After meeting with members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami has joined the call for businesses to get on board with the Fair Food Program.

The organization is planning a five-day march that will start next week to raise awareness of the plight of farmworkers.

“With members of Coalition of Immokalee Workers who visited me to tell me about 5-day march … to Celebrate Fair Food Program,” Wenski said in a tweet this week. “Demand Wendy’s, Publix, Kroger Join in Light of Recent Forced Labor Case to join the Fair Food Program.” 

The "Build a New World: March for Farmworker Freedom" march is aimed at raising awareness to the fact that some major corporations, such as those mentioned in Wenski’s tweet, still are not adhering to the ideals of human rights protection by joining the Food Fair Program, the union said in a release. 

The CIW is an internationally acclaimed human rights organization focused on workers' rights, the group said on its website. It has introduced a novel concept called the Worker-driven Social Responsibility paradigm, which is a worker-led, market-driven strategy that prioritizes safeguarding human rights in corporate supply chains. The organization is also renowned for its success in combating human trafficking and gender-based violence at work. 

The national Campaign for Fair Food by CIW aims to inform consumers about the problem of farm labor exploitation, its underlying causes and potential solutions, and fostering alliances between farmworkers and consumers; the website said. By harnessing the purchasing power of major corporate buyers, the campaign has successfully secured Fair Food Agreements with 14 multibillion-dollar food retailers such as Walmart, McDonald’s, Whole Foods, and more, since 2001. These agreements have helped establish improved labor standards and fairer wages for farmworkers, achieved through a combination of innovative actions and advanced online organizing techniques.

Outside of the Fair Food Program, farmworkers face a range of human rights violations, such as wage theft, modern-day slavery, and sexual harassment and abuse; the CIW said. The March for Farmworker Freedom will raise more awareness of human rights violations. 

The walk will start Tuesday and will conclude with a grand finale on Saturday at Lake Drive Park, 500 Brazilian Ave, Palm Beach, Fla. Anyone interested in participating in the march can register online.