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.