UC Berkeley to start food labor research center

BERKELEY
December 7, 2012 5:13am

The University of California, Berkeley, is opening a Food Labor Research Center, charged with raising public awareness about the wages and working conditions of the food and restaurant industry’s 20 million workers in the United States.

The director is Saru Jayaraman, who is also the author of the soon-to-be-released book, “Behind the Kitchen Door,” in which she records the daily lives of restaurant workers in Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Detroit and New Orleans.

Ms. Jayaraman also is co-founder and co-director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, which helped New York City restaurant workers displaced after 9/11. “ROC-United promotes workplace justice and conducts research around policy issues relating to the food and restaurant industries,” the university says.

The Food Labor Research Center will be part of the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education.