Throughout history, working class people have stood up and fought back against oppression and exploitation in the food system. Each month, Food Fight documents a timeline of historical labor struggles to inform and educate today’s workers on historical class struggle in the food industry. We commemorate their struggles each day of the month.
April 1
1649: A group of 30-40 workers occupy St. George’s Hill and till the land collectively
1937: Workers stage a sit-down strike at the Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit
1949: Approximately 7,000 brewery workers strike across New York City
1985: Brewery workers strike across three major breweries in Newfoundland
2001: Activists hand out leaflets at Raffle’s Grand Café in Amsterdam, calling for boycotts over wage theft
April 2
1863: Hundreds of women loot shops in Richmond with the cry of “Bread or blood!”
1937: Workers strike a Hershey’s chocolate plant in the city of Hershey
1973: A 3 foot piece of baloney is sent to Ronald Reagan’s office in protest of his lack of response to rising meat prices
1973: Housewives across the United States launch a boycott against meat in response to soaring prices
1980: Residents in Bristol riot after police raid a local cafe
1984: 30,000 workers begin a 75 day strike across 50 hotel-casinos in Las Vegas
2024: Jefferson County school cafeteria workers go on strike
April 3
2021: Workers strike at the Carrefour supermarket in Monaco
April 4
2007: Workers strike at the Bhutan Fruit Products Private Limited in Samtse
April 5
1977: Workers strike at the Golden Coors brewery
April 6
1716: Slaves rebel in New York
1930: At the conclusion of the Dandi March, people of India break British salt laws to spark a wave of civil disobedience against colonial rule
2013: IWW members picket Chicago Lake Liquors in Minnesota
2024: Workers strike at the Sheraton hotel in Phoenix
April 7
1760: Slaves revolt in Jamaica
1882: Peasants at Ben Lee burn eviction notices and attack law law enforcement
2009: Activists picket Pita Pit in Seattle
2012: Picketers clash with pro-management protesters outside of Borracchini’s Bakery in Seattle
2024: Protesters remove products whose proceeds fund Israel’s war against Gaza from the shelves of Lidl in Belfast
April 8
1958: Sugar cane cutters stage a wildcat strike across two plantations after being denied their demands for wage increases
1973: Protesters march through New York demanding cuts on food prices
April 9
2020: Fast food workers strike across California demanding personal protective equipment and paid sick leave
2021: Workers strike at the Cayman Turtle Center in the Cayman Islands
2024: Aramark concessions workers strike at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia
April 10
1919: Workers at the condensed milk factory in Limerick strike in response to martial law, prompting a general strike
1981: Hotel workers in Bermuda strike in solidarity with workers across other industries
April 11
2019: Workers strike at 240 Stop & Shop stores across Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut
2022: Workers strike at Starbucks in Marysville
April 12
1920: Pub workers participate in a general strike in Ireland while soviets assume the role of food distribution
2007: Ugandan activists begin protests over the selling of private land to sugar companies
2008: Workers riot near Dhaka over soaring food prices
April 13
1930: Kroger workers in Clinton refuse to unload strawberries until their demands are met
2013: IWW members picket Chicago Lake Liquors in Minneapolis
2024: Squatters take control over the York & Albany restaurant in London and turn it into a soup kitchen
April 14
1816: Slaves revolt in Barbados
2019: Protests against tip theft are held outside of the Ivy restaurant in Dublin
April 15
1949: Brewery maintenance workers strike across New York City
1973: Farm workers strike in the Coachella and San Joaquin valleys
2024: Squatters take over Mr White’s Steak, Pizza and Gin House in London
April 16
1524: Rebel peasants besiege the town and castle of Weinsberg
1853: Black waiters in New York City demand pay raises and encourage white waiters to make the same demands
2024: Taco Bell workers strike in Las Angeles
April 17
1920: Dockers in Dublin refuse to load food shipments to England
1943: Howard University students sit-in at the Little Palace Cafeteria in Washington D.C. in defiance of racial segregation laws
2023: Workers strike a Coca-Cola plant in Philadelphia
April 18
1905: Sugar workers strike in Puerto Rico
April 19
1882: Peasants clash with police on the Isle of Skye during a rent strike
2023: Cannabis dispensary workers strike in Chicagoland
April 20
1989: Riots erupt in Amman over increases in food prices
2023: Graduate students picket outside of an Ann Arbor restaurant where the university president was having dinner
April 21
1834: 30,000 people march in support of freeing the Tolpuddle Martyrs
1853: Thousands of waiters strike in Boston, New York and Philadelphia
1966: Activists stage a sip-in at Julius’s Bar in New York to protest anti-gay discrimination
2024: Activists remove products from Lidl shelves in Belfast in protest of Israeli crimes in Palestine
April 22
1944: Activists stage a lunch counter sit-in at Thompson’s Restaurant in Washington, DC to protest racial segregation
2012: Activists occupy the Gill Tract in Albany to preserve land use for agricultural production food sovereignty
April 23
1931: A communist newspaper in Germany publishes a list of taverns frequented by Nazis, which resulted in armed attacks against those taverns
2010: Workers and supporters rally outside of Andiamo in Dearborn
2011: IWW members and supporters picket Jimmy John’s locations in Minneapolis and Seattle
April 24
2013: Fast food workers strike in Chicago
April 25
1834: Palestinian peasants revolt against conscription
1965: Students stage a sit-in at Bailey’s cafeteria in Huntington in defiance of segregation laws
1965: Activists stage a sit-in at Dewey’s restaurant in Philadephia to protest anti-gay discrimination
April 26
2024: Workers picket Aramarck during a strike in Philadelphia
2024: Workers protest outside of Foxtrot and Dom’s Kitchen & Market in Chicago, demanding back pay
April 27
1775: Riots erupt in France over rising bread costs
1907: Waiters strike across Paris over the right to wear mustaches
2024: Activists pull merchandise off the shelves of Lidl in Belfast in protest of Israeli war crimes
April 28
2024: Activists pull merchandise off the shelves of Sainsbury’s in Belfast in protest of Israeli war crimes
April 29
1927: Workers strike at the South Johnstone sugar mill
1938: Construction workers occupy a sugar factory on the Frome estate in Jamaica and demand pay increases
2011: IWW members and supporters picket Provenance hotels in Portland and Seattle
2020: Workers strike at Arby’s in Morris
April 30
2021: IWW members and supporters picket outside of Debenhams in Belfast