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.
March 1
1937: Workers occupy a Woolworth’s department store in Detroit following another Woolworth’s occupation two days prior
1962: Riots break out at the Mt Bentinck sugar factory in Georgetown, St Vincent after scabs are brought in to replace striking workers
1964: Sit-ins are held at the Sheraton-Palace Hotel in protest of racial discrimination
1976: Workers strike across nine Anheuser-Busch breweries
March 2
1937: Waitresses and kitchen workers occupy Stouffer’s in Detroit during the lunch rush
1937: Workers at Huyler’s cafeteria in Detroit’s Fisher Building sit down and barricade the doors
1960: Students stage a sit-in at a Columbia Woolworth’s lunch counter in protest of racial segregation
March 3
1960: Students order food from a Woolworth’s lunch counter and pass it along to “a darker companion” as part of a campaign against segregated lunch counters
1969: Students disrupt cafeteria service at the University of North Carolina to pressure the administration to meet the demands of campus food workers
1991: Activists protest outside of a Nashville Cracker Barrel in protest of the company’s anti-LGBTQ policies
2024: Activists occupy a Zabka store in Warsaw and demand stolen wages
March 4
1960: Activists stage lunch counter sit-ins at the Sumter Cut Rate in defiance of racial segregation policies
March 5
2023: Concessions workers strike at the United Center arena in Chicago
March 6
2024: Workers at Carl’s Jr. in San Jose strike over hazardous working conditions
2024: Pizza Hut workers in LA strike over wage theft
March 7
2019: Activists stage a day of action including prayer, letter writing and petition signing to call on Wendy’s to adopt policies for farm workers
March 8
1917: Riots and strikes break out over food scarcity in Petrograd
2024: The entire staff of a Dollar General in Mineral Point walk off the job over disrespect, low pay and the company’s wasteful food policies
March 9
1970: Activists protest in New York following a raid on a gay bar called The Snake Pit
March 10
1960: Activists stage lunch counter sit-ins at the F.W. Woolworth’s in Little Rock in defiance of racial segregation policies
2013: Activists present a demand letter to management of Jumbo Buffet in Seattle over unpaid wages
March 11
2021: Workers strike at the 7Up/ Dr. Pepper warehouse near Detroit
March 12
2016: Protesters march throughout Palm Beach demanding improved wages and working conditions for farm workers
March 13
2024: Protesters demonstrate outside of CVC Capital Partners in Warsaw demanding improved conditions for grocery workers
March 14
2024: Hotel workers rally and demonstrate against sexual harassment in Anaheim
March 15
1991: Activists stage a sit in protest at a Greensboro Cracker Barrel in response to the company’s anti-LGBTQ policies
March 16
1979: Workers strike at McDonald’s in Dublin
2009: Activists deliver a demand letter at Pita Pit in Seattle over withheld wages
March 17
2024: Demonstrations erupt in Santiago over food shortages
March 18
1871: Workers revolt in Paris, establish the Paris Commune and abolish night work in bakeries
1963: Workers strike the Ubombo sugar estate in what is now Eswatini
2022: JustEats drivers strike outside of a McDonald’s in Worcester
March 19
2021: Servers refuse to reopen American Beauty in Las Angeles after management announces a new tip-pooling policy
March 20
1946: Food riots break out in Hamburg
March 21
2024: Culinary workers picket Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas
March 22
1988: Workers strike across 47 Stop & Shop stores in Connecticut
2002: Farm workers and supporters rally and march to Kroger headquarters in Cincinnati
2020: Workers at Crush Bar in Portland stage a sit-in in response to company layoffs
2022: Tulip, daffodil and iris harvesters walk off the job in Mount Vernon
2023: Starbucks workers strike across 100 stores
March 23
2022: Supporters of striking farm workers rally outside of the Washington Bulb Company in Mount Vernon
March 24
1966: Marching farm workers reach Del Rey, where they are then transported to Fresno to participate in a rally of 1,000 supporters
March 25
1936: 60,000 landless workers seize 3,000 farms across Spain
March 26
1888: An anti-union manifesto issued by the National Brewers’ Association leads to a 9 month strike at San Francisco breweries
March 27
2019: Students at University of Kentucky begin a hunger strike to demand rights for food and housing on campus
2020: Restaurant and retail workers in Durham and Raleigh hold a “digital strike” to protest working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic
March 28
2019: The University of Kentucky hunger strike to meet basic needs grows from 21 to 50 hunger strikers
March 29
2024: Protesters picket outside of the Frankfurt Bocanegra in response to sexual harassment
2024: Hotel workers strike at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Santa Monica
March 30
1964: Activists stage lunch counter sit-ins in Tulsa in defiance of racial segregation laws
2013: IWW members deliver a petition for increased wages at Chicago Lake Liquors in Minnesota (the article linked does not mention a specific date, however the author of “Food Fight” contacted one of the workers for this information)
March 31
2008: Food riots erupt in Cocody over rising food prices