2022 Year in Review
2022 was an incredible year for workers organizing around the country. As our siblings in the labor movement broke ground in new industries and national companies, we did our part by starting to build power in the largest unorganized industry in America: restaurants. Restaurant Workers United was started by a small group of organizers and industry activists at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. Now, we’re a growing union with plans to permanently change our industry across the U.S.
We spent the first half of 2022 doing patient work preparing to go public with our first major campaign. In August, workers at Via 313 in Austin, Texas announced the formation of our union and called on other restaurant workers to join them. Together, we fought back against a brutal and expensive union busting campaign at one of the industry’s toughest employers. In October, Via 313 North Campus workers stood together and voted 11-7 in favor of our union.
Soon after, workers in Louisville, Kentucky joined our movement. After months of building an industry-wide network, we organized a union at Pizza Lupo, Louisville’s premier pizza restaurant. Pizza Lupo’s owners did the right thing. Instead of wasting money on a fruitless campaign, they voluntarily recognized our union and decided to negotiate with us to build a better workplace.
Together, we organized the first standalone restaurants in the South at Via 313 and Pizza Lupo. This would be a historic achievement in and of itself, but we don’t plan on stopping there. Since we announced our union in August, we’ve received outreach from all across the country. We’re now organizing in restaurants, bars, and cafes coast-to-coast, driven by worker leaders in their own shops.
We’re looking forward to an exciting year ahead in 2023. We’re ready to win our first contracts at Pizza Lupo and Via 313, and we can’t wait to go public with new campaigns in Louisville, Austin, and new cities. We’re proud to have come so far with an effort powered entirely by volunteers working on their own spare time. If you’d like to support our work, feel free to donate here. And if you’re ready to start changing things at your own restaurant, or in your own city, get in touch with us here.