If you are one of the employers of the over 13.5 million restaurant workers in America, you better make sure you are running a clean, tight ship. A pre-organizing campaign is ramping up, starting in 4 major cities: Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago, and Portland, Maine.
The Restaurant Opportunities Center is launching “ workplace justice campaigns” in these cities, patterned after the original campaign in New York City that occurred shortly after the 9/11 catastrophe. Although the ROC is not a union, their activities can be a precursor to union organizing campaigns, and unions have had a hand in helping set up local ROCs.
The restaurant industry is one of the largest and fastest growing in the country, and is largely non-union. With so many sectors in the American economy stymied or in decline, this fat fish is too juicy of a target for Big Labor to long ignore. And as fourth-generation Deluth restaurant owner Chris Wisocki discovered, having to deal with a contentious union during a recession could be the straw that breaks the camels back.
