The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC) is a
not-for-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
and
worker center
Worker centers are non-profit community-based mediating organizations that organize and provide support to communities of low wage workers who are not already members of a collective bargaining organization (such as a trade union) or have been lega ...
with affiliates in a number of cities across the United States. Its mission is to improve wages and working conditions for the nation's low wage restaurant workforce. Its tactics and strategy have drawn fire from business groups and restaurant industry lobbyists.
History
The group was founded with funding from multiple foundations with a stated goal to “organize all unorganized restaurant workers in New York City.”
ROC-NY was founded by immigration attorney
Saru Jayaraman
Sarumathi "Saru" Jayaraman (born April 3, 1975) is an American attorney, author, and activist from Los Angeles, California. She is an advocate for fair wages for restaurant workers and other service workers in the United States. In the afterma ...
and
Windows on the World
Windows on the World was a complex of dining, meeting, and entertainment venues on the top floors (106th and 107th) of the North Tower (Building One) of the original World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan.
It included a restaurant called ...
waiter Fekkak Mamdouh and other restaurant workers who survived the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
on the
World Trade Center
World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association.
World Trade Center may refer to:
Buildings
* List of World Trade Centers
* World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
in 2001
to provide support for the displaced workers, including undocumented immigrants. These workers had worked in restaurants in the WTC, including in the
Windows on the World
Windows on the World was a complex of dining, meeting, and entertainment venues on the top floors (106th and 107th) of the North Tower (Building One) of the original World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan.
It included a restaurant called ...
restaurant located on its top floors.
[The Real News Network, 11 November 2011]
"9/11 Survivors Create Worker Owned Restaurants 9/11: Restaurant worker survivors open fair wage businesses"
/ref>
Jayaraman is the author of Behind the Kitchen Door (2013) and Forked (2016). The first book, Behind the Kitchen door, follows the lives of restaurant workers in eight American cities, seeking to call attention to their low wages, along with unfair labor practices, exploitation, and unsanitary kitchen practices. The second book profiles restaurants that are doing right by their employees by providing fair compensation and benefits.
Mamdouh is the co-author, with Rinku Sen
Rinku Sen is an Indian-American author, activist, political strategist and the executive director of Narrative Initiative. She is also the co-president of the Women’s March Board of Directors. Sen is the former president and executive director ...
, of The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Era of Global Immigration (2008), a book that argues for a free flow of international labor to match globalization’s free flow of capital.
The March 2013 announcement by Richard L. Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, that organized labor would work more closely with groups focusing on aid immigrant workers is one factor in the decision by business groups to target ROC.
Activities
ROC conducts workplace campaigns to encourage restaurant owners to increase wages and improve working conditions for employees. ROC provides free training in many areas of restaurant work for restaurant workers and workers seeking employment in most of its chapters.
In early 2012, ROC launched its "Dignity at Darden" campaign, targeting what it alleged to be discrimination and wage theft
Wage theft is the failing to pay wages or provide employee benefits owed to an employee by contract or law. It can be conducted by employers in various ways, among them failing to pay overtime; violating minimum wage, minimum-wage laws; the miscl ...
by Darden Restaurants
Darden Restaurants, Inc. is an American multi-brand restaurant operator headquartered in Orlando. As of January 2022, the firm owns two fine dining restaurant chains: Eddie V's and The Capital Grille; and six casual dining restaurant chains: O ...
, which owns and operates such chains as Olive Garden
Olive Garden is an American casual dining restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine. It is a subsidiary of Darden Restaurants, Inc., which is headquartered in Orange County, Florida. As of 2012, Olive Garden restaurants accounted ...
, LongHorn Steakhouse
LongHorn Steakhouse is an American casual dining restaurant chain owned and operated by Darden Restaurants, Inc., headquartered in Orlando, Florida. As of 2016, LongHorn Steakhouse generated $1.6 billion in sales in its 559 locations.
History
...
and Capital Grille
The Capital Grille is an American restaurant chain of upscale steakhouses owned by Darden Restaurants. The brand has locations in twenty-five U.S. state, states, the District of Columbia, and Mexico City.
History
The original Capital Grille w ...
. ROC members and staff appeared at Darden's 2012 annual shareholder's meeting to advance their complaints. ROC dropped the lawsuit in mid-2012.
In 2013, ROC United launched it
One Fair Wage
campaign - a policy that would increase the tipped minimum wage to the minimum wage and allow tipping practices to remain in place. In 2019, the One Fair Wage campaign split off from ROC United and became its own non-profit with Jayaraman and Mamdouh leaving ROC United to lead the new non-profit.
Since the split in 2019, ROC has returned to its roots of workplace organizing, local policy work, and workforce development. In 2020, ROC United raised aroun
to support unemployed & underemployed restaurant workers during the height of the pandemic. Some of those campaigns include th
Caribou Coffee Workers United
campaign, th
paid sick days campaign in Pittsburgh, PA
and th
Strategic Hospitality legal settlement
in Nashville, TN.
Research
The organization also undertakes research on the state of the food industry with a special focus on issues that affect food workers. ROC's more than 3
published reports
have bee
widely cited and covered by media
Expansion
Since its founding, ROC has expanded to 10 cities across the country with thousands of members.
References
{{Reflist, 30em, refs=
Sources
Big Labor Gambles on Restaurant Opportunity, ''Washington Examiner''
House Probes New York Restaurant Group, ''New York Post''
"Restaurant Union Serving Up Protests," Fox News
"Protesters Briefly Block Supply Entrance," ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''
External links
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United website
Organizations based in New York City
Organizations established in 2002
2002 establishments in the United States