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.
December 1
1921: Striking workers at Castleconnell fisheries in Ireland occupy their workplace and declare a soviet
December 2
1956: Students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor riot over the quality of campus cafeteria food
December 3
1946: Strikers close up grocery stores during the Oakland General Strike
2015: Workers strike Coca Cola facilities in Niles and Alsip
December 4
2014: Fast food workers strike across the US
December 5
2003: Workers stage a walkout at Oyster Bar in Manhattan
December 6
2012: Cafeteria workers strike at Chicago State University
2018: Tea plantation workers in Sri Lanka go on strike
2021: JustEats drivers strike at McDonald’s in Sheffield
2023: Workers strike at Elmwood Taco and Subs in Buffalo
December 7
1931: Hunger Marches take place across the US to demand assistance for the unemployed
December 8
2020: Indian farmers lead a general strike
December 9
2017: Workers strike a sugar cane factory in Haft Tapeh
2022: Rallies across the US urge customers to boycott Starbucks gift cards
December 10
1977: Workers strike at the Continental Hotel in Kokor
1985: House of Representatives cafeteria workers picket in Washington, DC
2012: Warehouse workers and drivers strike at United Natural Foods distribution center in Auburn
2020: Fast food workers strike for COVID protections
December 11
1929: Peasants establish a soviet in Baise in an attempt to redistribute land
December 12
2018: Hotel workers picket across the Los Angeles area
December 13
1921: Striking dairy workers seize a milk wagon and clash with police
December 14
1931: Workers staying at a flophouse in Chicago protest for better food and three meals per day
1951: Jewish bagel bakers in New York City strike at 32 of the city’s 34 bakeries
December 15
2005: IWW members at Starbucks confront management and later escalate tactics over religious discrimination in the workplace
December 16
2021: Grocery workers strike across the state of Oregon
2022: Starbucks workers strike across 60 stores
December 17
1973: Produce warehouse workers stage a wildcat strike in Detroit
2020: A produce vendor self-immolates in Sidi Bouzid and prompts the Arab Spring uprisings
December 18
2001: Grocery stores are looted in Argentina during an extended period of civil unrest
2023: Workers strike at Fulton Street Coffee in Downtown Fresno
December 19
2010: Picketers demonstrate outside of Bella Napoli in Renton
2023: Workers present a demand letter to the owners of the Signature Room in Chicago
2023: Workers strike at Fulton Street Coffee in Fresno
December 20
2022: Food delivery workers strike in Russia
December 21
2002: Workers stage slow downs at McDonald’s locations
2012: Seattle activists picket at Whole Foods
December 22
2023: Grocery workers strike across Brainerd Lakes area
2023: Protesters rally at the Frankfurt Bocanegra
December 23
2019: Amazon workers in Sacramento deliver a demand letter to management and walk off the job
December 24
2005: Gate Gourmet workers in Germany blockade against airport delivery trucks
December 25
1521: Slaves revolt on a sugar plantation owned by Diego Columbus, son of Christopher Columbus
1831: Slaves begin an eleven day uprising across plantations in Jamaica
1915: Food riots erupt in Chemnitz
December 26
2017: Chiquita Honduras workers go on strike
December 27
1831: Kensington slaves down their tools and set fire to sugarcane fields
1946: Food riots erupt in Rome
December 28
2017: Fishermen strike across the coast of Washington
December 29
1983: Riots break out in Tunisia over rising bread costs
December 30
1930: Indigenous workers strike at the Pesillo hacienda in the Ecuadorian highlands
December 31
1912: Waitstaff and hotel workers organized by the IWW go on strike in New York City
2023: Hotel workers strike in Pasadena