PHOTO REPORT: Student/Farmworker Alliance turns up the heat on Wendy’s with National Week of Action!

 Students at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill stage a theater skit on the steps of UNC Chancellor Folt’s office to highlight the University’s complicity in human rights abuses.
Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill stage a theater skit on the steps of UNC Chancellor Folt’s office to highlight the University’s complicity in human rights abuses.

Hundreds of students, young people from Coast to Coast get creative in Wendy’s Boycott during “Pulling Back the Curtain on Wendy’s” National Week of Action!

Last week, after months of preparation, members of the Student/Farmworker Alliance took action across the country in over a dozen cities for the national “Pulling Back the Curtain on Wendy’s” Week of Action.  Since the school year began, students have been gearing up for last week’s fall actions, all of which shared an unmistakable theme:  You can’t fool this generation with a weak PR game, Wendy’s.  Here was SFA’s original message to the fast food giant, a message that echoed loud and clear through all of last week’s student-led actions:

Earlier this summer, caving to massive pressure generated by the Fair Food movement’s national boycott, Wendy’s announced its decision to move the vast majority of its tomato purchasing away from the Mexican tomato industry to U.S. and Canadian greenhouses by year end. But we, as young people and steadfast allies to the CIW, are far from being fooled by Wendy’s new tomato sourcing strategy.

Contrary to the misinformation released by Wendy’s, including the claim of the “inherent benefits of safe, indoor working conditions” in greenhouse operations, this shift is nothing more than another PR ploy to deceive consumers. As CIW debunked early on, greenhouses do not inherently shield farmworkers from sexual violence and exploitation — and without meaningful enforcement and monitoring, abuses will undoubtedly flourish with impunity.

Wendy’s: we’re on to your empty sustainability rhetoric and your phony auditing schemes and we’re not going anywhere!

As the school season kicks back up, we are mobilizing our campuses and communities to pull back the curtain on Wendy’s shameful façade of social responsibility and expose the truth behind the tomato that tops a Dave’s Single. 

Today, we bring you Part One of SFA’s round-up, with photos from actions, theater pieces, film screenings, and even Wendy’s Boycott-themed games that took place from Gainesville, Florida to New York City and Los Angeles, California!  Make sure to head over to the Student/Farmworker Alliance website to read the full report, and stay tuned in the days ahead for Part Two.

PHOTO REPORT: Hundreds of students across U.S. demand that Wendy’s leaders adopt the unparalleled human rights protections of the Fair Food Program!

Part One: Young people and community leaders from coast to coast take to the streets as part of SFA’s “Pulling Back the Curtain on Wendy’s” National Week of Action!

With midterm season wrapping up, the young leaders of the Fair Food Nation have been hard at work inside the classroom – and in the streets! While SFAers in over a dozen cities prepared direct actions to unveil Wendy’s disdain for farmworkers’ human rights, the fast-food chain coincidentally launched a $1 French fry deal, targeted at college students and young people. Nervous much, Wendy’s?

But Wendy’s desperate PR distractions are not fooling anyone! Last week, as part of SFA’s “Pulling Back the Curtain on Wendy’s” National Week of Action, hundreds of students and community allies — from California to New York — organized creative actions, teach-ins, and delegations, turning a spotlight on what Wendy’s is spending millions of dollars to hide from consumers: the company’s utter  failure to protect farmworkers in its supply chain from sexual assault and forced labor.

Today, we’re bringing you Part One of photos and reports gathered from SFA organizers across the country. Let’s jump right in!

Gainesville, FL

Members of CHISPAS at the University of Florida kicked off their “Boot the Braids” Week of Action with an attention-grabbing tomato bucket display at the Plaza of the Americas, one of the university’s central gathering locations. The CIW’s classic pyramid display, which has graced countless university campuses since the days of the Taco Bell Boycott, is a powerful organizing tool for drawing attention to the grueling labor and poverty behind the food we eat.

After learning about the Fair Food movement to bring dignity to the fields, it didn’t take long for students to get riled up about UF’s refusal to cut Wendy’s from its list of dining options on campus! After a week of showcasing the display on campus courtyards and back-to-back presentations by CIW’s own Leonel Perez in more than 20 classrooms, over 400 Gators learned of the “Boot the Braids” campaign and how they could play a role in bringing Wendy’s into the Fair Food Program once and for all!

Head over to the Student/Farmworker Alliance website for the full report!