The Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC-NY) is a membership-based workers' center led by restaurant workers, dedicated to winning improved conditions for themselves and their colleagues.
Since its founding, ROC-NY has won seven campaigns against exploitative employers, winning over $380,000 in unpaid wages and discrimination payments for restaurant workers, as well as general improved working conditions. In 2003, ROC-NY created the Restaurant Industry Coalition, which has conducted research to obtain a profound understanding of the breadth and segmentation of the industry, working conditions, and possibilities for revitalizing the industry. Published reports include Quantitative Report, Dangerous Dining, and Behind the Kitchen Door: Pervasive Inequality in New York City's Thriving Restaurant Industry, based on 500 worker surveys, 35 employer interviews, and 45 worker interviews.
Dream Fund Project
With Dream Fund funding, ROC-NY seeks to determine the extent to which hiring and promotion policies in the restaurant industry prevent workers of color from obtaining higher-paid, living wage positions. The project employs matched pairs testing whereby over 200 job seekers of color were sent out with white job seekers to test an employer for discriminatory practices in the hiring process. The results of this study will be used to publish a report - expected to be released in December 2007 - which will be widely disseminated to all industry stakeholders; thereafter, ROC-NY will introduce local, affirmative action legislation that will mandate a real promotion pathway for workers of color. Finally, in cases where discrimination was evident using the matched pairs methodology, ROC-NY will launch a workplace justice campaign, combining organizing and litigation against the corporation.
Contact Representative
New York, NY 10001
Fax: (212) 343.7217