Hospitality Worker Town Halls
A nationwide series of open-forum Town Halls to discuss necessary changes for the hospitality industry. We seek to:
1️⃣ Examine existing issues in hospitality businesses from the lens of a frontline worker, and what processes and systems continue to perpetuate these problems.
2️⃣ Brainstorm solutions, rooted in transformative justice, that can be implemented to create a more equitable and inclusive hospitality industry.
Overview - Three Big Questions - Key Learnings - Upcoming Town Halls - Sponsor Us
Town Hall Overview
1
The hospitality industry has long been overdue for worker-led, power-building movements that mobilize food, beverage, and hospitality (FBH) workers on a national scale to demand changes to an industry culture characterized by long hours, low pay, and dangerous — even fatal — conditions.
We are inspired by recent worker-centered organizing efforts such as The Great Resignation, the Frito-Lay Strike, and Starbucks unionizing efforts. Our Hospitality Worker Town Halls aims to support this momentum by gathering hospitality workers in cities across the U.S. to identify existing toxic systems and collectively implement interventions for a more equitable future.
Our overarching goal for this series is to foster dialogue, solidarity, and collective liberation for hospitality workers.
All Town Halls are free to attend and open to anyone currently (or in the last 2 years) working in the hospitality industry. Together, we can rebuild the hospitality industry centering the perspectives of workers on the front lines.
2
We kicked off the Town Halls in Chicago and will be traveling to hospitality-forward cities across the U.S. in 2023 & 2024. We ask the same three foundational questions at each Town Hall, enabling us to analyze and aggregate information on workers' desired industry changes at a local, regional, and national level.
❤️🩹
How is conflict brought up and discussed in your workplace, and what mediation process exists, if there is one?
How do the power dynamics in your workplace impact, or limit, conflict resolution?
✊🏼
What is one thing that needs to happen for you to feel good about staying at your current workplace?
🛣
What does accountability mean to you?
What is a system of accountability you would want to see implemented at your workplace?
3
"All the focus & blame is on the individuals & what they didn't do well, not structural components that led to conflict in the first place [like] broken equipment, scheduling miscommunication, or overly complicated menu items."
“Firing someone is not the solution. It does nothing to repair the harm and does not build trust with those left behind.”
“It falls on workers to figure out what their take-home is, what percentage of tips go to BOH, etc. because it’s so risky to ask about pay. It makes it difficult for us to plan our lives.”
From the learnings of the Town Halls, we will create:
🛠 Owner Competency Toolkits & Workshops
Publicly available resources & trainings for FBH owners & decision-makers based on the insights from the Town Halls
💪 Employee Self-Advocacy Workshops
Follow-up event series to empower hospitality workers with actionable interventions at the workplace
📊 National Data on the State of Hospitality
Aggregated information from the Town Halls to capture the challenges & opportunities facing hospitality workers today
Co-Host or Sponsor A Town Hall
We are seeking grassroots city partners as well as financial sponsors who can enable this event series to be rolled out nationally. If you may be interested in working with us to host a Town Hall in your city, donating a venue, offering facilitation services, providing food & drink, or supporting financially, we would love to talk to you!
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