Wendy’s shareholders overwhelmingly vote for social responsibility, human rights…
Dear John,
Several months ago, the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, NY filed a shareholder resolution demanding transparency into Wendy’s social responsibility efforts. The resolution was filed in response to Wendy’s refusal to join the Fair Food Program, and specifically in response to Wendy’s claims that its social responsibility efforts are sufficient to justify the hamburger giant’s decision to turn its back on the FFP, the gold standard for human rights in the U.S. produce industry today, the program that virtually all of Wendy’s fast-food competitors joined over a decade ago.
Despite Wendy’s best efforts to block the resolution — called one of the 13 “most important ESG resolutions” of 2021 in the pages of the Financial Times — from this year’s ballot, shareholders were able to vote to support or reject the Sisters’ resolution at the annual meeting held online on Tuesday of this week.
Ahead of the vote, supporters of the resolution, including the CIW, addressed the meeting via a 3-minute, pre-recorded audio. Kerry Kennedy, Executive Director of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, shared this powerful message: “I know that Wendy’s wants to be a leader in the ESG space. But if ESG means anything, it means that when a proven solution like the Fair Food Program exists, adopting it should be a foregone conclusion. If you’re not FFP, you’re not ESG.”
After the proponents of the resolution were done speaking, Wendy’s provided its own begrudging statement recommending shareholders vote yes, too, having made that unorthodox and unexpected move after its efforts to oppose the resolution before the Securities and Exchange Commission were rebuffed.
With all the arguments presented, it was time to announce the results of the vote, and… the resolution passed! Though no numbers were provided on the day of the shareholder meeting, the next day Wendy’s shared the actual results of the vote: 95.28% of shareholders voted in favor of the resolution — a landslide.
The message from the shareholders to Wendy’s was unequivocal: It is time for real social responsibility. It is time Wendy’s join the Fair Food Program.
