Students step up to the plate, fight side-by-side with farmworker women to end sexual violence in Wendy’s supply chain!
Right up until the final days of last spring semester, Wendy’s unconscionable decision to shift its tomato purchases to Mexico rather than participate in the Fair Food Program had students across the country up in arms. Between the historic rolling Fast for Farmworker Justice and the colorful marches on campuses and in the streets during the Return to Human Rights Tour, students and young people built a forceful wave of protest in support of the Wendy’s Boycott — and they were just getting started.
This morning, following the major announcement earlier this week of the CIW Women’s Group’s groundbreaking Harvest without Violence education and action campaign, the Student/Farmworker Alliance is calling for a national week of action, October 21-28. Here’s the full announcement from SFA:
The fall semester is in full swing, and student leaders in the SFA network are ready to take the Wendy’s Boycott into the streets — and into their university halls! Following the CIW Women’s Group’s breaking announcement this week of their new “Harvest without Violence” campaign, which calls for an end to sexual violence in Wendy’s supply chain, students and youth across the country are making moves to show up by the hundreds in solidarity with farmworker women.
On October 21, the CIW Women’s Group will hit the road for Wendy’s hometown of Columbus, OH, to exhibit the brand-new Harvest without Violence Mobile Exhibit, an interactive educational tool that exposes the brutal reality of sexual violence in agriculture — including in Mexico’s tomato industry, where abuse is met with impunity — and lifts up the Fair Food Program as a proven model for real and lasting change for farmworker women. That very same day in October, SFA will kick off a week of coordinated solidarity actions to demand that Wendy’s top executives commit to protecting the rights of farmworker women by joining the Program.
The message for Wendy’s from students is clear: we’re more than just a profitable demographic, and until you make a real, verifiable commitment to protect the dignity and safety of farmworker women, you will fail to make the grade with our generation!
This October 21-28, join SFAers across the country in calling out Wendy’s abject failure to support farmworker women in the fight to end gender-based violence in its supply chain, and in condemning universities, such as The Ohio State University, for bypassing the call to “Boot the Braids” and instead doing business with a company that chooses violence and impunity over human rights.
As you begin planning your own action, check out these creative action resources to support your local organizing. Make sure to hit us up at organize@sfalliance.org or 239-692-1482, so we can add your campus or city to the growing list of actions. And be sure to keep an eye in the coming days for even more resources, including a sample press release, outreach email and more!
Meanwhile, on the Together Live Tour…
Also this week, the CIW’s Lupe Gonzalo hit the road with New York Times bestselling authors Glennon Doyle and Luvvie Ajayi, U.S. Women’s Soccer superstar Abby Wambach, and other powerful activists, authors, athletes on the Together Live Tour! This past Tuesday, Lupe took the stage for the first time for an interview with Abby, and received a standing ovation:
The first of eight stops was followed by a wave of new Fair Food Sisters, who took to social media to show their solidarity with farmworker women, and topped off by a beautiful message from Glennon:
Stay tuned for a full report from the first stops of the Together Live Tour next week!