Dozens of students, community food activists and food industry workers came out for the “Real Food, Real Jobs” march and rally, held by UNITEHERE! Local 23 yesterday at the African American Civil War Memorial on U Street. 

With chants such as “We Feed D.C., We are D.C.” and “This is what union power looks like,” participants demanded “real food and jobs” for D.C.-area food service employees and rallied to call on other unionized food services employers to follow Bon Appetit management and company’s landmark agreement with dining service workers at American University. Signed and ratified this year, this contract significantly improves working conditions and training, increases wages and improves health care benefits, which now include paid sick days. Furthermore, it paves the way for increased worker participation in campus sustainability efforts.

Through this march and rally, the D.C. labor community is hoping to raise awareness about sustainable food jobs and serving real, fresh-cooked food rather than heavily processed meals in cafeterias around D.C. “Students here are like our family,” said Christine Hamlett-Williams, a cook at American University. "We want to use our experience, use our skills and give them great food.”

UNITEHERE! Local 23 represents about 3,500 food workers in the District at institutions like universities, event venues and government offices. Since food service workers disproportionately have higher dependence on government assistance, this union is leading a movement that will bring food workers and anti-hunger and sustainability activists together, while giving its members the agency to change their own lives.

LaTonya Jackson, a worker at the Nationals Park union restaurant and a worker at the Verizon Center, thanked the union for giving her the skills to follow through with her own plans.

“Right now I’m a junior working towards my bachelor of science in social work….and like me, my 1,000-plus co-workers are carrying out their own plans, their own goals and their own aspirations. And 'Real Food, Real Jobs' is a must and a requirement because with [it], my co-workers are able to provide the community with the good available food, and we can do so happy.”

Anwar Saleem, a local H Street business owner, also came out to share some words on the importance of unions and movements like “real food and real jobs” in the fight against corporate power.

“If we small businesses are successful, then we have to make sure that you guys—the workers—are successful. And it’s the same with a corporation. If you work hard to make a large corporation a success and put them on the map, then they should do the same thing with their employees....they should make their employees successful so that they can take care of their families and feed their children. Corporations are [less] fearful when you guys are not educated and when you guys don’t know what’s going on, so I urge you to keep working with your local unions. If we’re going to fight the corporations and what they're doing to ourselves and our families, then we have to stand up for living wages, you have to stand up for your own rights and you have to stand up for real jobs and real food.”

Students from such universities as Howard, Georgetown, American and Gallaudet attended in solidarity with the people who serve them breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. And for Anna from American University, the "Real Food, Real Jobs" movement is really about understanding that as consumers, we are all complicit when a company does wrong by its workers.

“We’re all a part of this, it’s inescapable. And so as consumers, we have to work to bring change to the industry. It’s bad for everyone when the food prepared is done so under poor conditions, but at the same time, we all benefit when we have a just food system, and treating workers with respect and giving them the right tools to prepare the food we love is the first step. We have to love the hand that feeds us!”

After the rally, participants marched to the Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage to share a meal and continue sharing stories.

Read UNITEHERE!'s blog on the rally.