We’ve heard an awful lot in the last few years about what’s happening to our food before it arrives on our plate. But little focus has been paid to what’s happening to the people who put the food on the plate. Thanks to a number of organizations, that’s about to change.
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United is releasing a new book in 2013 – called, Behind the Kitchen Door: What Every Diner Should Know About the People Who Feed Us – which exposes of working conditions in the restaurant industry through the lives of workers across the country. From poverty wages to lack of sick days to wage theft and discrimination, it puts a powerful spotlight on the injustices that are rampant in this industry. Later this week ROC is releasing a trailer to promote the book – stay tuned.
According to the Food Chain Workers Alliance almost 20 million people work in the U.S. food system. This includes farms, food processing and meatpacking plants, grocery stores, and restaurants. The food system workforce is equal to one-sixth of the nation’s workforce, and the industries collectively sell over $1.8 trillion dollars in goods and services annually.
That’s why the Alliance is holding a Food Workers & Food Justice Conference this week in New York City – an important gathering of advocates, workers, and labor organizations.
The conference will also include the release of the FCWA report THE HANDS THAT FEED US: Challenges and Opportunities for Workers Along the Food Chain – the first-ever comprehensive report on the state of food workers in the U.S. – and wor kers will speak about how the report reflects their own experiences working in the food system.