By FALPC Intern, Kristina Kalolo
Organic, GMO, grass-fed, free-range, natural, raw, vegan. For many consumers, these labels represent important social and environmental issues. While this is complicated but true, these categories also exist within a discourse that obscures the people behind these labels- the farmers and farmworkers who grow these foods, pick these foods, package and process these foods, distribute these foods, and serve you these foods.
The Food Chai
n Worker’s Alliance states that the food industry employs one of out of five individuals in the private sectors, only 13% of whom make a living wage. The restaurant industry alone employs 10 million workers. Of these 10 million, 80% don’t have paid sick days, 58% lack healthcare coverage, and all are 1.5 times more likely to use food stamps. Ironically, food workers in the United States experience higher levels of food insecurity than the rest of America’s workforce.
Food insecurity persists despite many individuals working more than 10 hours a day, frequently at multiple jobs to make ends meet. Regardless of this tireless work, 81% will never receive a promotion. Outraged by these conditions, documentary filmmaker Sanjay Rawal recently produced Food Chain, a film that “explores critical human rights issues in American agriculture from wage theft to modern-day slavery and exposes the powers that perpetuate these un-American violations of human dignity”. The film argues that due to isolation from urban populations, and the large numbers of undocumented workers fearful of deportation, there are over 10,000 farmworkers kept as slaves in the United States today.
Many others are taking action against these unacceptable conditions, including the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). The CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food (CFF) educates consumers on farm labor exploitation to help forge alliances that will enlist support from major corporate buyers. The Fair Food Program (FFP), praised by the United Nations and the White House, have convinced the four largest fast food companies (McDonald’s, Yum Brands, Burger King, Subway) and the three largest food service providers (Compass Group, Aramark, Sodexo) to sign their Fair Food Agreement.
The Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) also advocates for the rights of food workers, suggesting that:
- The federal minimum wage for tipped ($2.13 /hour) and non-tipped ($7.25 /hour) is increased to a livable wage.
- Workers receive paid sick leave.
- Eliminate occupational segregation- People of color, immigrants, and women constitute the vast majority of low-paying jobs. This contributes to the $4 wage between white workers and workers of color.
To make more informed decisions about the restaurants that you eat at based on the treatment of their employees, you can go to the ROC’s Restaurant Dining Guide.
Food is central to the lives and well-being of every person. Working in the food industry should not compromise that. Creating a healthier, more sustainable American food culture must include the people working for, and within, our food system.
“If you care about sustainability — the capacity to endure — it’s time to expand our definition to include workers. You can’t call food sustainable when it’s produced by people whose capacity to endure is challenged by poverty-level wages.” – Mark Bittman
