As the basic human rights of so many are being challenged across the country, it is now more important than ever that we protect the human rights gains we’ve won and struggle together to push them forward. And as the year comes to a close, allies across the Fair Food Nation will take a stand on Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, by sending letters to Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor to call on him to bring the final fast food holdout into the Fair Food Program.
The Fair Food movement is fundamentally a human rights movement, broad and inclusive of immigrant rights, labor rights, women’s rights, and even consumer rights. Indeed, this is the right to demand that, in the 21st century, food corporations no longer turn a blind eye to abuses in their supply chains, but use the power of the market to help fix the poverty and exploitation that their purchasing policies have driven for so long.
Wendy’s refusal to join the Fair Food Program-- called “one of the great human rights success stories of our day” in the Washington Post for its achievements in transforming the U.S. agricultural industry -- continues to pose one of the largest threats to the protection and expansion of basic rights for thousands of farmworkers. Wendy's recent response to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, published on their Corporate Social Responsibility blog in October, misconstrues completely the function of the Fair Food Program and worse, extolls their decision to purchase from farms in Mexico where there have been well-documented human rights abuses.
So this Human Rights Day, Saturday Dec. 10, take action by writing a letter to Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor calling on him to bring the final fast food holdout to the table and into the Fair Food Program.
In this letter-writing guide, you’ll find more information, talking points, and instructions about where and how to mail your letter to Wendy’s CEO. The guide also includes ideas for engaging your congregations, families, and communities in writing letters to Mr. Penegor and flooding his mailbox with our movement’s clarion call for justice. These include creative ways to amplify the letters’ impact by arranging deliveries of letter copies to local Wendy’s restaurants.
Wendy’s and CEO Todd Penegor must respect the human rights of the farmworkers in its supply chain, or else continue to face a growing national boycott.
Write us at organize@allianceforfairfood.org if you plan to participate on Dec. 10!