Cheap food for diners, but at what cost?

[marmar]

from Food First:



Cheap food for diners, but at what cost?
Posted February 5th, 2012

By Anisha Hingorani


What do cooks, farm workers, restaurant hosts, dining attendants, dishwashers, and food preparation workers have in common? Not only do they make up the bulk of 9.6 million jobs in the food industry, which includes the production, processing, distribution and service of food, these jobs were also identified in a 2010 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as the lowest paying jobs in America. One may write off this inequality as stemming from the low-skilled nature of these jobs, but the findings point to the larger issue of concentration of wealth on the backs of exploited labor.

During the recent Community for Food Security Coalition Food Justice Conference in Oakland, CA, Saru Jayaraman, founder of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC-United) highlighted some startling facts about the U.S. restaurant industry; “the majority of people who cook, prepare and serve your food are doing so in poverty.” She explained that tipped-wage workers are not protected by basic federal labor laws, and that the 2011 federal minimum wage for tipped labor was $2.13. Citing examples of restaurant workers who live in homeless shelters, Jayaraman notes that most restaurants do not provide healthcare and sick leave pay, forcing workers to serve food while sick. In addition to poor wages, lack of health insurance or paid sick days, substantial discrimination exists in restaurant hiring practices. ‘The Color of Food’ a 2011 report by Applied Research Center found that ‘people of color are concentrated in low-wage jobs in the food chain,’ and have little representation in managerial positions. Sexual harassment is another prevalent problem in restaurant industry, and a study published this year for the American Economic Review claims that the food industry was the second worst for harassment complaints among women of ages 24 to 44.

The Slow Food Movement highlights the benefits of local and organic food, but fails to address underlying structural issues that keep most people from accessing healthy, nutritious foods. ROC has found that restaurants celebrated for their slow food practices do not fare any better in terms of labor conditions among food workers. Joann Lo, Executive Director of the Food Chain Workers Alliance, argues “sustainable foods should include sustainable jobs for the workers in the food system.” Restaurant owners that take extra care in ensuring their food is from local and organic sources should apply the same level of care to guarantee that their workers are fairly treated and properly paid.

These oppressive labor practices are not just limited to the restaurant sector, but pervade throughout the food service industry, including college food workers. College campus cafeterias are responsible for feeding thousands of students a day. Increasingly, the foods that these students eat is prepared by industrial food distribution companies; funneling food service workers to de-skilled and mechanized tasks of opening and heating up packages of processed food. “We want to mix sauces and make our own stocks and actually produce food with our hands versus unthawing, heating, and serving,” says LaShanda Bell, a cook at Northwestern University. Cooks like Bell who take pride in using their skills to cook nutritious foods for students are found in almost every college campus.. Predictably, these cooks, like those in restaurants, receive low wages. Unite Here, a large labor union that includes food service worker members, found the median annual salary for campus food workers of $17,176 which is below the federally mandated poverty line, and that 30% of cooks lived in food-insecure households. As a result of low wages, it should be no surprise that a disproportionate amount of workers suffers from diet-related diseases including diabetes, high-blood pressure, and heart disease. What’s worse, any attempt by these workers to speak out against poor working conditions draws immediate and heavy criticism from campus administrators. This past October, after cafeteria workers in Pomona College tried talking to students about these issues, the administration released a statement banning workers and students from talking to each other. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.foodfirst.org/en/labor+in+the+food+system

[xchrom]

1. Excellent piece. Nt

[Bluenorthwest]

2. California, Oregon, Wahsington, Nevada, Montana, Alaska, Guam and Minnesota

The States and Territories that require the same minimum wage to tipped and non tipped employees. The rest shaft them. Washington is currently at $9.04 and Oregon at $8.80 an hour. The employee keeps tips in addition to wages in those places.
Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee do not have ANY State minimum wage laws and Georgia, which exempts tipped employees from their minimum wage law entirely.
Most of the States engage in 'tip credits' to make sure employees don't make too much dragging our plates around for us.