A group of over 20 students marched in the rain Wednesday, holding signs and chanting slogans, “four for four, who about one penny more!”
Movimento Activista Social hosted its annual boycott of Wendy’s, due to the business’ refusal to sign the Fair Food Program that guarantees farmworkers a living wage and safer working conditions.
Wendy’s continued absence from the program means it is sourcing its produce from vendors without the legally-binding assurances made by the Fair Food Program. Wendy’s major competitors, McDonald’s and Burger King, have signed onto the program, joining in 2007 and 2008 respectively.
The importance of this event for many of the members of MAS is due to the direct connection they have to those effected by the program. Many have a keen understanding, gained either personally or through their families, of the reality of working on farms.
“Us protesting here, us boycotting, is a way to represent our lineage and to help protect and represent everyone in the United States, and anyone who works on farms,” MAS Co-President Tomas Garcia Jr. said.
Garcia’s family immigrated from Mexico to the United States and began to earn a living by working on farms.
“We are here to show them that we are passionate about the people and that people come before profit,” Garcia said. “We are here to support the farm working community.”
Many community members grabbed pamphlets from the group and asked questions. This had been a change from years past, according to Garcia, as it shows the community wanting to learn more.
Senior Yasmine Tovar, who has been attending the boycott for the past three years, said that it is amazing that people are interested in learning.
“When I was in high school, I didn’t know anything about this, and I went to Wendy’s all the time,” Tovar said. “(Once) you put in the work, you don’t go to Wendy’s after this because every time you go buy their food, that profit goes to people that keep exploiting farmworkers.”
This was the experience of two students that came from the Student Recreation Center across the street to learn more about what MAS was doing.
“I’m surprised that Wendy’s is the only one that hasn’t (signed), specifically as a fast-food chain,” sophomore Duncan Hentges said. “You’d think they all did, or they all didn’t.”
Victor Canales is an advisor for MAS and one of the organization’s founders. There were almost a dozen students that started MAS in 2008 to advocate for the rights of Latino students and farmworkers.
It was a safe space for Latino students and all students to express themselves and stand up for what’s right.
“Seeing what we started back in the day is still going on, it really gives me hope,” Canales said. “There’s always a group of students that are willing to stand up for themselves, stand up for the community.”
Canales understands that the students who organized the boycott have a stake in it. If it isn’t their families who are directly affected, someone they know is.
Before the march to Wendy’s, it began to rain, but students were unaffected.
“They started talking about rain or cold, they would still do it, and that shows the level of passion that they have for their community and for farmworkers,” Canales said. “They were willing to do this because they want to make sure that the community knows why Wendy’s is not signing.”
Daniel V. Ramirez can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @DVR_Tweets