Northwestern University dining hall workers celebrating new contract as part of the students’ living wage campaign.“They took our knives and gave us scissors to open bags of frozen food. I want my knives back so I can cook again.” That’s what a kitchen worker at a prominent university told me recently at one of a dozen of gatherings around the country convened by our union, Unite Here. The idea was to bring food service workers and college students together to discuss the intersection of food and work in anticipation of Food Day, a national day designed to “bring together Americans from all walks of life to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way.”
Unite Here, where I work as director of the Sustainable Food Project, is the largest organization in the country representing food service workers. And we’re heartened to see campus dining workers who want to cook again — to make food from scratch using real ingredients. Instead of being tasked with heating and serving processed and pre-prepared meals, they want to use their skills in the kitchen to cook food they’re truly proud to serv... Read more
