NYC RALLY & STREET THEATER ON MAY 12!

why are we holding wendy’s board accountable?

Over a decade ago, farmworkers with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) created the award-winning Fair Food Program, a uniquely successful program of worker-led monitoring and enforcement that has virtually eradicated long-standing human rights abuses, from sexual assault to modern-day slavery, for tens of thousands of farmworkers under its groundbreaking protections. 

The Fair Food Program is widely recognized as the new gold standard for protecting fundamental human rights in corporate supply chains, winning acclaim from human rights observers from the United Nations to the White House. All of the largest fast-food companies — McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Taco Bell and Chipotle — joined the program a decade ago. All except Wendy’s. 

For nearly a decade, farmworkers and consumers have been demanding long- overdue justice for the women and men who harvest Wendy’s produce, but Wendy’s leaders have failed to bring the company into the Fair Food Program. And now, a group of Wendy’s very own shareholders is calling for the removal of four long-serving members of Wendy's Board of Directors, in an effort to hold the Board accountable for Wendy's failure to listen to its shareholders and adequately address its "longstanding troubling record on oversight of risks related to human rights and worker protections in its food supply chain."

“If Wendy’s leaders won’t listen to the farmworkers who pick its produce, the consumers who buy its burgers,
and now, even the shareholders who invest in its business, then it is time to change Wendy’s leaders!”

Ahead of the upcoming Wendy’s shareholder meeting, taking place on May 18, Investor Advocates for Social Justice joined forces with the widely-respected corporate watchdog Majority Action to file a devastating new analysis with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that laid out in painstaking detail the history of the failure of Wendy's Board of Directors to adequately respond to a 2021 shareholder resolution on worker protections in its food supply chain that won over 95% of the vote. The analysis concludes those failures are due to “the "disproportionate influence of Nelson Peltz and Trian Partners of Board leadership positions." 

Join farmworkers and New York City area allies on Thursday, May 12 to amplify the shareholder-led “Vote No” campaign and call on Wendy's to finally join the Fair Food Program!

host a farmworker for a presentation

CIW’s Julia de la Cruz and Gerardo Reyes Chavez will be arriving in New York City and available for presentations and events starting from April 25 - May 11. If you’re interested in hosting a farmworker leader of the CIW in your classroom, congregation or community meeting fill out this form to get on our schedule while we’re in NYC.

Have questions? Get in touch with us!

  • Natalia Naranjo, natalia@allianceforfairfood.org, 484-538-0403

  • Uriel Perez, uriel@allianceforfairfood.org, 305-305-1212