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.
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1966: A riot occurs at Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco in response to police violence and harassment against LGBTQ patrons
August 1
1935: Meat strikers parade through Hamtramck
2010: Indigenous Polynesian Rapa Nui people occupy a hotel development site on Rapa Nui to demand compensation for stolen land
2022: Starbucks workers stage a march on the boss in Anderson
August 2
2023: Workers walk off the job at the LA Grand Hotel after management disciplined a housekeeper for raising workplace concerns
August 3
1913: Riots break out in Wheatland after police break up a meeting between farm workers and the IWW
1967: Grape pickers walk off the fields of Giumarra Vineyards Corporation in Bakersfield
August 4
2023: Workers strike at the Berlin nightclub in Chicago
August 5
2010: IWW baristas and supporters shut down the 15th and Douglas Starbucks in Omaha
August 6
1933: Hotel workers, restaurant workers and bakers join a general strike to oust dictator Gerardo Machado
August 7
2014: Workers present a demand letter for stolen wages and go on strike at La Lot in Seattle
2023: Protesters demonstrate against food shortages in Turkmenbashi
2023: Los Angeles hotel workers rally against violence targeted towards workers on picket lines
August 8
1983: Farmworkers march from Toledo to Camden to demand higher wages from Campbell Soup Company
2023: Workers strike across 23 hotels in Montreal, Quebec City and Sherbrooke
August 9
1970: Protesters march on London police stations to demonstrate against police raids on the Mangrove Caribbean restaurant
2024: Taco Bell workers strike in Alhambra against extreme workplace temperatures
August 10
1963: An anti-segregation protest led by college students is held outside of the White Pantry restaurant in Huntington
2005: British Airways baggage handlers launch a sympathy strike with Gate Gourmet workers that shuts Heathrow airport down for 48 hours in protest against outsourcing
2021: Two hundred workers strike a Nabisco facility in Portland and are followed by Nabisco workers in Colorado, Virginia, Illinois, and Georgia
2023: Thousands of culinary workers rally in Las Vegas for higher wages and improved benefits
August 11
1918: Suzuki Shoten in Kobe is burned down during a series of rice riots
2014: Workers and community supporters hand out leaflets at La Lot in Seattle during a series of actions in response to wage theft
August 12
1961: Eleven Freedom Fighters stage a sit-in at the Union Station coffee shop in Houston in defiance of racial segregation laws
2021: Workers strike a Nabisco facility in Aurora for the first time since 1969
2022: Workers strike at MOD Pizza for a week in Columbia
August 13
1776: A crowd of women seize tea during a food riot in Fishkill
August 14
2021: A rally is held outside of the Portland Nabisco facility in support of striking workers
August 15
2014: Pickets are held outside of La Lot restaurant in Seattle in support of striking workers
2023: Protests are held outside of D.G. Expresso in Melbourne in response to wage theft
2024: Food and beverage workers picket the Union League Club of Chicago
2024: Habit Burger Grill workers strike in Rancho Cordova
August 16
1920: Hotel and cafe waiters strike in San Sebastian
2021: The Nabisco strike grows and workers go on strike in Richmond
August 17
1795: Forty slaves revolt on the Dutch colony of Curacao
1985: 1,500 workers strike the Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, one of the longest strikes in MN history
2011: Student guestworkers stage a walkout at a Hershey’s plant in Palmyra followed by a sit-in on company grounds
August 18
1812: Food riots over the cost of flour break out in Leeds and Sheffield led primarily by women
1823: Between 9,000 to 12,000 slaves revolt in Demerara
2011: 400 student guestworkers from all over the world protest low pay and hazardous working conditions at a Hershey’s plant in Palmyra
2013: Four night shift IWW members strike at Insomnia Cookies in Harvard Square
August 19
1958: Activists stage a lunch counter sit-in at a Katz Drugstore in Oklahoma City in defiance of racial segregation laws
2020: Bojangles workers in Raleigh strike over unsafe working conditions
2021: Workers strike a Mondelez bakery in Chicago
August 20
2016: Workers strike the Cambrew brewery in Preah Sihanouk province
2021: Workers walk off the job and strike at Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers in Durham
August 21
1791: Slaves revolt against planters across Haiti, beginning the Haitian Revolution
1831: 70 slaves led by Nat Turner revolt in Southampton County
August 22
2024: McDonald’s workers strike in Los Angeles over safety concerns
August 23
1934: Migrant came cutters strike over rampant disease in Queensland
1970: Farmworkers strike in what becomes the Salad Bowl Strike in the Salinas Valley, the largest farmworker strike in U.S. history
2023: Starbucks workers in Hillsboro strike over unsafe working conditions
August 24
1933: IWW members strike in Selah and Congdon Orchards west of Yakima
August 25
1979: Farmworkers close over 70 farms as part of an ongoing campaign targeting soup companies
August 26
1786: Poor farmers launch an armed uprising across Massachusetts in response to high taxation in what becomes known as Shay’s Rebellion
1921: Workers seize control of mills and bakeries in Bruree
2024: Workers strike against wage theft at Subway in Los Angeles
August 27
1934: 700 farmworkers strike the lettuce fields of the Salinas Valley
2024: Waffle House workers simultaneously deliver demand letters at three locations
August 28
1830: Farmworkers destroy farm equipment in Kent in what becomes known as the Swing Rebellion
2024: Grocery workers strike at Fred Meyer in Portland
August 29
1914: Providence residents attack and loot Frank Ventrone’s pasta shop in response to rising pasta prices
August 30
2013: Fast food workers picket across 60 cities in the United States
August 31
2011: Demonstrators gather outside of a Hershey’s building in Times Square in solidarity with guest worker protests against working conditions
2016: Five IWW members occupy Frite Alors! In Montreal to protest in favor of improved working conditions