For nearly a decade, the CIW has been calling on Wendy’s to join the Fair Food Program – the leading human rights program in the country for ensuring farmworkers have access to safe, healthy and respectful working conditions. For nearly a decade, Wendy’s has refused. If this pandemic has taught us anything, however, it is that the health of multi-billion dollar brands at the top of the supply chain, like Wendy’s, is inextricably tied to the health of the millions of low-wage workers at the bottom.
Farmworkers who have worked on both Fair Food Program farms and on farms outside the program describe the difference as “night and day.” In normal times, that difference is an outrage that demands remedy; during a pandemic, it could be the difference between life and death. Simply put, Wendy’s can no longer afford to turn its back on the most respected human rights program in the US agricultural industry, because the stakes today are just too high.
Earlier this month, news broke that nearly 200 farmworkers harvesting strawberries, tomatoes, and other produce in upstate New York for the greenhouse giant Green Empire Farms tested positive for COVID-19, becoming overnight the largest coronavirus outbreak in upstate New York. Green Empire Farm is owned by Mastronardi Produce of Canada, which is one of the largest greenhouse suppliers in North America and, according to an article from 2019, appears to be one of Wendy’s own greenhouse suppliers.
Instead of finding excuse after excuse not to join the Fair Food Program, isn’t it time for Wendy’s to partner with the CIW and invest in real, enforceable health, safety, and human rights standards in its supply chain? It’s not just the workers’ health on the line. It’s Wendy’s, too.
