ROC-United

New Campaign Campaigns

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  Stop Putting Profit Over People

  This is extremely important because this company needs to realize that we are people and deserve to be treated better and paid properly. We work hard for our tips and it is completely unfair that although the guest is not forced to tip me, I am forced to tip out the food runner, whether I made money or not. We are already not getting paid any extra with the virtual kitchens they've put in place without our consent, which are completely exploiting us for Corporate greed but now they're literally taking money from our pockets to pay the staff for a new role that they chose to add, that no one needed or asked for.

  8,040 of 9,000 Signatures

  Created by Alexandra Torres
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  Cheesecake Factory, do better!

  We believe that those of us on the frontline of the Cheesecake Factory have not been treated fairly or compensated adequately. While the company has come through the pandemic with record profits, we have not seen the gains that our labor produced nor been adequately protected from the risks we are taking on by working directly with the public each day.

  3,023 of 4,000 Signatures

  Created by Lindsay Ruck
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  Protect Workers and Stop Sexual Harassment

  The issue of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior at Chili's is unacceptable, but it's also reflective of the entire restaurant industry, as a whole. We need to make a change for all future restaurant workers because no one should have to endure exploitation, sexual harassment, or bullying in the workplace.

  2,833 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by John M.
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  Guy Fieri: Put an End to discrimination at LIVE Casino, Westmoreland County

  SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE! Although Black workers at Guy Fieri’s Kitchen & Bar Westmoreland have more professional experience, they are being paid LOWER WAGES than their white counterparts. This was brought to light following a recent racially charged incident, where a restaurant manager openly used the word “N****R” in front of several employees, while ordering a worker to turn off the music. Nate Ridley, a Black worker who was present when the racist remark was made, formally filed a complaint with LIVE! Casino’s HR department after the incident and put in his two weeks notice. It is unacceptable that the job he was once excited about had allowed such discrimination and disrespect to happen. The HR department did not immediately respond to Ridley’s grievance and he was expected to continue to work alongside the manager who made the racial slur. Ridley then connected with ROC-PA, which led to the discovery of the pay disparity between Black and white workers. When management was asked about the pay discrepancy, workers were told not to discuss wages with others. After ROC first circulated this petition, the LIVE! Casino’s HR department finally responded, saying that they would “look into the situation.” The management advised workers to “be careful signing petitions.” To date, Ridley has yet to receive an apology from the upper management of Guy’s Kitchen & Bar. We believe that everyone has the right to a workplace free of discrimination and harassment. As employees, we demand accountability, action and fair wages!

  3,367 of 4,000 Signatures

  Created by Bobbi Linskens
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  Cheesecake Factory: Allen deserves his job back

  We spend more time in the restaurant than we do in our own homes with our families and we love and take pride in what we do. For a lot of us restaurant workers, this is a profession, a career and a way of life that can not only support our families, but also pays our bills and maintains quality of life. We understand that the restaurant industry can be difficult, stressful and exhausting, but we look to our managers for guidance when that happens. A manager should protect and respect the staff, follow the guidelines and hold themselves to the same standards. A manager should never yell at a worker in front of guests and other staff members for any reason. As employees, it is our RIGHT under the National Labor Relations Act to speak out at the workplace with our co-workers. It is against federal labor law for an employer to retaliate for voicing workplace concerns. We deserve a fair trial. This is our opportunity to change the restaurant culture not only within The Cheesecake Factory but to also set a higher standard for restaurants across the country. By signing this petition to support Allen, he will have the opportunity to stay safe, support his family and put food back on the table. We ask for your support by signing this petition, sharing this with friends and joining our fight for what is right!

  3,054 of 4,000 Signatures

  Created by Erika Toth
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  Caribou Coffee Corporation Provide Emergency Paid Leave

  We as workers, especially immuno-compromised and vulnerable workers, are being forced to risk potential exposure to and spread of the Coronavirus while CEO John Butcher can continue working remotely. We should not have to choose between paying for essential food, rent and medical supplies and compromising social solidarity (a.k.a. social distancing) or exposing ourselves to further risks.

  5,022 of 6,000 Signatures

  Created by Restaurant Opportunities Center of MN ROCMN
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  Olive Garden: Reinstate a pregnant employee who was unjustly terminated

  My name is Courtnee Dean. For the past 10 years, I have been a loyal employee of Olive Garden store 1370 in Bala Cynwyd, PA. I am also a mother, currently seven months pregnant with my second child. On October 1st, 2014, I was unfairly terminated from my employment at Darden Restaurants for a lost coupon. I offered to compensate for the coupon, but the manager, Lily, refused the money. Instead of following the customary procedure of writing me up or taking the money, she called corporate and had me terminated. Even after working at Darden for 10 years, not only was I treated as disposable but so was my growing family. That’s why I am demanding that Darden Restaurants make this right by: 1) restoring my employment, 2) fully compensate me for all the time I have missed from work as a result of this unjust termination, and 3) meet with me and members of the Restaurant Opportunities Center United to address my case and the issues that workers face from Darden management all over the country, like being discriminated against for being pregnant and being forced to work while sick. Please join me in asking Darden Restaurants, the largest full-service restaurant company in the world, to do the right thing so that I can support my family and prevent similar situations from happening to the rest of Darden’s employees.

  6,233 of 7,000 Signatures

  Created by Courtnee Dean
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  IHOP & Applebee's: Provide Paid Sick Days!

  People at Applebee's deserve paid sick days, especially with the rapid spreading of the coronavirus. The parent company is one the largest in the restaurant industry, employing tens of thousands of people with locations all over America and abroad. A significant percentage of their restaurants are franchised with different policies and rules for each store. Corporate stepping in and requiring paid sick days at all franchised & corporate-owned locations is the quickest and most effective way to protect their employees and be a leader in helping curb the spread of the virus.

  10,353 of 15,000 Signatures

  Created by ROC United
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  Severance for laid-off Tazza D'Oro staff

  My name is Adelaide Smith and I am a former barista and coffee equipment technician at Enrico’s Tazza D’Oro. I started working as a barista at the Highland Park location in April 2017 and have been with the company as it expanded from two cafes, to four cafes and a training lab. When I first started, it was clear that the management structure was somewhat disorganized and not totally functional, but as the new cafes opened, the situation became much worse. Stores have gone months at a time with no manager, so managing responsibilities were piled onto assistant manager and barista workloads. This resulted in day to day operations becoming increasingly stressful for baristas. When that trickled into bad experiences for customers, upper management would show up to hassle the staff about their performance and general attitude, leaving no opportunities for productive discourse. In the context of this managerial chaos, myself and other women consistently received lower scores on job evaluations compared to our few male coworkers, despite working for a company owned by a progressive woman. As a direct result of this disparity, men became eligible for higher raises then women at the barista level. This is a great example of how a well-intentioned feminist can perpetuate gender-based wage disparities in the workplace by failing to implement systems and structures that insure just and equitable working conditions. I don’t believe the owner wants gender-based discrimination to be happening anywhere, but the current structure of her own business makes the issue difficult to address. The owner, Amy Enrico, has a history of retaliating against workers who speak out. In one such instance, where two baristas were fired after bringing up concerns at a staff meeting, the National Labor Relations Board was prepared to back the workers in a federal suit, though Tazza and the employees settled out of court. Throughout the various locations staff have been intimidated and harassed by management in retaliation to collective concerns and issues that baristas had no power over. As the equipment tech and part of the coffee quality control team, I would look into any situations where coffee quality was below our standards. On three specific occasions at the Millvale cafe, management came down on the entire barista staff accusing them of making bad coffee, when the problem was out of their control. I pinpointed the equipment issues that compromised our standards and made the issues known to management, but management continued to hassle the baristas until I was able to fix the issues and show that with properly functioning machinery, the coffee was not just adequate, but better than the other locations. Workers at the Millvale location have been targeted and blamed for the poor performance of the store despite their earnest attempts to make that cafe thrive. When management got onto them about evening shifts taking too long, staff worked off the clock to make sure the cafe was stocked and clean for the morning shift. In April of this year, the Millvale staff was told their jobs had been eliminated and the store was closed with only a day’s notice. Later that day on their social media accounts, Tazza D’Oro claimed they would just be closing the Millvale cafe for only a week and reopening the following Tuesday. After the fired workers organized a picket, the plans to reopen the store were postponed. One of the workers was able to pick up part-time work at another location, while the other four are trying to make it by on unemployment. I know these kinds of issues are commonplace in the restaurant industry, but they don’t have to be! We’re calling on Tazza D’Oro to do the right thing and sit down with us, develop a plan to restructure the company, and pay severance to the laid-off Millvale workers.

  3,376 of 4,000 Signatures

  Created by Adelaide Smith
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  Protect restaurant workers from tip theft.

  When a customer pays the tip with a credit card, the money doesn’t always go to the server. Many restaurants allow customers to pay the bill and the tip with their credit card instead of cash. Credit card companies charge separate fees to process both of these transactions. Because the tip has to be processed through the restaurant, the restaurant can legally take a percentage of each tip to pay the transaction fee. In short, restaurants are taking the tip you gave to the employee to pay a business expense. In many states, servers are only guaranteed $2.13 per hour. The rest of our pay comes directly from guests in the form of the tip. This is an incredibly unstable way to make a living because it’s only social custom that obliges a patron to leave a tip. Regardless of how hard we work or how much the bill is, only the customer’s conscience determines how much we are paid. Meanwhile, if a guest refuses to pay the bill, they could be prosecuted. It is shameful that an industry that doesn’t have to pay its workers a living wage would also steal its workers’ hard-earned money.

  3,854 of 4,000 Signatures

  Created by Janice Shiffler