It’s always strange to me to see people dismissing food service as “easy work” rather than the important work of feeding people in a safe, and clean environment. If it was not for unionization efforts in the early 20th century, we wouldn’t have food safety standards as well as general workplace safety laws. There wouldn’t be rules around gloves, hand washing, food storage, cleaning equipment, not to mention all the sharp or hot instruments and tools they use throughout the day. On top of all of that, they need to be paid a living wage so they give a shit to follow the rules around keeping the kitchen clean. These are skills, between proper food storage and preparation, and cleaning. Never mind that basic math, customer service, responsibility prioritization are all skills. Food service is in no way “unskilled labor.”

People who work in food service are feeding you. Chipotle workers are not just “throwing cheese and rice into a tortilla” they are preparing meat and dairy (two biggest food safety concerns in any kitchen), they’re cleaning the instruments between use, they’re handling and cleaning produce as well as the floors and other surfaces. You want them to have clean, safe environments so you don’t get sick from said food. You want them to know what to use to clean their cooking equipment versus the bathroom. How long meat can be in the fridge before it gets thrown out. Corporations will never ever prioritize those rules because those rules cost money which eats into their profits. Employees coming together for collective bargaining and unionization is how we get these rules that make our lives a lot safer and healthier. A lot of people struggled and died for these laws to take place, and unfortunately we still need to defend them.