• Restaurant Opportunities Center of Los Angeles (ROC-LA)

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    WHO WE ARE: ROC-LA is a local restaurant workers’ org founded in 2010 that has over 300 restaurant worker members. We build power and voice for restaurant workers in three major ways:

    1.     Workplace Justice Campaigns – We support restaurant workers in the Los Angeles area whose face injustice in their restaurant workplace. For more information, please attend a regular orientation on the following dates. If you cannot attend at the following dates and times, please call us at 213.380-1020

    New Member Orientations: Every Monday at 1:00 pm, Please call to RSVP!

    2.     Promoting the High Road to Profitability – We partner with over 10 responsible restaurant owners in the Los Angeles area to promote best management practices. We work with small casual restaurants, family style restaurants, and fine fining restaurants.  We also partner with them to offer our restaurant worker members with FREE restaurant training and job placement services, to help restaurant workers advance to livable wage jobs in the industry. We offer the following classes:

    - Introduction to Fine Dining Restaurant Customer Service
    - Advanced Fine Dining Serving and Bartending

    3.     Research & Policy work – We have conducted the most comprehensive research available on the local Los Angeles area restaurant industry. Our members were trained to conduct more than 562 surveys of their fellow workers. We also conducted more than 33 employer interviews. We published all of this information in our local policy report, Behind the Kitchen Door: Inequality & Opportunity in Los Angeles, the Nation’s Largest Restaurant Industry. The report was featured in the following local media outlets:

    LA WEEKLY: Behind the Kitchen Door: ROC-LA Report Reveals Restaurant Industry Inequality

    LA Times: New study expected to paint bleak picture of how L.A. restaurant workers are treated

    The GLUTSTER: Behind The Kitchen Door: A Surprising Look At The Working Conditions Of Restaurant Workers

    LA Progressive: Behind the Kitchen Door 

    Through this report, our members discovered that priority issues for restaurant workers in the Los Angeles area are paid sick days, lack of health care, and minimum wage. 

    4.     Other services for members:

    Becoming a member of ROC-LA has its privileges, including:

    - Enroll in ROC M.D. – an affordable health care plan for only $25 per month
    - Network with other restaurant workers and employers
    - Access to low- to no-cost attorneys to help with other needs including housing, employment, discrimination, and immigration
    - Access to 8-week job training courses including: Intro to Restaurant Fine Dining Customer Service, Advanced Fine Dining Serving, and Advanced Bartending
    - Access to monthly restaurant job bulletins with good places of employment
    - Peer resume review and interview skills workshops

    To learn more, attend one of our new member orientations every Monday at 1:00 pm.

    CONTACT US:

    Phone:(213) 380-1020

    Address: 1730 West Olympic Blvd, 3rd Floor Room K, Los Angeles, CA 90015

    Stephanie Cho (Lead Coordinator)  Email: scho@rocunited.org

    Mariana Huerta (Policy Coordinator)  Email: mariana@rocunited.org

    Natalia Rodriguez (High Road Coordinator) Email: natalia@rocunited.org