Food Fight: September Edition

Workers at Freddy’s strike in Durham, North Carolina in 2020. Photo by NC Raise Up/Fight for $15 and a Union.

Throughout history, working class people have stood up and fought against oppression and exploitation in the food system. Each month, Food Fight documents a timeline of historic labor struggles to inform and educate today’s workers about the historic class struggle in the food industry. We commemorate their struggles every day of the month.

September 1st

2010: Mozambique food price strikes escalate into bread riots

2022: Taco Bell workers strike in Kansas City

2023: Striking hotel workers in Los Angeles take over streets, block intersections

September 2nd

2008: Chadian refugees clash over food ration cuts at a United Nations camp

September 3

2008: Catering staff strike at Lisbon Portela Airport

September 4th

1936: Workers strike at Trocadero Grill in Vancouver

2020: Workers strike at Freddy’s restaurant in Durham over COVID concerns

September 5

2022: Workers Strike at Sugar Taco in Los Angeles

2022: Customers take a sip at Starbucks in Philadelphia

September 6

2004: Hotel workers strike in San Francisco

September 7th

2011: Dockworkers block a grain train in Longview

2011: Visiting students present Hershey’s executives with a petition containing 67,000 signatures

2016: Peeps workers strike in Bethlehem

2018: Hotel workers strike at 25 Chicago hotels

September 8th

1941: Workers in Norway strike after occupying Nazis cut milk rations

1965: Farm workers begin strike in Delano

2007: Kenyan farm workers strike on 18 tea plantations

2011: Striking dockworkers seize trains carrying grain in the Pacific Northwest

September 9th

1939: Slaves in South Carolina begin the Stono Rebellion

1960: Students participate in a sit-in at the lunch counter to protest racial segregation in New Orleans

1985: Workers go on strike at Watsonville Cannery

September 10th

1979: McDonald’s workers in Dublin end six-month strike

September 11

1791: Pennsylvania farmers and distillers revolt against whiskey taxes

2021: Workers go on strike at a Heaven Hill distillery in Bardstown

September 12

2009: TIG Asian Tapas Bar in Seattle receives a letter demanding a dishwasher’s stolen wages

2012: Workers strike at Walmart in Mira Loma

September 13

1943: Workers at the Belle Vue Harel sugar plantation in Mauritius go on strike

September 14

2016: IWW members at Ellen’s Stardust Diner in New York stage a work refusal

2023: Workers at six locations of Seattle-based sandwich maker Homegrown go on strike

September 15

2012: Workers strike at Walmart in Elwood

2014: IWW members protest at Freshii in downtown Chicago

September 16

2007: Food riots in West Bengal

September 17

1960: Students stage a sit-in at McCrory’s lunch counter in New Orleans to protest segregation

September 18

2018: McDonald’s workers strike to protest sexual harassment

September 19

2012: Demand letter delivered to management at Admiral Pub in Seattle

September 20

1961: UK car workers go on strike to protect tea breaks

September 21st

1939: Workers protest racist hiring practices at Shack Sandwich Shops in New York.

September 22

2021: E-food delivery workers protest in Athens

September 23

2011: Student migrant workers protest their working conditions outside a Hershey’s factory in Palmyra

September 24

1903: Workers strike at fourteen flour mills in Minneapolis

2023: Workers strike at a Dollar General in Holland, MI

September 25

2023: Workers at five Santa Monica hotels walk out

September 26

2022: Fast food workers strike at San Francisco International Airport

September 27

1933: Grape pickers strike in Lodi

September 28

2020: Workers occupy Debenhams store in Waterford

2023: Workers strike at Rogers Sugar refinery in Vancouver

September 29

2004: Workers strike at four California hotels

2022: Workers Strike at Ansley Mall Starbucks in Atlanta

September 30

2020: Tea plantation workers strike in Assam