They've had some major successes: McDonald's, Taco Bell, WalMart, Whole Foods — all of which now pay a penny more for every pound of tomatoes workers pick and have signed onto CIW's Fair Food Program, which helps protect workers from abuse.
But, as we wrote about last month, some stubborn retailers remain. At the moment, the coalition's big target is fast food giant Wendy's, and members of the group recently debarked from a tour of some eastern states to help spread public awareness of their plight.
Wendy's, they say, hasn't budged.
But university students are joining the fight, including nearly two dozen from Tampa Bay area schools.
More than 20 from University of South Florida, University of Tampa and Eckerd College are participating in "rolling" fast efforts to draw attention to the plight of workers and some corporations' unwillingness to take steps that would make them able to guarantee their ingredients are ethically sourced.
Local students started their three-day fasts on Monday, and will likely break them on Wednesday night to coincide with a demonstration outside a Wendy's store at 1615 W. Kennedy Boulevard, which is right near the UT campus.
“Wendy’s refusal to join a proven solution to farmworker poverty and abuse is unacceptable,” USF student Sarah Zaharako said in a written statement. “We’re fasting to support the Wendy’s boycott and current student campaigns to cut Wendy’s contracts until the fast food holdout joins the Fair Food Program, because consumers have the power to bring Wendy’s to the table. In the end, the struggle for farmworker rights is part of the greater struggle for human rights.”
Other such student fasting events across the country include a seven-day fast four Vanderbilt University in Tennessee started on Monday morning, a five-day fast by five students at the New College of Florida in Sarasota last week, one by students at the University of Michigan and one by 19 Ohio State University students. OSU students are hoping their university's administration will not renew the lease of a Wendy's franchise currently operating on campus.
Wednesday's Tampa demonstration will take place at 7 p.m.
This article appears in Apr 13-20, 2017.