We are UNITED.
Founded after September 11, 2001, by restaurant workers displaced from the World Trade Center, Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United has grown into a national organization dedicated to achieving economic stability and thriving futures for people working in the restaurant industry. ROC United is the country’s oldest and largest restaurant workers-led organization that works to improve restaurant workers’ lives by building worker power and uniting workers of various backgrounds around shared goals and values.
Over 14 million people count on restaurant jobs to support their families. Yet, this massive workforce struggles with the lowest wages nationwide, wage theft, sexism and racism, and unsafe, harmful working conditions. Restaurant workers are two and a half times more likely to live in poverty than the general workforce. ROC United builds the power of people working in the restaurant industry to advocate for livable wages and workplaces that are fair, safe, inclusive and accessible, pathways for advancement, and equitable benefits. Our growing, diverse membership of 65,000 workers are women, people of color, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQIA community. We train and develop the leadership of our members to advocate for systemic change in their workplaces and public policy. ROC United is working toward achieving an ambitious goal of engaging 20% of the nation’s restaurant workforce by 2030.
DEI Commitment Statement
Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion across race, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, language, identity, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, perspective and experience is in our DNA. It drives us forward every day to create an environment where workers from any background and culture are safe, healthy and empowered, get their voices heard, feel welcomed, supported and valued, and are given the same opportunities.
ROC Radio: Empowering Voices in the Restaurant Industry
Unlock the power of natural hair! On this episode of ROC Radio, we unravel the transformative CROWN Act – a law reshaping workplaces and championing your right to embrace your natural self.”
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FEATURED VIDEOS
Dr. Sekou Siby shares his own 9/11 experience as one of these workers, and is joined by Alexandra Délano, Assistant Professor of Global Studies at the New School, and Benjamin Nienass, Associate Professor of Political Science and Law at Montclair State University, to highlight the stories of undocumented immigrants who died on 9/11, while discussing the complex legal processes of proving their existence and ensuring they would not be forgotten.
Former and current workers at Blaze Pizza in Stadium Village held a press conference to celebrate an anticipated settlement of over $28,000 in unpaid wages and liquidated damages. The anticipated settlement on behalf of workers is between the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights and former owners of Blaze Pizza in Stadium Village.
Hear from our Chief Program Officer, Teófilo Reyes, as he breaks down the need for a Restaurant Worker Bill of Rights and to defund the National Restaurant Association.
Deputy Secretary of Labor Julie Su discusses the gender pay gap on Equal Pay Day for Latinas.