[W]hen Wendy’s deflects by saying that it “considers the Fair Food Program to be an acceptable certification” among many others it accepts from its suppliers, that statement not only denies the exceptional success of the FFP, but ignores its essential nature, which is rooted in its legally-binding agreements with participating brands. The power of the FFP comes from the commitment of large retailer buyers of produce... to buy from FFP farms, enforce FFP market consequences, and pay the FFP premium. Wendy’s does none of those, and instead has chosen to allow its suppliers to pick-and-choose among conventional third-party social auditors, an approach Fordham law professor and widely-respected labor expert Jim Brudney has characterized as “little more than a sham.”

... The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the inadequacy of Wendy’s approach, as its food suppliers have had widely-publicized failures to protect worker safety... Inside the FFP, in contrast, the Program’s unique monitoring mechanisms and enforcement protocols have addressed farmworkers’ COVID-related health and safety concerns with unparalleled success, just as they have been uniquely effective in combatting sexual violence and modern slavery.

... In addition to hiding behind its Supplier Code of Conduct, Wendy’s letter further defends its failure to join the FFP by claiming that the Company is “not aware of the Fair Food Program operating in the hydroponic greenhouse industry,” from which Wendy’s says it solely sources its tomatoes. But a simple visit to the Fair Food Program website lists Farmhouse Tomatoes, a grower of hydroponic greenhouse tomatoes, as an FFP Participating Grower... [C]ontrary to Wendy’s suggestion that greenhouses’ “indoor work environment” is somehow inherently better for farmworkers, the COVID-19 pandemic confirms that the FFP is just as necessary in greenhouses as in the fields.

... In sum, there is no good reason — other than its own intransigence — stopping Wendy’s from joining the FFP and thereby becoming part of the only proven method of preventing human rights abuses in the U.S. agricultural industry.