On April 15, 50 students and community allies lead by the Ohio State Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) gathered to deliver a message to the Wendy’s location on campus in the Wexner Medical Center: that they will not tolerate OSU’s continued business with Wendy’s; a company which refuses to support farmworkers in their supply chain.
As readers of The Free Press recall, Columbus has become the epicenter of a national effort to have Wendy’s join its fast food competitors and join the acclaimed “Fair Food Program”, a partnership between farmworkers represented by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), farmers, and 12 multinational corporations which guarantees farmworkers a substantial wage increase and provides an enforceable Code of Conduct outlining rights routinely absent in agricultural labor. Of the top five fast-food corporations in the nation -- McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, Subway, and Wendy's -- Wendy's is the only one not participating in the Fair Food Program.