Real Food Real Jobs, a project of the food worker union, UNITE HERE, was founded on the belief that the struggles for real food (from local, sustainable, humane sources) and real jobs (with living wages, benefits, and professional development opportunities) are one in the same.  We can’t truly change what it means to work in the food system if skilled cooks only heat up frozen, pre-processed meals.  And no one will ever get truly sustainable food from farm to table without incorporating the voices of the food chain workers in between. 

Across the country, activists and advocates, farmers and foodies are standing up to support the idea that food workers play a critical role in the success of the food movement.  To date, nearly 100 food movement leaders have signed on to the Real Food Real Jobs pledge. These inaugural signatories, including representatives from Food Day, come from all points along the food chain and the fight to fix it:

• Leaders from national food movement organizations like Food Day, Slow Food USA, Food and Water Watch, Food First, and Union of Concerned Scientists.

• Food movement trailblazers like Nikki Henderson, Robert Gottlieb, Eric Holt-Gimenez, LaDonna Redmond, and Mark Winne.

• Advocates for local, sustainable school food at Real Food Challenge, School Food FOCUS, and the National Farm to School Network.

• Organizers from community food justice groups like People’s Grocery (CA), Live Real, Center for New Community (IL), and Healthy Affordable Food for All (DC).

• Experts at hunger relief organizations like Why Hunger, Hunger Action LA, and Bread for the City (DC).

• Farmers and educators at farms like Sound Farm (VT), Brickyard Educational Farm (MD), Washington Youth Garden (DC), and Adelante Mujeres (OR).

• Champions of farmworker rights at the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the Domestic Fair Trade Association, and the Student/Farmworker Alliance.

Can you take action to stand with this growing community of leaders by signing the Real Food Real Jobs pledge? We want any and all folks engaged in the hard work of building a better food system to add their names and celebrate their commitment to working together for real food, real jobs, and real transparency throughout our food chain.

Click here to add your name to the list and show your support for Real Food Real Jobs! Together we can build a more just and sustainable food system that truly nourishes all communities from farm to factory to cafeteria.