Vol. 80/No. 12      March 28, 2016

 

Fla. farmworkers demand pay increase from Wendy’s

 
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Despite attempts by city officials to restrict their right to protest, 300 farmworkers and their supporters demonstrated here March 12 demanding Wendy’s restaurant Chairman Nelson Peltz, who owns a mansion nearby, agree to raise the workers’ pay. Cynthia Jaquith, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate in Florida, and campaign volunteers joined the protest.

The action was organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which is conducting a boycott of Wendy’s until it agrees to pay farmworkers a penny more per pound of tomatoes they pick. Other fast-food outlets have agreed to the workers’ demand.

Lawyers for the city of Palm Beach, one of the wealthiest cities in the country, claimed a street march would endanger the local population and demanded protesters be barred from using loudspeakers, saying the decibel level of marchers should be no louder than a conversation between two individuals. They demanded sponsors pay a $10 million bond to cover any damage to the town.

In response to a challenge by the farmworkers support group, federal judge Robin Rosenberg lifted the sound restrictions, but demonstrators were forced to march on the sidewalk.

“The Socialist Workers Party campaign opposes the efforts of Palm Beach officials to restrict marchers,” Jaquith said in a statement distributed to marchers. “The SWP campaign stands with the fights of farmworkers and all workers demanding $15 and a union.”
 
 
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