[Chicago Tribune] Chicago's Honey Butter Fried Chicken is among a couple of dozen restaurants across the country to sign onto a new "sanctuary restaurant" movement meant to offer safe workplaces for immigrants, Muslims and other communities they feel are under threat in the current political climate.
The movement is a joint project of ROC United, a national group that advocates for higher wages for restaurant workers, and Presente.org, whose mission is to "advance Latinx power" (Latinx is a gender-neutral alternative to Latino and Latina).
Check the above links and 'follow the money.' It's not about employees, it's about cheap labor and market share.
According to a news release Wednesday, sanctuary restaurants do not allow harassment of individuals based on immigrant or refugee status or race, religion, gender or sexual orientation; participate in peer networks to exchange ideas for protecting targeted workers; and agree to place prominent signs that state "SANCTUARY RESTAURANTS: A Place At the Table for Everyone" at their establishments.
ROC United co-founder and co-director Saru Jayaraman said in the news release that restaurant workers "are on the front lines of discrimination and hate in America."
"While the restaurant industry suffers from a labor shortage, anti-immigrant and sexist rhetoric is now commonplace. Sanctuary Restaurants seeks to create the world we want -- establishments free from hate and discrimination, where everyone has a seat at the table," Jayaraman said.
ROC in November had urged signatures for an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump penned by RAISE, its subgroup of supportive employers, asking him to alleviate fear of deportation and harassment of immigrant workers in the restaurant industry. |