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Hospitality Worker Town Halls

A nation-wide series of open-forum Town Halls to discuss necessary changes for the hospitality industry. We seek to:

  • Examine existing issues in hospitality businesses from the lens of a frontline worker, and what processes and systems continue to perpetuate these problems.

  • Brainstorm solutions, rooted in transformative justice, that can be implemented to create a more equitable and inclusive hospitality industry.

Town Hall Overview

Overview

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In the last two years, we’ve seen notable movements led by workers in the food, beverage, and hospitality (FBH) industry evidenced by events such as The Great Resignation, the Frito-Lay Strike, and Starbucks unionizing efforts. Undeniably frustrated workers are organizing to change their workplaces and an industry culture that subjects them to long hours, low pay, and dangerous, sometimes fatal, conditions.

But before these efforts made national headlines or led to economy-threatening industry-wide staffing shortages, the majority of FBH workers were not given space to give their employers feedback and safely air collective grievances that could lead to systemic change.

 

Our aim for this Town Hall series is to center conversations about the future of the industry on the needs and perspectives of FBH workers. They are free to attend, and open to anyone currently (or in the last two years) working in the hospitality industry in a non-managerial capacity (i.e., has no direct reports). We want to build a future for hospitality that is based on the perspectives of folks currently on the frontlines.

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Goals

Our ultimate goal is to foster dialogue, solidarity, and liberation for hospitality workers. We see our first Chicago-based Town Hall as the start of many more across the U.S., enabling us to analyze and aggregate information on desired industry changes at a local, regional, and national level.

The three questions we will be focusing on for Town Halls across 2022-2023 are:

  1. 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?

  2. What is one thing that needs to happen for you to feel good about staying at your current workplace?

  3. What does accountability mean to you? What is a system of accountability you would want to see implemented at your workplace?

Deliverables

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​From the learnings of the Town Halls, we will create:

  • Owner Competency Toolkits & Workshops: Publicly available toolkits & custom workshops for FBH owners & decision-makers based on the learnings from the Town Hall.

  • Employee Self-Advocacy Workshops: Follow-up event series on ways to implement the desired changes at each workplace.

  • Town Hall & Listening Tour Findings: Aggregated data on worker needs on a local, regional, and national level.

You can view the recaps from our Chicago Town Hall via our Instagram.

Attend A Town Hall

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City: New York, NY

Date: Monday, May 8

Time: 1:30 PM EST- 4:30 PM EST

Location: Yondu Culinary Studio: 254 Front St, New York, NY 10038
Event Partner: Queer Food Foundation

Support our Town Halls

Support Us

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We are seeking mission-aligned local city partners as well as 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, or supporting financially, we would love to talk to you!

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