Sarai Chavarria yelled “Boycott Wendy’s!” as she marched Friday.
The UF history senior walked from Norman Field to the Reitz Union with more than 120 other people to boycott Wendy’s. The fast-food company has not signed onto the Fair Food Agreement, which would require it to pay Florida farmers an extra penny per pound of tomatoes.
The Coalition of Hispanics Integrating Spanish Speakers through Advocacy and Service, or CHISPAS, is a student group that educates others about issues facing immigrant communities. CHISPAS partnered with The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a human rights organization, to organize the march, Chavarria said.
Members of the CIW stopped in Gainesville as part of a 10-day Workers’ Voice tour to educate students about Wendy’s, she said. In addition to Florida, the CIW has also gone to Ohio, Kentucky and New York on its tour.
The club held the march to pressure Wendy’s to sign the agreement, the 25-year-old said. Four of the top five major fast-food companies, including McDonald’s and Burger King, have signed.
“It’s important that students are involved because they are consumers,” Chavarria said. “Without knowing the issues, they themselves are exploiting the farmworkers.”
The agreement would ensure safe working conditions and provide workers a bonus, according to the CIW website.
Wendy’s would be the last of the top five companies to join, Chavarria said.
She said it’s important for students to stand with Immokalee workers. Students can tell Wendy’s to join the agreement by refusing to spend their money there and boycotting.
“If we don’t help the communities that need it the most, then it doesn’t say much about our democracy that we have in this country,“ Chavarria said.
Leonel Perez, a part-time employee at the CIW and a farm worker, came to Gainesville for the march.
“Students are consumers,” said Perez, in an interview translated from Spanish. “They have a big voice in demanding fair foods.”
Perez said he has seen many positive changes in the agriculture industry as more companies sign the agreement.
Karla Avila, a UF criminology and law sophomore, said that as a Latina, she feels strongly about farm workers’ rights.
Avila said students should know that not all people earn a minimum wage. The federal minimum wage is $7.25, but she said she has met field workers who earn $6 an hour.
She said farm workers are trying to achieve a better life but struggle with the low wages.
“We come to this country trying to pursue the American dream, and sometimes the system just doesn’t comply,” the 20-year-old said.
