April 23, 2024 • 22 mins
Discover the untold stories of service workers fighting for better conditions as we sit down with Jen Hampton from Asheville Food and Beverage United. This episode peels back the layers of the food and beverage industry to reveal the strength found in unity and the importance of investing in people for sustainable change. Jen's insights offer an eye-opening perspective on the transformative power of collective campaigns aimed at securing living wages, fair scheduling, and paid time off for service workers. We embark on a journey through the organization's mission to not only uplift service industry professionals but also to bridge the gap across various labor sectors, fostering a more equitable workforce.
As we unpack the effects of the pandemic on the service industry, it's clear that adversity has bred empowerment and solidarity. Hear about the organic emergence of a private Facebook group that transformed into a rallying point for workers and the resulting camaraderie that's driving a revolution in workplace dynamics. We weigh in on the pivotal moments that are reshaping the power balance between employees and employers, and how a small-town upbringing informed our approach to nurturing community within the labor force. Find out how you can be part of the movement and contribute to the cause, taking away not just an understanding of the issues at hand but also the knowledge of how collective action can create a tide of positive change.
https://sites.google.com/view/avlfbu/home
https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2023/11/15/asheville-food-beverage-united-becomes-labor-union-seeks-members/71583224007/
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Arc Integrated
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Joel (00:00):
What if investing in each other could change the world?
I'm Joel Skeen with bizradiousand this is the Mindful
Marketplace.
And welcome back to part two ofmy discussion here with Jen
Hampton of Asheville Food andBeverage United.
I'm Joel Skeen with bizradiousand you are listening to the
(00:21):
Mindful Marketplace.
If this is your first time withus, welcome.
We're glad to have you On thisprogram.
We talk to the entrepreneurs,advisors, industry leaders,
economic experts andentrepreneurs who are
questioning the assumption thatthere's only one bottom line and
who are not only solving amarket problem to make a profit,
but who are solving a socialproblem to make an impact.
(00:43):
It's where we learn how toconnect our money and our
businesses to our values, ourcommunities and ourselves.
If you missed part one of myconversation with Jen Hampton,
please go back and listen tothat.
It was a really great andenlightening conversation about
what it's actually like forservice workers, both kind of in
the past in her experience indecades working in the past, in
(01:04):
her experience in decadesworking in the industry, but
then also in these last fewyears as far as the changes that
have happened around COVID andthe changes that have happened
in the economy since then.
So I'm going to welcome Jenback into the conversation here.
Jen, thank you so much forbeing back with us.
Jen (01:21):
Oh, I'm so excited to continue the conversation.
This is great.
Joel (01:24):
Yeah, there's been some new news reports out about your
work.
There's been just a lot.
I've been seeing what you guysare doing popping up more and
more and more, little by little,and it's exciting to see that
momentum.
Could you first just kind ofgive us a little overview of the
work you're doing withAsheville Food and Beverage
(01:45):
United and just more broadly,just kind of tell us a little
bit about kind of what that isand what you're doing?
Jen (01:52):
Yeah, sure, I'd love to talk about Asheville Food and
Beverage United.
We started just as a group ofpeople talking under a tree in
the River Arts District abouthow could we organize restaurant
workers and what would thateven look like and what do we
want to organize for, and reallyjust had that conversation for
a full year before we decided tolaunch our first campaign and
(02:15):
make ourselves known to theworld as Asheville Food and
Beverage United, which we hadour first campaign and coming
out party, so to speak, at the2022 May Day celebration in
Pritchard Park, anyway.
So we decided that we wanted toorganize around things like
living wages and fair schedulingand paid time off, because
(02:36):
those are the things that wefelt service workers really
needed the most, and came upwith that campaign.
And then, in talking to people,we discovered other issues that
we can get into later, but wehave really nailed down our
purpose as being to advance theeconomic, social and political
interests of our members,unorganized workers and the
(03:00):
working class as a whole, and todo that, we want to unite all
workers within the serviceindustry and to improve the pay
and working conditions foreverybody.
We want to work with employersto address grievances that
employees have by trying to, youknow, appeal to them privately
and work with them, you know,but we are willing to do things
(03:23):
like strikes and boycotts, butwe'd rather just try to, you
know, settle it as acollaborative effort.
And we also want to make surethat we promote, like safe food
practices, basically in the foodservice industry, because
that's been a major thing thatservice workers have complained
about, you know.
Yeah, and just whatever we cando to unite workers across the
(03:48):
industry.
And really I also convene theWestern North Carolina chapter
of the Southern Workers Assembly, which is a movement to.
It's a network of unions andother worker-led organizations
working to organize workersacross the South.
So my opinion and my belief isthat just the whole working
(04:10):
class needs to unite insolidarity or we're not going to
see any changes in our societythat we need to see.
Joel (04:17):
Yeah, because you mentioned it's not just servers,
it's not just kind of peopleworking in restaurants which we
talked about, which is yourbackground.
But you also mentioned you know, especially here in Asheville,
where you are, but you know kindof there being a very close tie
there between restaurantworkers but also hospitality
(04:38):
workers, people working inhotels and especially like in
the Airbnb market that's evergrowing.
Now I guess why is that cross?
Why are those partnershipsimportant to you?
Jen (04:49):
Well, I'm glad you brought that up, because when we started
organizing, we called itAsheville Food and Beverage
United because our sole focuswas the restaurant industry.
But as we started talking toworkers, we started hearing from
people who work in retail shopsand in hotels even a couple
that clean short-term rentalsand you know they want
representation too.
They also want some help, andso we've expanded it to.
(05:12):
We won't turn away any workerwho wants help with any kind of
workplace issue.
If they want help organizingtheir workplace, we will help
them.
And because we want to do that?
Because it is really vitallyimportant that the working class
in this country, especially inthe South, start standing
together in solidarity.
Because the reason things havegotten to the way they are is
(05:34):
because people with, you know,nefarious goals in mind want to
keep the working class divided.
Because they know that thereare so many of us that if we
come together and realize thatwe all have basically the same
issues, they might just look alittle different here and there,
but we all have the same issues.
We're all part of the workingclass and we all need to stand
(05:54):
together to demand the changesthat we need to improve our
lives, because the situationright now is not sustainable for
anybody, Not even those at thetop.
Joel (06:04):
Yeah, yeah.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat.
What do you mean by it's notsustainable for those at the top
?
Jen (06:09):
I mean, if the working class keeps being decimated to a
point where we can't afford tolive near these jobs, especially
these service jobs, if we can'tafford to live here, then
there's not going to be anybodyto work at these restaurants,
you know, these restaurants, youknow.
And there's not going to beanybody to serve these tourists
(06:29):
that come here, you know,expecting the outstanding
service that we normally havehere in Asheville.
If we keep driving people away,those businesses are going to
suffer, the tourism industry isgoing to suffer, and then it
would just be a chain reactionthat just goes all the way to
the top.
If you don't have any workers,you don't have any profit.
Joel (06:45):
No, that's a good point.
Is that because it seems to melike there's a narrative out
there, or a status quo, that theidea of an empowered workforce
is somehow bad for business?
Would, you agree with that orwould you disagree with that?
Jen (07:00):
I disagree with that because, like we talked about
last week, workers, especiallyservice workers, are the front
line.
You know we represent yourbusinesses, we are the face of
the businesses and we do theday-to-day job to make those
businesses run.
So workers really have a muchmore intimate you know
experience with running thebusiness and the day-to-day
(07:22):
operations so they have a betterunderstanding of what needs to
happen and what needs to changeand what they need to do their
jobs effectively.
And you know, happy employeesprovide better service, they
create better products becausethey're happy to be there and
that, in turn, is good for thebusiness.
And that's how we feel about it.
(07:43):
You know we are notanti-businesses.
We feel about it.
You know we are notanti-businesses, we're not
anti-owner.
We want to work with thesebusiness owners to ensure that
our industry here, especially inAsheville, we're such a
restaurant and brewery, you knowbased economy that we really
want them to thrive, because ifthey thrive then we thrive and
(08:04):
we love what we do.
Most of us love being in thisindustry, so we don't want it to
any, we don't want to cause anyharm to the businesses.
Basically, you know, I feellike we don't want to do
anything that's going to reallyimpact a business in such a way
that they have to shut downbecause they're losing money.
Joel (08:22):
That's that's definitely not our aim yeah, of course that
would be, that would be.
Uh, that would be insane to tryto shut down the place that you
work for.
Right, it seems much more of along-term approach I've had on
recently well, actually this isabout a year ago now I had on a
gentleman who's an executivecoach and he has an entire
consulting business and he talkswith his executives that he
(08:42):
works with about howunderstanding the group the name
of his group is actually calledPeople, prof business and he
talks with his executives thathe works with about how
understanding the group the nameof his group is actually called
people, profit and he talks tothem about how you know, through
leadership, through throughmaterial things like wages and
benefits, but through culture,through all of these different
ways as a leader, that when youactually invest into your people
(09:05):
, you are investing into yourprofits, because your people are
your business and they're thethings that actually generate,
they're the things that keep theengine running right.
The people are the thing thatkeeps the pistons going and keep
things moving.
And if you neglect your people,either with toxic workplace
(09:25):
culture or with unsustainableliving conditions or wages, if
you don't actually ever investinto your people, then you're
going to kind of rot from theinside, and so I think it just
makes sense.
It's more of like a long-termview.
Is that kind of the way youlook at it?
Jen (09:43):
Absolutely.
I do look at it that waybecause I feel like, if you do
as you were talking I wasthinking about this local hotel
it's a big chain I just recentlyfound know.
That saves them so much moneyin the long term because it
(10:08):
costs an average of three monthspay to train somebody.
So every time you lose anemployee, you're basically
having to pay an extra threemonths worth of pay to train
somebody new to replace them.
So in the long term, it reallysaves you a lot of money to just
take care of the workers thatyou have to treat them with
respect and dignity and they, inturn, will help your business
(10:31):
thrive because they're happy tobe there and they're not
resentful, you know.
So it just yeah, that's a greatway to look at it is.
It's a long term investment tolisten to your employees and to
take care of them and addressthe concerns they might have.
Joel (10:44):
So I'm curious when it comes to organizing labor, it
seems like this hasn't beensomething that's been done in
the past with service workers inparticular, and hospitality
workers we hear a lot about.
There was the big UAW strike.
I'm from Michigan, so a lot ofpeople that I knew were either
in some type of union formanufacturing work, but why
(11:06):
hasn't that ever been the casefor service work from your
perspective?
Jen (11:11):
From my perspective, I feel like the big established unions
have just kind of not reallypaid any attention to us at all,
and probably because there'snot a lot of maybe there's not a
lot of dues money that you canget from it.
You know, I don't really Ican't really speak for certain
why they didn't try to organizethis.
I can only speculate in my mindwhat it could be to organize
(11:36):
this.
I can only speculate in my mindwhat it could be.
But I feel like Starbucksreally started this big chain
reaction a couple years ago whenthey first started unionizing
and also the workers atStarbucks.
Yeah, thank you for that.
Yeah, starbucks didn't unionize, the workers did, anyways.
And I think that another reasonthat it's really difficult to
organize um service workers isbecause the industry is so
(12:00):
transient.
You know, the jobs aredifficult, they are usually low
paying, and so people just movefrom job to job, you know,
because you just can't stand itsometimes and you just have to
move and hope that the next oneis good.
So it's really hard to unionizeplaces like that.
So that's why we've taken thisunique approach to try to do an
industry-wide sort of organizingeffort.
Joel (12:21):
Yeah, why?
I guess how you know thosechallenges have obviously
existed in the past.
How are you guys trying totackle those?
Jen (12:31):
Well, we thought about it long and hard and decided that
it would be really pointless toput in a lot of effort and time
into organizing an individualrestaurant at a time, but rather
uniting everybody across theindustry, especially in a town
like this where there's a lot ofsolidarity in the service
industry community, the workerscommunity the workers, and it
(12:53):
just seemed like a better way todo it just to say you know what
?
let's just no matter where youwork, let's just all get
together and fight for eachother, because we all know what
it's like.
So I feel like that's been thekey to our success is really
just focusing on the communityas a whole, and I feel like
that's.
You know, there's other placesacross the state that we're
working with that are trying todo the same thing.
Joel (13:20):
And I feel like that's probably going to be the future
of organizing service work.
Yeah, it seems like there'sbeen.
You know, honestly, in the last12 to 18 months I think I've
seen more news, more reports andmore examples of there being
organizing activity.
You know you mentionedStarbucks.
There's also been this stuffhappening.
You know there's been a lot ofreporting on what's going on
with workers at Amazon and UPSrecently won a big battle and
(13:41):
the UAW won a big battle.
And you know service workers outin Las Vegas are taking to the
streets.
You know people who work atcasinos.
I just saw one about the casinoworkers in Atlantic City.
Why is all this happening rightnow in your mind?
Jen (13:58):
I think, I really think that it all stems from the
pandemic, because you know acouple.
I think there's two key thingsthat happened in the pandemic.
One is that the restaurantsclosed down and we started to
realize how much people startedto realize how much they really
wanted servers and, you know, togo to the bar and to go out to
eat.
And another thing that happenedis, since we weren't working,
(14:21):
we were able to connect.
Especially here in Asheville,we were able to connect over a
private Facebook group just forfood service workers, and being
able to connect like that reallymade everybody aware about the
systemic issues and peoplestarted paying attention to what
other people were doing toorganize in service industries
(14:42):
and started realizing, oh wow,we can do that.
You know, and I feel likethat's been the big change is
just people seeing that yeah, wehave the same issues and look
at what these other people aredoing, we can do that too, and
so it's just kind of lit a fireand it's just growing and
growing and growing and it'sinspirational really.
Joel (15:01):
Yeah, tell me a little bit more about that connection
between people and that kind ofhearing from each other and
understanding each other,because it sounds like there's a
big link between thatconnection.
You've used the word solidaritya bunch so far.
What's the connection betweenthat connection and empowerment?
Jen (15:23):
Oh, that's a great question , because that's exactly how my
story went.
I was, you know, really justfeeling bad about my position in
life, I guess, as a serviceworker in my 40s, and, like you
know, what am I supposed to dowhen I can't do this work
anymore Because I don't have anyexperience doing anything else
(15:43):
and, you know, just kind ofinternalizing everything,
basically.
And then when I discovered theFacebook group, the F&B Tribe,
and started, you know,interacting with other service
workers and realizing that Ithink I said this before the
things I had internalized werenot actually my fault, I think
other people started realizingthat too.
And for me personally, helpingother people gives me a sense of
(16:07):
empowerment, you know, it kindof makes me stand up a little
taller, like, okay, well, we cando some stuff because I've got
some people behind me and I'vegot a community that understands
and has the same problems andalso has the same hopes and
dreams for making change.
And I feel like that's just soempowering and it's a driving
(16:28):
force for me for sure, thatcamaraderie, that awareness of
community and the shared issuesthat we have.
Joel (16:35):
Yeah, I resonate a lot with what you're saying, because
I do think that there's beenthis move towards kind of being
a more individualistic societyin general.
Right, you could even say thatwhen we moved out from
neighborhood blocks where we allknew each other on our
neighborhood, or we were in asmall town and we all knew our
neighbors, to kind of a more hey, we all live in a, you know, we
(16:59):
got our um, our garage dooropeners and you know we don't
even see our neighbors, and thenwe walk, we go inside and we
got our own screen in our ownroom and we are very kind of
isolated Right, um, and I'm surethat there's someone listening
right now who is saying you knowwhat, why that there's someone
listening right now who issaying you know what, why are
you doing all this?
If you want better pay, just goask for a raise, go get a
(17:24):
better job, go do it on your own.
Jen (17:24):
How would you respond to that?
Well, I personally grew up in avery small town of 800 people
where I did know everybody'snames and where everybody lived,
and I feel like that.
I really carried that throughmy life.
You know, I feel like the bestway to be is neighborly and to
take care of each other, becauseif you're only taking care of
yourself and you're not thinkingabout your fellow community
members, is that really makinganybody's life better?
(17:46):
It's not making my life betterIf I'm just I mean, that's just
how I personally feel is that ifI'm doing well, but I see a
fellow worker suffering, I don'tfeel good about that.
You know, I want them to do wellas well.
You know, I told my previousboss at Ben's Tune Up, where I
worked, when we startedAsheville Food and Beverage
(18:07):
United, you know, and I finallylet her know what we were doing
and I said I just want you toknow that I'm not organizing
this because I don't like my job.
I'm organizing it because Iwant other people to have what I
have here too, you know.
So that's been my.
My motivation is I want y'allto have this too.
(18:28):
I don't want it just for me andmy coworkers, because that
doesn't make me feel good at all.
You know, I want us all to behappy and healthy and living a
good life.
Joel (18:32):
Yeah, and I think that we should.
You know, we regular people whoare working full time deserve
to have that, and I don't seeany reason why they shouldn't,
and you, who are working fulltime, deserve to have that, and
I don't see any reason why theyshouldn't.
And you know, to me it alsoseems like there's a power
dynamic right If you areisolated and you're trying to go
up against a big institutionalstructure, especially, you know
(18:54):
it's different when it's a smallbusiness and there's a
relationship there.
But when you're trying to go upagainst, you know, a
multinational corporation, youknow, alone you're going to be
begging, but together,corporation, you know, alone
you're going to be begging, buttogether you can actually
bargain you can actually havesome kind of voice, any kind of
final words on that here withthe last few minutes that we've
got?
Jen (19:12):
Yeah, I think you put it very well United we bargain, and
divided we fail.
Because I keep thinking aboutthis meme where there's a
business owner standing on topof some bricks or something and
it's got like lawyers andaccountants and marketing and
just so many things and then theworker is standing up together,
(19:33):
you know, with all the otherworkers, kind of making a
pyramid, and then they're atequal level and you know that
just kind of illustrates thatthese big corporations, they've
got so much power in the form of, you know, their assets, their
money, their resources and thatmakes their voice really big.
But then you've got just onesingle solitary worker down here
and you know nobody cares whatthat one worker has to say.
(19:56):
But when all the workers gettogether and use their voices
collectively, that's a reallybig noise that they're making
and people have to listen tothat Because, like I said before
, there is no profit without theworkers and vice versa, there's
no work if we don't take careof the businesses too.
So I feel like it's really thisjoint effort that's going to
(20:18):
have to happen between businessowners and the workers to make
it all work for everybody.
Joel (20:24):
Yeah, it sounds like what you're getting at is moving
towards a relationship that'smore of a partnership rather
than a relationship that's oneof a domination.
It's been so good to have youhere on the show today, Jen.
I'm very excited.
Where can people connect withyou and the work you're doing?
Jen (20:42):
Well, if you want to contact me personally, you can
email me at jenhampton74 atgmailcom.
If you'd like to get involvedwith Asheville Food and Beverage
United, you can visit avlfbuorgor check us out on Instagram at
avlfbu Awesome.
Joel (20:58):
Thank you guys so much for tuning in today.
Really hope you all have agreat rest of your day and make
sure to subscribe on YouTube,itunes, spotify, stitcher,
iheartradio Budsprout, whereverit is you listen to podcasts and
make sure to listen to all theother fantastic hosts here on
bizradious.
And until next time, rememberwe are each other.
What if investing in each other could change the world?
I'm Joel Skeen with bizradiousand this is the Mindful
Marketplace.
And welcome back to part two ofmy discussion here with Jen
Hampton of Asheville Food andBeverage United.
I'm Joel Skeen with bizradiousand you are listening to the
(00:21):
Mindful Marketplace.
If this is your first time withus, welcome.
We're glad to have you On thisprogram.
We talk to the entrepreneurs,advisors, industry leaders,
economic experts andentrepreneurs who are
questioning the assumption thatthere's only one bottom line and
who are not only solving amarket problem to make a profit,
but who are solving a socialproblem to make an impact.
(00:43):
It's where we learn how toconnect our money and our
businesses to our values, ourcommunities and ourselves.
If you missed part one of myconversation with Jen Hampton,
please go back and listen tothat.
It was a really great andenlightening conversation about
what it's actually like forservice workers, both kind of in
the past in her experience indecades working in the past, in
(01:04):
her experience in decadesworking in the industry, but
then also in these last fewyears as far as the changes that
have happened around COVID andthe changes that have happened
in the economy since then.
So I'm going to welcome Jenback into the conversation here.
Jen, thank you so much forbeing back with us.
Jen (01:21):
Oh, I'm so excited to continue the conversation.
This is great.
Joel (01:24):
Yeah, there's been some new news reports out about your
work.
There's been just a lot.
I've been seeing what you guysare doing popping up more and
more and more, little by little,and it's exciting to see that
momentum.
Could you first just kind ofgive us a little overview of the
work you're doing withAsheville Food and Beverage
(01:45):
United and just more broadly,just kind of tell us a little
bit about kind of what that isand what you're doing?
Jen (01:52):
Yeah, sure, I'd love to talk about Asheville Food and
Beverage United.
We started just as a group ofpeople talking under a tree in
the River Arts District abouthow could we organize restaurant
workers and what would thateven look like and what do we
want to organize for, and reallyjust had that conversation for
a full year before we decided tolaunch our first campaign and
(02:15):
make ourselves known to theworld as Asheville Food and
Beverage United, which we hadour first campaign and coming
out party, so to speak, at the2022 May Day celebration in
Pritchard Park, anyway.
So we decided that we wanted toorganize around things like
living wages and fair schedulingand paid time off, because
(02:36):
those are the things that wefelt service workers really
needed the most, and came upwith that campaign.
And then, in talking to people,we discovered other issues that
we can get into later, but wehave really nailed down our
purpose as being to advance theeconomic, social and political
interests of our members,unorganized workers and the
(03:00):
working class as a whole, and todo that, we want to unite all
workers within the serviceindustry and to improve the pay
and working conditions foreverybody.
We want to work with employersto address grievances that
employees have by trying to, youknow, appeal to them privately
and work with them, you know,but we are willing to do things
(03:23):
like strikes and boycotts, butwe'd rather just try to, you
know, settle it as acollaborative effort.
And we also want to make surethat we promote, like safe food
practices, basically in the foodservice industry, because
that's been a major thing thatservice workers have complained
about, you know.
Yeah, and just whatever we cando to unite workers across the
(03:48):
industry.
And really I also convene theWestern North Carolina chapter
of the Southern Workers Assembly, which is a movement to.
It's a network of unions andother worker-led organizations
working to organize workersacross the South.
So my opinion and my belief isthat just the whole working
(04:10):
class needs to unite insolidarity or we're not going to
see any changes in our societythat we need to see.
Joel (04:17):
Yeah, because you mentioned it's not just servers,
it's not just kind of peopleworking in restaurants which we
talked about, which is yourbackground.
But you also mentioned you know, especially here in Asheville,
where you are, but you know kindof there being a very close tie
there between restaurantworkers but also hospitality
(04:38):
workers, people working inhotels and especially like in
the Airbnb market that's evergrowing.
Now I guess why is that cross?
Why are those partnershipsimportant to you?
Jen (04:49):
Well, I'm glad you brought that up, because when we started
organizing, we called itAsheville Food and Beverage
United because our sole focuswas the restaurant industry.
But as we started talking toworkers, we started hearing from
people who work in retail shopsand in hotels even a couple
that clean short-term rentalsand you know they want
representation too.
They also want some help, andso we've expanded it to.
(05:12):
We won't turn away any workerwho wants help with any kind of
workplace issue.
If they want help organizingtheir workplace, we will help
them.
And because we want to do that?
Because it is really vitallyimportant that the working class
in this country, especially inthe South, start standing
together in solidarity.
Because the reason things havegotten to the way they are is
(05:34):
because people with, you know,nefarious goals in mind want to
keep the working class divided.
Because they know that thereare so many of us that if we
come together and realize thatwe all have basically the same
issues, they might just look alittle different here and there,
but we all have the same issues.
We're all part of the workingclass and we all need to stand
(05:54):
together to demand the changesthat we need to improve our
lives, because the situationright now is not sustainable for
anybody, Not even those at thetop.
Joel (06:04):
Yeah, yeah.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat.
What do you mean by it's notsustainable for those at the top
?
Jen (06:09):
I mean, if the working class keeps being decimated to a
point where we can't afford tolive near these jobs, especially
these service jobs, if we can'tafford to live here, then
there's not going to be anybodyto work at these restaurants,
you know, these restaurants, youknow.
And there's not going to beanybody to serve these tourists
(06:29):
that come here, you know,expecting the outstanding
service that we normally havehere in Asheville.
If we keep driving people away,those businesses are going to
suffer, the tourism industry isgoing to suffer, and then it
would just be a chain reactionthat just goes all the way to
the top.
If you don't have any workers,you don't have any profit.
Joel (06:45):
No, that's a good point.
Is that because it seems to melike there's a narrative out
there, or a status quo, that theidea of an empowered workforce
is somehow bad for business?
Would, you agree with that orwould you disagree with that?
Jen (07:00):
I disagree with that because, like we talked about
last week, workers, especiallyservice workers, are the front
line.
You know we represent yourbusinesses, we are the face of
the businesses and we do theday-to-day job to make those
businesses run.
So workers really have a muchmore intimate you know
experience with running thebusiness and the day-to-day
(07:22):
operations so they have a betterunderstanding of what needs to
happen and what needs to changeand what they need to do their
jobs effectively.
And you know, happy employeesprovide better service, they
create better products becausethey're happy to be there and
that, in turn, is good for thebusiness.
And that's how we feel about it.
(07:43):
You know we are notanti-businesses.
We feel about it.
You know we are notanti-businesses, we're not
anti-owner.
We want to work with thesebusiness owners to ensure that
our industry here, especially inAsheville, we're such a
restaurant and brewery, you knowbased economy that we really
want them to thrive, because ifthey thrive then we thrive and
(08:04):
we love what we do.
Most of us love being in thisindustry, so we don't want it to
any, we don't want to cause anyharm to the businesses.
Basically, you know, I feellike we don't want to do
anything that's going to reallyimpact a business in such a way
that they have to shut downbecause they're losing money.
Joel (08:22):
That's that's definitely not our aim yeah, of course that
would be, that would be.
Uh, that would be insane to tryto shut down the place that you
work for.
Right, it seems much more of along-term approach I've had on
recently well, actually this isabout a year ago now I had on a
gentleman who's an executivecoach and he has an entire
consulting business and he talkswith his executives that he
(08:42):
works with about howunderstanding the group the name
of his group is actually calledPeople, prof business and he
talks with his executives thathe works with about how
understanding the group the nameof his group is actually called
people, profit and he talks tothem about how you know, through
leadership, through throughmaterial things like wages and
benefits, but through culture,through all of these different
ways as a leader, that when youactually invest into your people
(09:05):
, you are investing into yourprofits, because your people are
your business and they're thethings that actually generate,
they're the things that keep theengine running right.
The people are the thing thatkeeps the pistons going and keep
things moving.
And if you neglect your people,either with toxic workplace
(09:25):
culture or with unsustainableliving conditions or wages, if
you don't actually ever investinto your people, then you're
going to kind of rot from theinside, and so I think it just
makes sense.
It's more of like a long-termview.
Is that kind of the way youlook at it?
Jen (09:43):
Absolutely.
I do look at it that waybecause I feel like, if you do
as you were talking I wasthinking about this local hotel
it's a big chain I just recentlyfound know.
That saves them so much moneyin the long term because it
(10:08):
costs an average of three monthspay to train somebody.
So every time you lose anemployee, you're basically
having to pay an extra threemonths worth of pay to train
somebody new to replace them.
So in the long term, it reallysaves you a lot of money to just
take care of the workers thatyou have to treat them with
respect and dignity and they, inturn, will help your business
(10:31):
thrive because they're happy tobe there and they're not
resentful, you know.
So it just yeah, that's a greatway to look at it is.
It's a long term investment tolisten to your employees and to
take care of them and addressthe concerns they might have.
Joel (10:44):
So I'm curious when it comes to organizing labor, it
seems like this hasn't beensomething that's been done in
the past with service workers inparticular, and hospitality
workers we hear a lot about.
There was the big UAW strike.
I'm from Michigan, so a lot ofpeople that I knew were either
in some type of union formanufacturing work, but why
(11:06):
hasn't that ever been the casefor service work from your
perspective?
Jen (11:11):
From my perspective, I feel like the big established unions
have just kind of not reallypaid any attention to us at all,
and probably because there'snot a lot of maybe there's not a
lot of dues money that you canget from it.
You know, I don't really Ican't really speak for certain
why they didn't try to organizethis.
I can only speculate in my mindwhat it could be to organize
(11:36):
this.
I can only speculate in my mindwhat it could be.
But I feel like Starbucksreally started this big chain
reaction a couple years ago whenthey first started unionizing
and also the workers atStarbucks.
Yeah, thank you for that.
Yeah, starbucks didn't unionize, the workers did, anyways.
And I think that another reasonthat it's really difficult to
organize um service workers isbecause the industry is so
(12:00):
transient.
You know, the jobs aredifficult, they are usually low
paying, and so people just movefrom job to job, you know,
because you just can't stand itsometimes and you just have to
move and hope that the next oneis good.
So it's really hard to unionizeplaces like that.
So that's why we've taken thisunique approach to try to do an
industry-wide sort of organizingeffort.
Joel (12:21):
Yeah, why?
I guess how you know thosechallenges have obviously
existed in the past.
How are you guys trying totackle those?
Jen (12:31):
Well, we thought about it long and hard and decided that
it would be really pointless toput in a lot of effort and time
into organizing an individualrestaurant at a time, but rather
uniting everybody across theindustry, especially in a town
like this where there's a lot ofsolidarity in the service
industry community, the workerscommunity the workers, and it
(12:53):
just seemed like a better way todo it just to say you know what
?
let's just no matter where youwork, let's just all get
together and fight for eachother, because we all know what
it's like.
So I feel like that's been thekey to our success is really
just focusing on the communityas a whole, and I feel like
that's.
You know, there's other placesacross the state that we're
working with that are trying todo the same thing.
Joel (13:20):
And I feel like that's probably going to be the future
of organizing service work.
Yeah, it seems like there'sbeen.
You know, honestly, in the last12 to 18 months I think I've
seen more news, more reports andmore examples of there being
organizing activity.
You know you mentionedStarbucks.
There's also been this stuffhappening.
You know there's been a lot ofreporting on what's going on
with workers at Amazon and UPSrecently won a big battle and
(13:41):
the UAW won a big battle.
And you know service workers outin Las Vegas are taking to the
streets.
You know people who work atcasinos.
I just saw one about the casinoworkers in Atlantic City.
Why is all this happening rightnow in your mind?
Jen (13:58):
I think, I really think that it all stems from the
pandemic, because you know acouple.
I think there's two key thingsthat happened in the pandemic.
One is that the restaurantsclosed down and we started to
realize how much people startedto realize how much they really
wanted servers and, you know, togo to the bar and to go out to
eat.
And another thing that happenedis, since we weren't working,
(14:21):
we were able to connect.
Especially here in Asheville,we were able to connect over a
private Facebook group just forfood service workers, and being
able to connect like that reallymade everybody aware about the
systemic issues and peoplestarted paying attention to what
other people were doing toorganize in service industries
(14:42):
and started realizing, oh wow,we can do that.
You know, and I feel likethat's been the big change is
just people seeing that yeah, wehave the same issues and look
at what these other people aredoing, we can do that too, and
so it's just kind of lit a fireand it's just growing and
growing and growing and it'sinspirational really.
Joel (15:01):
Yeah, tell me a little bit more about that connection
between people and that kind ofhearing from each other and
understanding each other,because it sounds like there's a
big link between thatconnection.
You've used the word solidaritya bunch so far.
What's the connection betweenthat connection and empowerment?
Jen (15:23):
Oh, that's a great question , because that's exactly how my
story went.
I was, you know, really justfeeling bad about my position in
life, I guess, as a serviceworker in my 40s, and, like you
know, what am I supposed to dowhen I can't do this work
anymore Because I don't have anyexperience doing anything else
(15:43):
and, you know, just kind ofinternalizing everything,
basically.
And then when I discovered theFacebook group, the F&B Tribe,
and started, you know,interacting with other service
workers and realizing that Ithink I said this before the
things I had internalized werenot actually my fault, I think
other people started realizingthat too.
And for me personally, helpingother people gives me a sense of
(16:07):
empowerment, you know, it kindof makes me stand up a little
taller, like, okay, well, we cando some stuff because I've got
some people behind me and I'vegot a community that understands
and has the same problems andalso has the same hopes and
dreams for making change.
And I feel like that's just soempowering and it's a driving
(16:28):
force for me for sure, thatcamaraderie, that awareness of
community and the shared issuesthat we have.
Joel (16:35):
Yeah, I resonate a lot with what you're saying, because
I do think that there's beenthis move towards kind of being
a more individualistic societyin general.
Right, you could even say thatwhen we moved out from
neighborhood blocks where we allknew each other on our
neighborhood, or we were in asmall town and we all knew our
neighbors, to kind of a more hey, we all live in a, you know, we
(16:59):
got our um, our garage dooropeners and you know we don't
even see our neighbors, and thenwe walk, we go inside and we
got our own screen in our ownroom and we are very kind of
isolated Right, um, and I'm surethat there's someone listening
right now who is saying you knowwhat, why that there's someone
listening right now who issaying you know what, why are
you doing all this?
If you want better pay, just goask for a raise, go get a
(17:24):
better job, go do it on your own.
Jen (17:24):
How would you respond to that?
Well, I personally grew up in avery small town of 800 people
where I did know everybody'snames and where everybody lived,
and I feel like that.
I really carried that throughmy life.
You know, I feel like the bestway to be is neighborly and to
take care of each other, becauseif you're only taking care of
yourself and you're not thinkingabout your fellow community
members, is that really makinganybody's life better?
(17:46):
It's not making my life betterIf I'm just I mean, that's just
how I personally feel is that ifI'm doing well, but I see a
fellow worker suffering, I don'tfeel good about that.
You know, I want them to do wellas well.
You know, I told my previousboss at Ben's Tune Up, where I
worked, when we startedAsheville Food and Beverage
(18:07):
United, you know, and I finallylet her know what we were doing
and I said I just want you toknow that I'm not organizing
this because I don't like my job.
I'm organizing it because Iwant other people to have what I
have here too, you know.
So that's been my.
My motivation is I want y'allto have this too.
(18:28):
I don't want it just for me andmy coworkers, because that
doesn't make me feel good at all.
You know, I want us all to behappy and healthy and living a
good life.
Joel (18:32):
Yeah, and I think that we should.
You know, we regular people whoare working full time deserve
to have that, and I don't seeany reason why they shouldn't,
and you, who are working fulltime, deserve to have that, and
I don't see any reason why theyshouldn't.
And you know, to me it alsoseems like there's a power
dynamic right If you areisolated and you're trying to go
up against a big institutionalstructure, especially, you know
(18:54):
it's different when it's a smallbusiness and there's a
relationship there.
But when you're trying to go upagainst, you know, a
multinational corporation, youknow, alone you're going to be
begging, but together,corporation, you know, alone
you're going to be begging, buttogether you can actually
bargain you can actually havesome kind of voice, any kind of
final words on that here withthe last few minutes that we've
got?
Jen (19:12):
Yeah, I think you put it very well United we bargain, and
divided we fail.
Because I keep thinking aboutthis meme where there's a
business owner standing on topof some bricks or something and
it's got like lawyers andaccountants and marketing and
just so many things and then theworker is standing up together,
(19:33):
you know, with all the otherworkers, kind of making a
pyramid, and then they're atequal level and you know that
just kind of illustrates thatthese big corporations, they've
got so much power in the form of, you know, their assets, their
money, their resources and thatmakes their voice really big.
But then you've got just onesingle solitary worker down here
and you know nobody cares whatthat one worker has to say.
(19:56):
But when all the workers gettogether and use their voices
collectively, that's a reallybig noise that they're making
and people have to listen tothat Because, like I said before
, there is no profit without theworkers and vice versa, there's
no work if we don't take careof the businesses too.
So I feel like it's really thisjoint effort that's going to
(20:18):
have to happen between businessowners and the workers to make
it all work for everybody.
Joel (20:24):
Yeah, it sounds like what you're getting at is moving
towards a relationship that'smore of a partnership rather
than a relationship that's oneof a domination.
It's been so good to have youhere on the show today, Jen.
I'm very excited.
Where can people connect withyou and the work you're doing?
Jen (20:42):
Well, if you want to contact me personally, you can
email me at jenhampton74 atgmailcom.
If you'd like to get involvedwith Asheville Food and Beverage
United, you can visit avlfbuorgor check us out on Instagram at
avlfbu Awesome.
Joel (20:58):
Thank you guys so much for tuning in today.
Really hope you all have agreat rest of your day and make
sure to subscribe on YouTube,itunes, spotify, stitcher,
iheartradio Budsprout, whereverit is you listen to podcasts and
make sure to listen to all theother fantastic hosts here on
bizradious.
And until next time, rememberwe are each other.
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