NEW YORK Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York, an employee-advocacy group likened by some to a union, is hosting an invitation-only gathering in Chicago this weekend to assess the possibility of expanding into a proponent for foodservice workers nationwide.
The gathering will feature a "discussion of what a National Movement of Restaurant Workers could look like, the needs that local groups have and the steps required to make the movement a reality," explains the invitation, which was sent to Nation's Restaurant News.
Saru Jayaraman, co-director of ROC-NY, admitted that the New York City-based group is looking to expand, but said it has no intention of becoming a union like several of the big national organizations that represent foodservice workers.
“That has never been our intention,” she said. “It is a private event, a meeting of people from around the country, an exploratory thing.”
But Jayaraman was quoted in the New York Post as saying her goal is to “organize the 99 percent of the industry that’s nonunion.”
She would not forecast how many restaurant workers would attend the event. The event is being held in collaboration with San Francisco-based Young Workers United, another labor advocacy group.
"They’re so obvious about the way they’re attempting to organize the labor of our industry," said Chuck Hunt, executive vice president of the New York City chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association. "They should at least wear the correct uniform.”
He was referring to ROC-NY's status as a nonprofit organization, as defined by section 501c3 of the federal tax codes. The group was formed in the wake of 9/11 with the stated mission of helping restaurant employees who had been displaced from their jobs by the terrorist attacks. Included in its membership were former staffers of Windows on the World, the fine-dining restaurant atop the World Trade Center that was obliterated in the catastrophe.
“It’s a little difficult to understand how ROC, which was formed as a 501c3, a charitable organization, can suddenly become a union and maintain its tax-free status," Hunt said.
The meeting in Chicago comes as ROC-NY is drawing headlines in its home city because of recent legal disputes. This week, a defamation lawsuit filed against the organization by famed chef Daniel Boulud was dropped as part of his settlement of a discrimination suit that was brought against his Daniel restaurant by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. That action accused the French-born Boulud of discriminating against non-white employees by favoring French, white staffers for promotions. ROC-NY had picketed Daniel in support of the plaintiffs, all of whom were people of color.
ROC-NY similarly has picketed other New York restaurants for allegedly mistreating their employees.
Last week, ROC-NY was sued by eight former members who contended that they were denied the stakes they'd earned by working at Colors, a restaurant set up by the organization as a co-op. Jarayaman denied that the plaintiffs had anything to do with the restaurant, which was opened to provide jobs to former employees of Windows on the World. ROC-NY is seeking to have that suit dismissed.
The suit seeks unspecified damages, reinstatement of the plaintiffs' jobs at Colors, back pay and a stake in the restaurant.
“It would seem that they took advantage of the very people they’re supposed to be advocates for,” Hunt said of the suit.