Episode 4: Jose Oliva on Building a Worker-Centered Food System, Part 2

“A new food system should be rooted in a new economic model”

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 #4 Notes

0:30 - Why is the Foodchain Workers Alliance relevant today?

8:00 - Why haven’t unions traditionally focused on food service workers in the past? And how are the current worker-centered efforts really moving the needle in social movement organizing right now?

13:00 - Tell us about the HEAL Alliance.

19:30 - Let’s talk about the meat industry. Tell us about your campaign around this?

25:30 - Why is it important for BIPOC folks to take part in food system organizing?

27:45 - What is your vision for a fair and just food system?

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?

30:30 - What’s on your bookshelf?

Fight Back

Confessions of an Economic Hitman, John Perkins

Star Wars - Aftermath Trilogy, Life Debt, Chuck Wendig