non-immigrants work in the fields too and they are every bit as exploited and abused as their immigrant brothers and sisters. And yes, it is about labor rights, but it is about women’s rights as well, both in the fields and at home in the fight against domestic violence. It is even about consumers’ rights, the right to demand that, in the 21st century, food corporations no longer turn a blind eye to abuses in their supply chains, but use the power of the market to help fix the poverty and exploitation that their purchasing policies have driven for so long.

If we are to protect the fragile progress toward ever-greater social justice that we have made across the generations, we must fight together, in a broad and inclusive movement to protect our rights — immigrant rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, civil rights, labor rights, our right to health care, our right to religious freedom, our right to a clean and sustainable environment, our right to a fair and equitable economy, and more — our human rights. If each of those sectors faces the challenge alone, we will be weak, we will be on the defensive, and we may lose ground. Together, however, we can define the agenda, one that fosters a vision of universal human rights, and we can win.

America has given birth to many great movements across the centuries, from the fight against monarchy to the fight for universal civil rights. In this new century, perhaps it is time for a new American movement — the American human rights movement.  

If so, the Fair Food Nation will be there...

And now, News from the Lone-Star State...

With four whirlwind “Behind the Braids” tours already behind them, farmworkers from Immokalee and their allies hit the road again last week, turning their sights this time to a longtime hotbed of Fair Food action:  The Lone-Star State. From the Rio Grande Valley and Austin to San Marcos and San Antonio, the Immokalee crew swept through Texas with community gatherings, school presentations, animated actions, and collaborations with incredible grassroots and student organizations, building an even stronger national boycott of Wendy's.

Rio Grande Valley
The Texas Tour started off with a bang!  Along South Texas Boulevard in Weslaco, we were joined by seventy community leaders from around the Rio Grande Valley, including members Fuerza del Valle, a longtime CIW ally and workers’ rights powerhouse whose support stretches back to the beginnings of the Campaign for Fair Food.  

Spirits were running high among the protesters gathered that sunny Saturday afternoon, raising colorful Fair Food banners and singing chants at the top of our lungs as we started marching along the sidewalk.

Once we arrived to Wendy’s, the scores of community members started a picket before a delegation made its way into Wendy’s.  The delegation was immediately met with resistance.  The manager, after refusing to allow the CIW or Wendy’s own local customers speak, proceeded to call the police.  In spite of the cold shoulder, the delegation left even more animated than when they had entered, rejoining the upbeat protest outside ad continuing the protest with our flags and boycott banners held high, drawing support from many drivers and passersby.

The spirited action was then followed by a gathering with members from Fuerza del Valle, which generously hosted the CIW at the office of the Edinburg American Federation of Teachers.  Together, the CIW’s Lupe Gonzalo and other workers shared their motivations and their vision for worker-driven social responsibility, building bonds of solidarity that anchored everyone in the room not only to the Wendy’s boycott, but also to the movement for basic human rights in workplaces across the nation.

Austin and San Marcos
After the visit to the Rio Grande Valley, we headed off to Austin and San Marcos.  First up, we were hosted by the Workers’ Defense Project and the Fight for 15 at a community gathering that was followed by two back-to-back days of class presentations.  As we visited classroom after classroom in universities like St. Edward’s University and the University of Texas in Austin, hundreds of new students committed themselves to strengthening the boycott even as Wendy’s tries to ignore the voices of student consumers across the country.

From there, we were invited to San Marcos, where we held class presentations at Texas State University and a screening of the award-winning documentary Food Chains at el Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos.

To wrap up our region to that corner of Texas, it was back to Austin for more action!  Scores of students, members of the Workers’ Defense Project, organizers from the Fight for 15, and community members from Austin gathered for a lively picket with both long-time and brand-new allies from the community.

 

San Antonio
Finally, we made our last stop in San Antonio.  From the “El Mundo Zurdo” Conference to presentations at the University of Texas at San Antonio and meetings with the Southwest Workers Union, we witnessed even more young people take up the Fair Food banner.

With that, we wrapped up an incredible tour of the Lone Star State, and left inspired:  we saw students, workers’ rights organizations, people of faith, and communities not only join our presentations, screenings, and actions, but also commit to deeper, long-standing support of the Wendy’s Boycott in their home state.  We have no doubt that the good people of Fair Food Texas will continue to pressure the fast-food hold-out until Wendy’s finally comes to the table with the workers who pick their tomatoes.

 

Want to stay up to date on the Campaign for Fair Food?