In January 2020, members and staff of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and the Investor Alliance for Human Rights visited Immokalee, Florida to meet with and learn from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) about their Fair Food Program (FFP), established in 2011. Fourteen companies – including Burger King, McDonald’s, Whole Foods, and Walmart – have now signed onto the FFP and its legally binding commitments.
ICCR and the Investor Alliance work closely with civil society groups to ensure that investors’ corporate engagement strategies are accountable to impacted people and communities. This visit helped bring this commitment into action by modeling a meaningful approach for investors to take in engaging with rights-holders. The delegation met with CIW and FFP staff, growers, and farmworkers to hear about their experiences with the program, the benefits it provides, and how it has transformed the lives of farmworkers, their families, and their communities.
Investors have a long history of engaging with companies on respect for human rights and responsible supply chains. Throughout this history, it has been clear that a ‘top-down’ corporate auditing approach has not sufficiently improved working conditions in fields and factories producing for large brands and retailers. The FFP is transformational because workers are at the center. They are the principal architects of the program, with their experiences as the frontline monitors of their own rights—backed up by the possibility of binding and enforceable market consequences at the end of the supply chain if those rights are violated—driving change in basic working conditions and the establishment of an environment where they are treated with dignity and respect… (read more)
Investors’ letter to Wendy’s:
Mr. Nelson Peltz
Chairman of Wendy’s Corporation
Trian Partners
280 Park Ave
New York, NY 10017
Dear Mr. Peltz,
The undersigned investors, many of whom are or represent Wendy’s shareholders, have recently participated in a delegation visit to Immokalee, Florida and are now writing to urge Wendy’s to join the Fair Food Program (FFP). As we witnessed throughout our visit, the FFP has transformed the lives of farmworkers, their families, and their communities. It is successful and accountable because it is driven by worker-led solutions, and it provides certainty that workers are protected from abuse, violations of law, and the violation of their human rights. If abuse does take place, there is a proven and effective accountability and remediation process embedded in the FFP.
We recognize that Wendy’s has its own Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, Supplier Code of Conduct, and related programs in place. However, this is not enough. The role of workers in developing the FFP’s specific Code of Conduct and in monitoring and implementing that Code is unique, and this role has been identified as the primary factor that makes this model effective. In the absence of a meaningful worker-driven model, it is impossible for Wendy’s to know that its policies are working to achieve the company’s stated goals and maintain compliance with legal and human rights expectations. The FFP includes a dedicated team of experts through the Fair Food Standards Council that audits the FFP’s Code and maintains a 24/7 grievance hotline. Through on-site investigations, interviews with workers, and corrective action plans, an impressive 52% of complaints are resolved within 2 weeks and 79% within a month...
