Episode 3: Jose Oliva on Building a Worker-Centered Food System, Part 1

Organizing for justice in food

Jose Oliva joins us for a two part episode that dives into labor organizing, land reform, his family’s legacy and the struggles of service sector workers. Jose is currently the Campaigns Director for HEAL Food Alliance. Jose is a longtime food sector organizer and has served in leadership positions at Chicago Interfaith Workers’ Center, Interfaith Worker Justice’s National Workers' Centers Network, Center for Community Change, and the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United - the national organization of restaurant workers. Jose was the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Food Chain Workers Alliance, a national coalition of food-worker organizations that collectively represents over 350,000 workers. Jose is also a 2017 James Beard Award recipient and a 2018 American Food Hero Awardee. We had an amazing conversation with Jose and he has excellent taste in literature as well!

Episode #3 Notes

1:00 - What is land reform?

8:00 - What was the intention of land reform in Guatemala? What was the goal?

11:30 - When thinking about your work in the US, in the context of your family history, how do you define food sovereignty?

21:00 - How does food sovereignty and land reform fit into the present moment?

29:00 - How do you balance out the fact that people were forced to work the land here vs. the fact that land was cleared out by violence and disease?

38:45 - Let’s talk about Chicago. Tell me about your early organizing history and how the Food Chain Workers Alliance came about?

49:00 - How does the poor treatment of food chain workers affect their personal health and lives?

Book Recommendations coming in Part 2!