The Restaurant Industry is Rife With Race Discrimination

From [HERE] A new study from the Restaurant Opportunities Center United (ROC United) found that race discrimination pervades the restaurant industry nationwide.

ROC investigated the policies of 273 fine-dining restaurants in the Metro-Detroit area, New Orleans, and Chicago — three cities where people of color constitute the majority of the population. It found that applicants of color are only 73 percent as likely to get a job offer. And earning 44 percent less than their white counterparts, workers of color are effectively charged a “race tax,” according to the labor group.

The quality of jobs also differs by race. People of color are generally confined to “lower-wage” work and “less visible” work in “back of the house” positions like prep cooks and dishwashers and lower tier front of house positions like bussers and runners. Just 22 percent have non-managerial, top tier, front-of-the-house positions, while white workers hold 81 percent of managerial positions.

The National Restaurant Association (NRA) refutes the study’s claim that race discrimination is a systemic problem in restaurant labor. “The restaurant industry embodies the American Dream. Half of all US restaurants are owned or co-owned by women and one-third of restaurant owners are minorities. Restaurants employ more women and minority managers than virtually any other industry,” it claimed in an official statement.

ROC’s co-founder and co-director Saru Jayaraman thinks otherwise. “It’s abhorrent that skin color and gender are still obstacles to finding a living-wage job and being able to support yourself and your family,” she said. “While women and people of color make up the majority of the restaurant industry’s workforce, they are continually shut out of the restaurant industry’s limited living-wage opportunities.”