Restaurant workers who are mistreated on the job are less likely to prepare food safely, according to a new report to be released Wednesday by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC-NY). “Dining Out, Dining Healthy” details the link between public health and good labor practices in the city’s restaurant industry. For example, approximately 21 percent of workers without paid sick days reported having sneezed, coughed or spit in food, compared to the 12 percent of those who did receive these benefits. The report also found that of the workers from restaurants with many labor violations, 66 percent did not receive any health and safety training compared to the 34 percent of those with few labor violations. The report was based on almost two years of research in which ROC-NY and the New York City Restaurant Industry Coalition, its steering committee of restaurant owners, employees, and advocates, surveyed 880 restaurant workers, and looked at three types of labor violations: paying workers under minimum wage, failing to pay overtime for over 40 hours of work in a week, and various discriminatory practices. ROC-NY hopes the report will spur the City Council to draft legislation to promote healthy workplace practices in restaurants. “We are looking to the City Council to do something to hold them accountable because they ultimately end up hurting everyone,” said Saru Jayaraman, executive director of ROC-NY.
(J.E. Mendez) [04/03/06]