Foodienomics

New Restaurant Labor Study Aims For The Heart of L.A.’s Dining Industry

Restaurant Opportunities Centers of L.A. plans to drop a bomb at Echo Park’s Taix on Valentine’s Day and it’s not filled with love or flowers or chocolate or perfume. This restaurant workers organization, with help from UCLA’s Center for the Study of Urban Poverty, has conducted 562 surveys and 60 interviews with local industry employees and found a austere picture of how L.A.’s restaurant workers are getting by.

The L.A. Times gives a preview of the study, to be discussed during the panel talk, which finds that 82% of restaurant workers earn less than a living wage while lacking health insurance, advancement potential, and paid sick days. Similar events are scheduled for Miami and Washington this Monday, while the one in L.A. is titled “Behind the Kitchen Door: Inequality & Opportunity in Los Angeles, the Nation’s Largest Restaurant Industry.” The public is encouraged to attend, with seating and breakfast at 8:30 A.M. and the panel discussion to begin at 9:00 A.M. Quite the moment to drop bad news as the restaurant industry at large gears up to make a small fortune on Valentine’s Day.

Monday, February 14th, 8:30 A.M. at Taix, 1911 W. Sunset Blvd. Echo Park.

New study expected to paint bleak picture of how L.A. restaurant workers are treated [LAT]

New Restaurant Labor Study Aims For The Heart of L.A.’s Dining Industry