born in action
Our Story
The spark that ignited SFA was the 230-mile March for Dignity, Dialogue and a Fair Wage from Ft. Myers to Orlando, Florida, led by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in February 2000. This march provided the opportunity for students from several Florida colleges to learn about and directly participate in the movement to end "sweatshops in the fields."
Since then, SFA has been at the forefront of a resurgent farmworker solidarity movement, organizing around the CIW's Campaign for Fair Food starting with the Taco Bell Boycott in 2001.
-
In 2005, farmworkers from the CIW and their allies scored a decisive victory in the national Taco Bell boycott. Yielding to growing nationwide pressure from the CIW, students, and other allies, Taco Bell and its parent company Yum! Brands—the world’s largest restaurant corporation—conceded to all of the boycott’s demands, agreeing to work with the CIW to improve the sub-poverty wages and miserable working conditions of farmworkers in its tomato supply chain. During the Taco Bell Boycott, 25 high schools, colleges and universities removed or prevented Taco Bell restaurants and sponsorships as part of SFA’s Boot the Bell campaign.
Following the Taco Bell victory and seeking to expand the victory's precedents to the entire tomato industry, the CIW led successful campaigns resulting in “Fair Food” agreements with McDonald's, Burger King, Whole Foods and Subway. Once again, students and youth played a vital role in this string of victories that spanned 2007-2008.
SFA returned to intensive campus organizing with the launch of the Dine with Dignity campaign in March of 2009, calling on major food service providers to take responsibility for the conditions in which the produce they serve is harvested. In just 16 months, four of the nation's leading food service companies (Bon Appétit, Compass Group, Aramark and Sodexo) agreed to work with the CIW.
These Fair Food victories and the critical mass of tomato purchasing power they represent contributed greatly to the watershed agreements reached in late 2010 between the CIW and Florida growers to expand the CIW's Fair Food code of conduct to over 90% of the Florida tomato industry.
Since then, SFAers have played key roles in victories against both Trader Joe's and Chipotle Mexican Grill. On January 16, 2014 —in a testament to the immense power built by students, farmworkers, and other allies over the course of two decades — the world's largest retailer, Walmart, also joined the Fair Food Program (FFP), ushering in the expansion of the Program beyond Florida and beyond tomatoes for the first time ever.
Now, as we have in each of the historic "Fair Food" agreements thus far, students will play an indispensable role in breaking the resistance of corporate holdouts like Wendy's and Publix: the only remaining obstacle to a future of fair wages and working conditions in the fields. On campuses across the country, students have pledged to "Boot the Braids", organizing to sever Wendy's licensing contracts until the company joins its fast food competitors as part of the FFP. Throughout the Southeast, young people have picketed, fasted, and marched on Publix stores to send a message that - at least until it commits to the FFP - the supermarket giant will never earn our generation's consumer loyalty.
In sum, SFA has been a driving force behind 14 of the largest victories against corporate greed that our generation has seen, and we're only just getting started.
Our Organizing Philosophy
how we roll
As we work for justice in the fields, we strive to create community by recognizing the transformative power of movement building. We ground our efforts in education, action and the development of student and youth leaders.
SFA is a decentralized network of diverse organizations and individuals whose actions are unified by the following principles:
-
Only farmworkers can speak for themselves. SFA is dedicated to working with farmworkers for change but we will not act on their behalf, instead taking our lead from the workers themselves. Farmworkers' daily experience of working in sweatshop conditions in the fields puts them in the best position to build movements to change those conditions—and the larger power imbalances they stem from. In turn, we take responsibility for organizing our communities to understand—and act on—our role in this movement.
Our struggles are not the same but they converge.
Both farmworkers and young consumers are objectified by the corporate food industry: farmworkers are seen as tractors that harvest raw materials cheaply while youth are seen as mouths that obediently consume branded, unsustainable products. In an increasingly polarized global economy—where the growing concentration of wealth and corporate power threatens nearly everyone—it is imperative that we unite in common struggles and create meaningful solidarity with one another.
-
Young people have a powerful voice in our communities. Historically, we have been creative and forceful catalysts for change, and today young people are at the forefront of movements throughout the world confronting injustice.
Students have a powerful voice on our campuses and can hold our educational institutions accountable for who they chose to do business with. In the words of students at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), who waged a 9-month campus-wide strike in 1999: “The University belongs to those who study in it!”
Consumers have a powerful voice with corporations that profit from worker exploitation. With this awareness, we can pierce the veil of branding and multi-billion dollar advertising budgets, disrupting business as usual for unethical corporations.
-
As a network comprised of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences, we strive to keep a focus on collective liberation at the forefront of our work so that we do not reproduce patterns of oppression. We believe that organizing according to these principles is essential to building truly democratic and effective social movements that can win systemic changes while prefiguring the type of world we want.
through the decades
Our Victories
-
![]()
April 2023
NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL ENDORSES WENDY’S BOYCOTT!
In the culmination of years of student and community organizing by New York Fair Food, nearly 90% of the New York City Council adopt Resolution 131 calling on Wendy’s – and specifically, New York-based Trian Partners and Wendy’s Board Chairman Nelson Peltz — to support farmworkers’ human rights by joining the Fair Food Program.
-
![]()
July 2022
FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ENDORSE WENDY’S BOYCOTT!
Following FGCU’s lead, FSU SFA shows its support for the Wendy’s boycott (despite not having one on campus) by helping pass a student government resolution encouraging Wendy’s to join the Fair Food Program and Wendy’s boycott.
-
![]()
November 2022
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA BOOTS WENDY’S!
Ongoing student action, city and school resolutions, and a unanimous petition finally culminate in UF’s decision to stop doing business with Wendy’s.
-
![]()
June 2022
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL BOOTS WENDY’S!
After years of student protests and pressure, UNC announces its removal of Wendy’s from campus.
-
![]()
May 2022
FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY BOOTS WENDY’S!
Following a unanimous student government petition and years of student organizing, FAU decides to not to renew its contract with Wendy’s.
-
![]()
March 2021
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ENDORSE THE WENDY’S BOYCOTT!
OSU SFA helps pass a unanimous student government resolution in support of the Wendy's boycott urging the administration to cut its contract with the corporation.
-
![]()
October 2020
FLORIDA GULF COAST UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ENDORSE WENDY’S BOYCOTT!
Despite not having a Wendy’s on campus, FGCU SFA shows its support for the boycott by helping pass a unanimous student government resolution encouraging Wendy’s to join the Fair Food Program and calling on the university not to work with the corporation until it does.
-
![]()
March 2019
RESOLUTIONS PASS IN GAINESVILLE CITY COMMISSION, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDENT GOVERNMENT & CARRBORO, NC!
The Gainesville City Commission passes a resolution encouraging Wendy’s to join the FFP, residents and businesses to support farmworkers, and UF to cut ties with Wendy’s until they do so. Soon after, UF Student Senate and FAU Student Government both pass unanimous resolutions urging their administrations to remove Wendy’s from their campuses.
At the same time, the Carrboro’s Board of Alderman in North Carolina pass resolutions encouraging Wendy’s to join the FFP and UNC-Chapel Hill to cut ties with Wendy’s.
-
![]()
February 2019
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN BECOMES THE FIRST MAJOR FLAGSHIP UNIVERSITY TO BOOT WENDY’S FROM CAMPUS!
In the lead up to this victory, the Ann Arbor City Council passes a resolution encouraging community members and UMich to boycott Wendy's. Shortly thereafter — as the result of an overwhelming student petition and a student government resolution — UMich’s Union Board of Representatives releases a powerful statement supporting the FFP and rejecting the corporation from its campus.
-
![]()
October 2018
SFA WINS ITS FIRST ENDORSEMENT OF THE WENDY’S BOYCOTT!
Located just miles from Wendy’s corporate headquarters, the Methodist Theological School in Ohio endorses the Wendy’s boycott after a unanimous vote by its Board of Trustees.
-
![]()
January 2014
WALMART JOINS THE FAIR FOOD PROGRAM!
In a testament to the immense power built by students, farmworkers, and other allies over the course of two decades, Walmart — the largest retailer in the world — joins the Fair Food Program.
-
![]()
2012
TRADER JOE’S AND CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL JOIN THE FAIR FOOD PROGRAM!
Double Victory — SFA lands a one-two punch in 2012, helping bring both TJ's and Chipotle into the Fair Food fold.
-
![]()
2009-2010
SFA BRINGS BON APPÉTIT, COMPASS GROUP, ARAMARK, AND SODEXO TO THE TABLE!
Hundreds of students across the country take up SFA’s call to demand justice in their dining halls through the campus-based “Dine with Dignity” campaign. Bon Appétit signs just weeks after launch, and within sixteen months, the three largest food service providers - Compass Group, Aramark, and Sodexo - also join the Fair Food Program.
-
![]()
May 2008
BURGER KING VICTORY!
After creative actions, petitions, tours, marches, and an unsuccessful campaign of dirty corporate tricks against CIW and SFA, Burger King fires two CEO's and reaches an agreement with the CIW.
SFA’s extraordinary organizing in this campaign victory would be named one of The Nation’s “Top Youth Activism Victories of 2008”.
-
![]()
March 2005
TACO BELL BOYCOTT VICTORY!
Four years of persistent and creative student / youth organizing alongside farmworkers — including 25 hard-fought victories in SFA’s “Boot the Bell” campaign to remove or block Taco Bell restaurants and contracts on campuses nationwide — Taco Bell becomes the first corporation to sign with the CIW.
Boot the Bell and Taco Bell victories are later awarded Mother Jones' "Campus Activism Victory of the Year."
how does our network?
Network Structure
-
Our national network is made up of any students and young people who are actively organizing around the Campaign for Fair Food. It is a decentralized network, defined by the character and creativity of a multitude of communities and drawn together by our collective commitment to follow farmworker leadership. We build our network through education and action, and — in the spirit of CIW's "Consciousness + Commitment= Change" philosophy — we believe that both consciousness and commitment are a necessary part of our movement for justice. Join our email list for network updates!
-
The Steering Committee (SC) is SFA's main organizing body, comprising a dynamic group of student leaders from around the country. SCers educate, organize, and mobilize support around the Campaign for Fair Food in their respective communities, regions and networks. Apply now at bit.ly/2026SFASC!
-
Living and working in Immokalee, the SFA national coordinators are responsible for the organization's day-to-day operations, maintaining daily communication with the CIW and regular contact with members of the national network and SFA leadership. Other staff responsibilities include: national campaign strategy; communications and graphic design; educational co-presentations and workshops; national mobilization logistics and outreach; and on-the-ground support for the farmworker community. Visit the CIW website to apply to work with us in Immokalee.
-
Working groups exist within the SFA network to help drive certain aspects of our work forward. Some are temporary, formed around specific needs like campaign research or major actions. They communicate via conference calls and group messaging and are a point of access where anyone in the network can become more involved in shaping the direction of SFA. To get involved with a working group, contact us.
Our struggles are not the same, but they converge.
