This week I’ve been writing about the National Restaurant Association (the other NRA) and why we should care about food workers, in part to bring attention to the new book Behind the Kitchen Door by labor advocate Saru Jayaraman. Today I want to offer practical resources for how to help improve the lives of the 20 million food workers who help us put food on our own tables every day.
This week, with the release of Saru Jayaraman’s new book, Behind the Kitchen Door, I’ve been writing about the powerful influence of the National Restaurant Association, for example, in lobbying against paid sick days for workers. Sadly, most of my colleagues in public health and the good food movement don’t pay enough attention to the many injustices workers face every day. So here is my attempt to help correct that situation.
This week, food labor advocate Saru Jayaraman is releasing her new book, Behind the Kitchen Door, which relates heartbreaking stories of just some of the 10 million restaurant workers in the U.S. In a chapter called, Serving While Sick, she tells the disturbing tale of a fast-food worker who had no choice but to come to work with a bad cold since she couldn’t afford to go unpaid. When this worker tried to explain to her manager how perhaps handling food while coughing and sneezing was not such a good idea, she was laughed at. She later wondered how many customers she got sick that day because she couldn’t leave the counter every time she needed to wipe her nose.
I am pleased to take part in this panel on March 7 and the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim.
GMO Labeling: Where Are We Now?
Washington State, the National FDA Just Label It Effort, and Lessons Learned from Prop 37
Thursday, March 7, 2013, 8:30 – 9:30 a.m, Anaheim Marriott Hotel, Platinum Ballroom 1
After submitting 350,000 signatures, GMO labeling advocates are rallying to support I-522, the People’s Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act, in Washington State. I-522, one of a handful of state initiatives calling for GMO labeling, is considered one of the best chances for GMO labeling in 2013.
Learn how you can support this effort, along with lessons learned from California’s Prop 37 and what’s happening on a national level to require labeling of genetically engineered foods, from a panel of speakers and industry leaders deeply involved in these efforts.
Speakers
Moderator
For information and to contribute, contact Steve Hoffman, on behalf of The People’s Right to Know campaign. steve@compassnatural.com, tel 303.807.1042. As a grassroots political organization, Label It WA depends on you. Visit www.labelitwa.org.
