The Food Chain Workers Alliance (FCWA), a coalition of worker groups representing restaurant workers, farm laborers, meat processing plant employees, street vendors and warehouse employees, is organizing a large scale labor strike on May 1, International Workers' Day.
According to BuzzFeed News, over 300,000 non-union food chain workers and tens of thousands of unionized service workers will be participating in the demonstration.
“The vital labor of food workers feeds communities across this country. Yet, our jobs are some of the lowest paid in the nation and we struggle to put food on our own families’ tables,” declared the FCWA in a Facebook post announcing the strike. “We will not sit by as families are shattered by immigration raids, [native] sovereignty is violated, Muslims are banned, and [black] and [brown] communities face even more criminalization, trans people excluded and while corporate [interests] drive down wages, safety protections, organizing rights and rapidly destroy the environment. On this international day of action, we strike for dignified jobs for all.”
What will the strike look like? Echoing February's strike by bodega owners in New York, workers are encouraged to stay home from work and school and avoid buying anything that day. The FCWA is also crowdfunding a hardship fund to help low-income workers who can't afford to take a day off.
Restaurant Opportunities Center United, a labor group that helped organize last month's immigrant strike, and the SEIU United Service Workers West will also be participating.