Saru Jayaraman

Born in 1975, Jayaraman was raised in a primarily Chicano neighborhood in Whittier, California.[1] Her parents emigrated from India to the United States when her father was seeking work as a software engineer. They settled in the Los Angeles area, but Jayaraman's father lost his job when she was a teenager.[2] She was made aware of her class and race at a young age. Her family frequently endured racial slurs and insults. One incident from her childhood occurred when many mechanics refused to service her family's car when it broke down while they were road tripping across Utah.[3]

Jayaraman was accepted to Harvard at the age of sixteen, but her parents wanted her to stay close to home .[4] Sixteen-year-old Jayaraman attended UCLA instead, where she earned her B.A. in International Development Studies and Political Science and graduated summa cum laude in 1995. She continued her education at Yale Law School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. In 2000, Jayaraman was admitted to the State Bars in California and New York.[5] During her time at Yale, Jayaraman studied under MacArthur Foundation Fellowship winner, Jennifer Gordon.[4] Jayaraman was hired at Gordon's organization, the Workplace Project, where she dealt with training and organizing mistreated Latino immigrant workers to become their own advocates in instances of labor abuse.[5]

After September 11, 2001, thousands of workers from the World Trade Center were left jobless.[6] The restaurant at the top of the World Trade was named Windows on the World. Jayaraman worked in partnership with Fekkak Mamdouh, the former chief server of Windows, to represent the displaced workers. The organization Jayaraman and Mamdouh founded together was named the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York. Although it was originally established to help those affected by 9/11, the ROC evolved and became an organizing center for all immigrant restaurant workers in New York. Jayaraman headed the expansion effort and became the co-founder and director of Restaurant Opportunities Center United in 2007.[5][7] ROC United, still headed by Jayaraman and Mamdouh, currently has over 18,000 members across 15 states. The organization deals with workplace justice campaigns, establishing living wages, and protecting workers rights. Jayaraman has been a key player in major advancements for low wage workers across the country.[8] ROC United has won back more than $10 million for its members, and is continuing to fight through the ONE FAIR WAGE Campaign.[7] There are two federal minimum wages in the United States: $7.25 for untipped workers, and $2.13 for tipped workers.[8] Jayaraman spearheads the fair wage campaign which seeks to eliminate this two tier system, and has already done so in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Montana, Minnesota and Alaska.[7] ROC United was also instrumental in the passing of Washington's Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act, which assures that all workers can begin accumulating sick leave after one day on the job.[9]

In 1992, Saru Jayaraman started a non-profit called Women and Youth Supporting Each Other (W.Y.S.E) which "empowers young women by providing the resources and support necessary to make positive life choices and create community change."[10] She was recognized by President Bill Clinton during his commencement speech and was praised as "America at its best."[5] Jayaraman worked as a professor at various colleges in the New York area, teaching classes on a variety of topics, including political science, sociology, immigrants rights, and law. She also conducted research on food workers, sustainability, and urban poverty.[5] Jayaraman has been serving as the leader of the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley since 2012. It is the first academic institution to study the relationship between food and labor.[1]

Jayaraman is married to Zachary Norris, and has two daughters named Akeela Lalitha and Lina Abiani Norris-Raman.[2] Jayaraman and Norris met at a Rebelling Lawyers Conference. Norris is now the executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in San Francisco.[3]

Saru Jayaraman has written three books. The New Urban Immigrant Workforce, released in 2005, is about modern methods of labor organizing. It draws on first-hand accounts and ethnographies from workers in New York.[11] Behind the Kitchen Door: The People Who Make and Serve Your Food was written in 2013. The book is about sexism, racism, and worker abuse in restaurants.[12] Forked: A New Standard for American Dining was published in 2016. The book investigates the employment practices of a wide range of restaurants, from fine dining establishments to fast-food chains.[13] After the best-selling books gained national attention, Jayaraman did television interviews on PBS, CNN, MSNBC, and HBO.[3] In addition to her three books, Jayaraman has published numerous journal articles and technical reports.

In 2007, a group of former employees brought a lawsuit against Jayaraman and the Restaurant Opportunities Center.[14] Following the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001, Jayaraman set out to open an employee-owned restaurant for the former workers from Windows on the World that was destroyed in the attacks. However, the feel-good project quickly soured when Jayaraman's promise to the employees of total ownership in exchange for working long hours of "sweat equity" without pay did not come to fruition.[15] Instead, the workers were told that they would receive just 20% ownership and that they would not be entitled to that until 5 years after Colors' opened. In the lawsuit, Jayaraman is also accused of expelling workers for voicing their objections.[15] The legal trouble for Jayaraman continued in 2012 when the Restaurant Opportunities Center had an oversight investigation opened on it by the United States House of Representatives calling into question the groups federal funding.[16] In 2017, Jayaraman and ROC quietly closed Colors restaurant in New York City as former employees described the restaurant as having no clear leadership and strapped for cash.[17] In early 2020 Colors re-opened in NYC, but suddenly shuttered operations after less than a month. Employees were informed of the closure via text message.[18] Head chef, Sicily Sewell-Johnson claims that ROC failed to set up basic business requirements such as workers compensations, payroll, and health insurance.[19] When Sewell-Johnson injured her finger on the job, she had to pay for care herself because she was never provided the health insurance that she had been promised.[19]

Jayaraman (right) speaks at a Time's Up event in 2018

Jayaraman was named a Champion of Change by the Obama administration in 2014, listed in CNN's "Top10 Visionary Women," and was awarded a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2015. She was named one of Crain's New York Business "40 Under 40," 1010 Wins' "Newsmaker of the Year," and New York Magazine's "Influentials" of New York City."[20] In 2018 she was chosen by the National Women's History Project as one of its honorees for Women's History Month in the United States.[21]

Other accolades:[5]

• Prime Movers Award. Boston, 2011-2013
• Wolfe Fellowship in the Humanities. Brooklyn College. New York, 2009-2010
• 1010 WINS "Newsmaker of the Year." New York, 2009
• Crain's New York Business "40 Under 40." New York, 2008
• Honoree, New York Committee on Occupational Safety & Health. New York, 2007
• Honoree, Workshop in Business Opportunity. New York, 2007
• Named one of the 11 Most Influential People in Food, New York Magazine's "Influentials" Issue. New York, 2007
• Immigrant Leadership Award for New York City, Mayor Bloomberg. New York, 2006
• Profiled as a New York Times "Public Life." New York, 2005
• Union Square Award winner. New York, 2003
• Harvard Foundation "Road to Success" honoree. Cambridge, 2002
• Schell Fellowship, Yale Law School. New Haven, 2000
• Dean's Award for Excellence in Student Teaching, Harvard University. Cambridge, 1998
• Annual Service Award, Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. Cambridge, 1997
• Mary McCarthy Fellowship, Yale Law School. New Haven, 1996
• Outstanding Senior Award, Chancellor's Service Award, University of California at Los Angeles. Los Angeles, 1995.
• Fellow, Harry S. Truman National Fellowship. St. Louis, 1994

She attended the 75th Golden Globe Awards in 2018 as a guest of Amy Poehler.[22]