"Food Justice is Worker Justice"

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

DC food service workers will join the Health Affordable Food for All (HAFA) coalition this Saturday, December 8 for the DC Food Future Summit. An afternoon session on “Food Justice is Worker Justice” will highlight UNITE HERE Local 23’s Real Food Real Jobs campaign, the DC Restaurant Opportunities Center, and DC Jobs with Justice’s Respect DC coalition. “Workers at all points along the food chain have an important role in building a more just and sustainable food system” says Local 23 organizer Allison Burkett, “but [these workers] currently bear the brunt of our broken food system through high rates of food insecurity, poverty, and food-related illness.” The panel, with guests from all three groups, will explore how retail, restaurant, and cafeteria workers are fighting for respect and dignity in their workplaces and building connections between worker justice and food justice movements in the District. - photo courtesy Local 23