The Missouri workers’ movement is launching a statewide campaign for “Food Service Workers’ Bill of Rights.” After a win for the labor movement with a vote to unionize Alamo Drafthouse workers, food service workers will gather Tuesday in St. Louis and Kansas City to rally behind the “Food Service Workers’ Bill of Rights.”
The bill of rights is a 10-point platform proposing industry standards that the campaign said will make food service jobs livable amidst rising costs of living. This includes some big-ticket items like a $25 inflation-adjusted minimum wage, employer-matched retirement plans, and paid healthcare.
Bagel Union sous chef Derek Graue calls himself a restaurant lifer. He enjoys the creativity away from a desk job, but said it’s hard to make ends meet.
“I’m working two jobs to help get my wife through college,” he said. “For a long time we tried to do it just with the money I made at Bagel (Union), and it became abundantly clear that wasn’t enough.”
Bagel Union workers will be voting on unionization later this week alongside Union Loafers Cafe and The Station workers. A pressing issue driving workers towards the union campaign – and the workers’ bill of rights – is paid sick leave, according to Graue.
In 2024, Missouri voters approved a ballot measure to require paid sick leave with a 58% majority. The next year, though, the Missouri legislature struck down that provision.
“As soon as that ballot measure was struck down, [Bagel Union] kind of pretended like it wasn’t there,” he Graue said. “I can’t afford to miss work, so I – multiple times – have had to go to work and just mask up and play through the pain in order to pay my bills.”
Campaign organizers said the pathway to these benefits may lie at the ballot box. The campaign supports Amendment 6 and its protection of ballot initiatives. The campaign said this may clear the pathway to get paid sick leave and inflation-adjusted minimum wage back on the ballot, and make it harder for the legislature to overturn it if voters approve.
The Bill of Rights’ campaign and string of union votes in St. Louis may be responding to nation-wide industry trends, according to sociologist Jake Rosenfeld, a Washington University professor who specializes in workers’ movements.
He said that worker activism following the pandemic brought wage inequality to level off for the first time in decades. But in recent years, wage increases have stalled.
“Coupled with that, you’ve seen employers really begin to fight back to regain some of the power they feel like they lost in those years of worker activism,” he said. “I interpret an effort such as this one to try to answer the call.”
Graue said the platform represents “ideals” and acknowledges that progress will look different for every business. Even small changes, like employer-provided uniforms and shoes, could go a long way.
“If my shoes wear out in the middle of a shift and there’s a backup pair for me, that’d be awesome. I’d love to not worry about that,” he said.
Graue says he enjoys working at Bagel Union, and that management is generally receptive. He said the Bill of Rights is a change to bring benefits other trade professions enjoy to the food service industry.
Campaign supporters will rally at Chouteau Park Tuesday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. and then canvass establishments to enlist support from more workers. The campaign said they expect seventh ward alderwoman Alisha Sonnier, whose recent resolution supported Union Loafers’ unionization, at the rally.
Later in the day, supporters will rally in Kansas City at Pioneer Park, at Broadway Boulevard and Westport Road, at 5 p.m.
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