Summertime Solidarity for Unite Here Local 23

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

“The fight for sustainable food is the fight for sustainable jobs, and we need to organize ourselves” said a cafeteria worker at Georgetown Law school to a room full of workers, students and food justice advocates. She spoke at Unite Here Local 23’s “100-mile meal” last week, one of the summer events leading their new Real Food/Real Jobs campaign. With the union coming up on negotiations at five different universities in DC this fall, Local 23 spent the summer building solidarity through community film nights, visits to local farms, and shared meals that drew on the intersection between the struggle for just food and fair jobs. The Real Food/Real Jobs campaign, previously successful in Chicago’s Public Schools, will kick into gear as students head back to area campuses this fall. Click here to read more about what Local 23 has been up to this summer, and stay tuned by following @realfoodandjobs on Twitter. - photo: cafeteria workers, university students, and union staffers visiting a local farm; photos courtesy of Unite Here Local 23