By Diana Robinson, FCWA Campaign & Education Coordinator

When you think about Orlando, Florida what comes to mind?  For me, it’s Disney World.  But in addition to housing every kid’s dream place, Orlando is home to the Darden Restaurant Group, the world’s largest full-service restaurant group with over 1,900 restaurants and 168,000 employees in the U.S. and Canada. Darden owns popular chains such as Capital Grille, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, and more. Many of you maybe aware that this same company is also responsible for not providing its workers with paid sick days and participating in wage theft and discrimination. Currently, workers from across the country who work at Darden restaurants are coming together in the Dignity at Darden campaign to demand fair wages and benefits.

To tackle these issues and more with Darden CEO Clarence Otis and shareholders, ROC United, the FCWA, and workers from Darden restaurants attended Darden’s 2012 Annual Shareholder meeting.  After the Darden CEO Otis gave his presentation about how well their company is doing and new acquisitions, workers were able to speak about the issues they face at work. The comments were opened up by Reynard, a former Capital Grille worker from Los Angeles, who asked the CEO and those in attendance to recognize the workers as an essential part of the company’s success and explaiend that some workers were present. Afterward, many workers spoke up about their experiences working at Darden restaurants. One former worker said, “Because I didn’t have paid sick days and couldn’t find anyone to swap shifts with, I went to work sick and ended up sneezing in a glass of wine.”  To this, Mr. Otis responded, “I’m glad you no longer are with the company.” In addition, current Capital Grille worker David Nelson asked the CEO if he would meet with workers to discuss these issues, and Mr. Otis refused.

While workers were speaking up inside the shareholder meeting, outside was a statue garden which portrayed workers in different poses at work. After the shareholder meeting, ROC United released a new report entitled Darden’s Decision. And indeed it is Darden’s decision whether they will listen to their employees and work with them to prosper together as a company who respects its employees or if they will continue to make profits by exploiting workers.