Weekend reading: labor issues in the food system
Saru Jayaraman has a new book out:
She explains what this is about in an email:
As described in this recent NY Times article, we have been documenting thousands of restaurants raising wages to a median of $13.50 plus tips nationwide in order to recruit staff. As a result, we are so close to passing One Fair Wage – a very hopeful, silver lining to emerge from several challenging years.
In this moment of incredible change, we are hoping to use my new book – One Fair Wage: Ending Subminimum Pay in America (New Press, 2021) – to call for policy that will make the increasing wages nationwide permanent.
The newsletter issued by Hunter College’s Food Policy Center (subscribe to it here) notes recent items about food workers, restaurants, and food labor:
- A Record 4.3 Million Workers Quit Their Jobs in August, Led by Food and Retail Industries (CNBC)
- Restaurant Wages Tick Higher but the Industry’s Labor Crunch Remains Intractable (CNBC)
- ‘Death of 1,000 Cuts’: Kellogg’s Workers on Why They’re Striking (The Guardian)
- Labor Strikes Target Big Food as Workers Seize on Industry Turmoil (Food Dive)
- Restaurant Criticism Was Evolving Well Before COVID-19 (The Counter)
- Food-Delivery Platforms Now Serving Ads (The Wall Street Journal)
- 22 Organizations Supporting Mental Health Along the Food Chain (Food Tank)
Comment: Now more than ever, labor issues matter. It helps to stay informed about what’s happening on the food-labor front.
