We are stronger together. Join and help us ensure that the voices of essential restaurant workers are heard.
This fight is our fight.
Living wages. Better working conditions. Racial and gender equity. Safe, fair and healthy workplace.
We are UNITED.
Founded after Sept. 11, 2001, as a worker relief center for affected restaurant workers and their families, ROC United has grown into a national organization, activating more than 500,000 restaurant workers, employers, allies, and consumers across the country.
As a multiracial, multicultural workplace justice organization, we believe that working people should be provided with livable wages and workplaces that are fair, safe, inclusive and accessible, and where they receive living wages, pathways for advancement, and benefits for themselves and their families.
We believe that the organized collective voice and collective action of workers is essential for change and power within our democracy. Worker-driven and worker-led, our work focuses on responses and solutions to workplace injustice and economic inequality.
At the Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United, diversity, equity and inclusion define, decide and determine who we are, why we exist and how we serve. They are fundamental—not optional—to our work. They are central to our purpose and engagement to build power and establish a restaurant industry that treats restaurant workers with dignity and respect.
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.
WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH —
CELEBRATING WOMEN IN THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY
As we commemorate Women’s History Month, starting with International Women’s Day this week, ROC United salutes the women who have devoted their lives to fight for restaurant workers. For dignity, respect and empowerment.
COVID Impact Report
Restaurant workers—the majority of whom are women, immigrants and disproportionately workers of color—continue to bear the brunt of the pandemic. The findings in this nationwide survey of over 1,000 restaurant workers validate the severe effects of the pandemic on restaurant workers’ lives, and help explain why restaurants continue to struggle with staffing as the economy reopens. The survey was initially conducted in the fall of 2020, with a follow-up survey in late 2021. The complete findings of the survey will be released on February 10, 2022.
WE NEED A
RESTAURANT WORKERS BILL OF RIGHTS
By Labor Day 2022, ROC United plans to introduce the first Restaurant Workers Bill of Rights, accompanied by model local, state, and federal legislation that policymakers can introduce in their own communities and in the U.S. Congress.
Restaurant Workers Bill of Rights is a comprehensive policy framework that we will champion at local, state, and national level. The Bill will systematically address challenges, injustices, and discrimination that restaurant workers, especially BIPOC and women, face every day.
We plan on a robust, 50-state, six-month long outreach to our 65,000+ members, other restaurant workers, organizations active in workers’ rights and labor movement, and people who have an interest in working towards an equitable, just, healthy, and prosperous society.
To become more involved, add your info below.
IN THE FRONT AND
BACK OF THE HOUSE
Looking for a local chapter?
2020 State of the Restaurant Workers Report
Suny Empire State College and ROC United Partnership
Your Voice Must Be Heard: Demand a Better, Safer Workplace
Want to organize for better working conditions at your restaurant?
FEATURED VIDEOS
We are truly honored to release the findings of our COVID Impact Report that validates the severe effects of the pandemic on the lives of restaurant workers and helps explain why restaurants continue to struggle with staffing as the economy reopens.
With restaurant workers, ROC members and staff, and our New York partners, we are truly honored to release the findings of the report, which will present a clear picture of the restaurant workforce in New York City and other parts of the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In a press conference, Chili’s workers to speak out against routine sexual harassment, bullying and exploitation at work.
ROC United and SUNY Empire have partnered up to offer ROC members and employees a direct pathway to a college degree at SUNY Empire. Visit bit.ly/suny-roc to learn more.
Deputy Secretary of Labor Julie Su discusses the gender pay gap on Equal Pay Day for Latinas.
To mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Windows on the World survivors will share their reflections on what they experienced then and what it means to them today in the time of pandemic.
Join ROC Minnesota and restaurant workers as they meet with the press and tell their stories and work experiences with their former employer, the Bartmann Group.
Join ROC United, workers, and partners as we reveal the 2020 State of the Restaurant Workers report.
Organizing Spotlight:
paid leave policy for all
A national paid leave policy is long overdue in the United States. We now have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pass a national paid family and medical leave policy that would lift up all American workers and families.