Food Chain Workers Alliance

1730 W. Olympic Blvd. Suite 300, Los Angeles, CA 90015

213-761-8893* www.foodchainworkers.org * info@foodchainworkers.org

October 26, 2016

Dear Consumer Affairs Committee,

On behalf of the Food Chain Workers Alliance, I am here to voice our strong support to the Street Vendor
Modernization Act.

The Food Chain Workers Alliance is a national coalition of worker-based organizations whose members
plant, harvest, process, pack, transport, prepare, serve, and sell food. We are working to build a more
sustainable food system that not only provides for healthy food but also ensures that the people who are
making and selling our food including the street vendors of New York City are treated fairly.

As a native New Yorker Ive enjoyed the foods from vendors my entire life. From a hot dog to a fruit juice,
theyve always been there when I needed a snack or quick breakfast. I was first exposed to the many
difficulties food vendors face when as a college student. I interned with a street vendors organization in
East Harlem that provided services, helped to educate vendors on rules and represented them in court.
Through my internship I saw the hardworking vendors the majority of them immigrant women trying to
raise families and give their children better opportunities. I saw them trying to achieve the american
dream. They were also a great value to that community providing foods that reminded folks of home and
exposing people to new tasty foods.

For many years, vendors have not been treated fairly. The low cap on food vending permits imposed in
the 1980s after lobbying from big corporations has created a system based on exploitation and abuse.
Exploitation at the hands of permit owners who charge exorbitant rates to rent permits that they
themselves do not use. Abuse at the hands of police, who arrest and ticket vendors brave enough or
desperate enough to try vending without permits, just to support themselves and their families.

We know from our experience that, unlike most celebrity chefs you we see on TV, and unlike most people
who write books on food policy, the majority of people who make and serve our food are women,
immigrants, and/or people of color. This is absolutely the case for the street vendors in our city. They
work long hours for little pay. They often do not have time to go to their Community Board meetings. They
often may not know who their Council Members are. And yet the decisions made in rooms like this
dramatically affect their lives.
This administration, and this City Council, have pledged to the address the inequality that exists in New
York City. Doing so, creating a more just city and a more just food system, can be controversial. Many
people in power restaurant owners, real estate companies, business associations will object. I ask
you to consider just as strongly the thousands of workers, selling food right now on the streets in
communities across this city, whose lives will change forever if they receive a permit.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

Sincerely,

Diana Robinson
Campaign and Education Coordinator
Members: Alliance for Fair Food * Brandworkers International * Brooklyn Food Coalition * California Institute for Rural Studies
Coalition of Immokalee Workers * Comit de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrcolas * Community to Community Development
Familias Unidas Por La Justicia * Farmworker Association of Florida * International Labor Rights Forum * Laundry Workers Center * Migrant
Justice * Northwest Arkansas Workers Justice Center * OUR Walmart * Pioneer Valley Workers Center
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United * Rural Community Workers Alliance * Rural & Migrant Ministry
Street Vendors Project * Teamsters Joint Council No. 7 * UE Research and Education Fund: Warehouse Workers for Justice
UNITE HERE Food Services Division * United Food & Commercial Workers Local 770 * Workers Center of Central New York
Warehouse Worker Resource Center * Workers Justice Center of New York * Young Workers United