ROC-LA is selling shirts!

 

We're selling our new shirts! The shirts are from No-Sweat Apparel and they look awesome. And we've got a wide variety of sizes: Youth L, women's ribbed M/L/XL, Men's S/M/L/XL (E-mail Cathy to indicate size at cathy@rocunited.org). They're going for $15. You can buy one off Paypal or you can mail a check for $19 ($15 for the shirt, $4 for shipping) to us at

ROC-LA c/o MALDEF
634 S. Spring Street, #614,

Los Angeles, CA 90014

Make sure to let us know in your order what size you'd like. Please support us by rocking a ROC-LA shirt!

Report Release and Summit

Valentine's Day 2011 was an extremely exciting day for ROC-LA and all ROC affiliates. We released our first report, a comprehensive industry study of Los Angeles' restaurant industry, along with two ROC affiliates in Washington, D.C. and Miami, who also had reports for their cities. In other ROC affiliates including Chicago, NY, Detroit, and New Orleans, legislative visits to Congressional members were made to advocate for H.R. 634, WAGES Act, to increase the tipped minimum wage.  Our national day of action all took place on the same day to bring attention to the extremely low federal tipped minimum wage of $2.13. Although Valentine’s Day is the highest grossing day of the year for restaurants, many Los Angeles restaurant workers earn less than a median wage of $9.24. Can you live off $9.24 an hour or $15,000 a year while supporting a family? Despite the economic recession, the restaurant industry is growing. The National Restaurant Association recently reported earning $604 billion GDP! The living wage is possible and the industry is able to take the high road to profitability.

ROC-LA's report release at our Restaurant Industry Summit had a great turnout! 150 people showed up at Taix French Restaurant and the crowd was excited to hear about working conditions in LA's restaurants.

Our keynote speaker was Thomas A. Saenz, President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund. Our panelists included Abel Valenzuela, Jr., Director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Urban Poverty, Robert Gottlieb, Director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute of Occidental College, and co-author of Food Justice; and Jamie Dolkas, staff attorney at Equal Rights Advocates. We also had Jason Michaud, owner and chef of Local Restaurant in Silver Lake; Luis Hernandez, back of the house restaurant worker, and Nora Garcia, front of the house restaurant worker.

Behind the Kitchen Door: Inequality & Opportunity in Los Angeles, the Nation's Largest Restaurant Industry is the most comprehensive report ever conducted on the state of the restaurant industry in the County of Los Angeles. The report is based on over 562 surveys of restaurant workers and over 60 in-depth interviews with employers and workers, as well as government data analysis conducted with primary research support from UCLA’s Center for the Study of Urban Poverty.

Here's a link to download our full report or grab our shorter executive summary.

Some of our recommendations from the report are:

- Provide paid sick days and increase the minimum wage
- Incentivize high road practices and promote model employer practices
- Promote opportunity, penalize discrimination
- Combat sexual harassment
- Enforce health and safety laws
- Protect worker's right to organize
- Expand and improve bus services
- Expand LA's living wage ordinance to include restaurants that contract with the City of Los Angeles
- Support further industry research

On the same day, CA Assemblymember Fiona Ma reintroduced the Paid Sick Days Bill (AB 400) so workers in CA could earn and use paid sick days for personal illness, to care for a sick family member, or to recover from domestic violence or sexual assault. ROC-LA is part of a coalition to get this bill passed in the legislature and we're really working hard on this issue publicized and passed.

We had a lot of help putting the report and the summit together. ROC-LA wants to thank you all!

Here is just some press coverage of our summit. We'll keep updating this list so leave us a comment if you find any other articles.
- Daily Dish, LA Times Food Blog - New study expected to paint bleak picture of how L.A. restaurant workers are treated
- Squid Ink LA Weekly Food Blog - Behind the Kitchen Door: ROC-LA Report Reveals Restaurant Industry Inequality
- Colorlines - Don't Just Tip Your Waiter. Demand Equity for Restaurant Workers
- Grub Street - New Restaurant Labor Study Aims For The Heart of L.A.'s Dining Industry
- Notimex - Muestran en EUA complicado panorama para empleados de restaurantes
- Science Blogs
- LA Progressive - Behind the Kitchen Door

ROC-LA on Voices from the Front Line

Update: Here's a link to the audio archived interview. 

ROC-LA's Co-coordinator Mariana Huerta and ROC-United's co-director Saru Jayaraman talk about our Feb. 14th summit and ROC-LA's new report on the LA Restaurant industry. Thanks Voices from the Front Lines!

Check out ROC-LA on Voices from the Front Line tomorrow, TUESDAY, @ 4pm on 90.7KPFK. We'll be talking about our upcoming release of our report, Behind the Kitchen Doors: Inequality and Opportunity in Los Angeles, the Nation's Largest Restaurant Industry. Stay tuned! 

ROC's Affordable Health Insurance Plan

Nearly 90% of restaurant workers do not have health insurance. This leads to a large number of restaurant workers relying on emergency care as a form of healthcare.

ROC-United partnered with Aetna Health Insurance to develop an affordable health insurance plan for restaurant workers. The plan was selected by a group of restaurant workers from several ROC locals to offer low-cost access to a nationwide network of doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies and provides limited medical coverage.

Why should restaurant workers purchase this plan?

• Having the health insurance plan encourages restaurant workers to practice preventative care, which save costs in the long-run for the worker and to taxpayers. 
• Prevents chronic conditions from developing.
• This health insurance covers costly tests that workers would have to fork out hundreds of dollars otherwise. 

Single members, members +1, and families can be covered. For single members, the plan cost $35 per week with a total of $140 per month and a deductible of $100.  Co-pays are only $10 for retail clinic and $20 in-network. There are also coverage options for vision, dental, accident, hospital, and cancer.


This plan is not for workers who have chronic illnesses or need comprehensive services. However, we can help workers find other options.

Please contact ROC-LA if you have questions: infoROCLA@rocunited.org.