NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Thousands of farmworkers, their families, and supporters from across the country will march through Manhattan on Thursday, March 15th, for the Time’s Up Wendy’s March. The march will protest Wendy’s refusal to join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program, which has virtually ended sexual harassment and assault for tens of thousands of workers on dozens of participating farms in seven states. Marchers will pass in front of the hedge fund offices (280 Park Ave) of Nelson Peltz, the Board Chairman and largest shareholder of the fast food giant, the same site where over 80 farmworkers and their allies have been fasting in protest since March 11th.
The CIW reports that under the direction of executives like investor Nelson Peltz, Wendy’s has refused to join the Fair Food Program and instead ended its purchases from longtime Florida tomato suppliers and shifted those purchases to Mexico. In doing so, Wendy’s is choosing to partner with an industry where sexual harassment is endemic, but seldom reported and brought to justice, due to widespread violence, corruption, and impunity. Meanwhile, Wendy’s competitors McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Chipotle and Taco Bell all joined the Presidential medal-winning program years ago and have contributed to an unprecedented improvement in farmworkers’ lives in their supply chains.
Human rights leader Kerry Kennedy, U.S. Women’s Soccer legend Abby Wambach, and New York Times best-selling author Glennon Doyle will join the march along with thousands of supporters from New York City and across the country who are part of a growing national movement to hold Wendy’s accountable for the company’s inaction. “Wendy’s refusal to join the Fair Food Program — and ensure that the farmworkers who pick their food stop being raped and abused in the fields — is reprehensible. Abby and I are honored to march alongside our fierce farmworker sisters and together demand that Wendy’s stop profiting from women’s pain,” shared Doyle.
WHO: Thousands of farmworkers, their families, and supporters from across the U.S.
WHAT: The Time’s Up Wendy’s March, a colorful protest action
WHEN: March 15th, 2018, 5:00 PM
WHERE: Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, 245 E 47th St, New York, NY
Coalition of Immokalee Workers: www.ciw-online.org
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is a human rights organization and Presidential Medal recipient internationally recognized for its achievements in the fields of social responsibility, anti-sexual violence efforts, community organizing, and ending slavery. The CIW’s Fair Food Program is a groundbreaking partnership among farmworkers, Florida tomato growers, and fourteen major food retailers. Participating retailers agree to purchase exclusively from suppliers who meet a worker-driven code of conduct, which includes a zero-tolerance policy for slavery and sexual harassment. Retailers also pay a “penny-per-pound” premium, which is passed down through the supply chain and paid out directly to workers by their employers. Since the program’s inception in 2011, buyers have paid over $26 million into the FFP. For more information, visit www.fairfoodprogram.org