Dishing Out Public Goods: School Food Workers and the Struggle to (Re)value Reproductive Labor

Abstract

Government-funded school food programs in the USA have recently expanded access to free meals and incorporated more scratch cooking with local ingredients, but school food workers (SFWs) have seen little-to-no improvement in their working conditions. Using focus group data from the national Understanding the School Food Workforce Study (2024–2025), we analyze the structural devaluation of SFWs and explore strategies for revaluing their reproductive labor. Lastly, we provide a case study of a Colorado union local that used collective bargaining and ballot initiatives to improve their working conditions and reshape the state's school food system for the common good.