Event
24 September 2026
LAUNCH WEBINAR : Food Work
The workers behind our food and the exploitation they face
Governance & Policy
This page is automatically translated from the English original using DeepL and may contain errors.
13:00 UTC | 15:00 CEST on October 5, 2026
The people who feed us are among the most exploited workers in the world.
Food work is foundational to human life, yet food workers are among the most exploited workers in the world.
Food systems employ the world’s largest workforce – two out of every five workers – but many face systemic low pay, unsafe conditions, abuse, insecure work, and exclusion from basic labour protections. Migrants and other marginalised workers face the greatest risks.
Launching Food Work
This webinar marks the launch of a landmark new IPES-Food report, Food Work: The workers behind our food and the exploitation they face, published Monday 5 October. The most comprehensive global review of labour exploitation across food systems to date, it examines the systemic exploitation running through global food chains, why it persists, and how it can be overcome.
It reveals that food worker exploitation is not accidental, but rooted in a food system built around keeping labour cheap and maximising profits at the expense of worker wellbeing – with migrant workers, women, and other marginalised workers particularly exposed.
It also examines how climate change, corporate concentration, automation, algorithmic management, and digital surveillance risk making food work even more dangerous and insecure.
Hear from leading experts
Join leading experts and labour advocates to understand why exploitation is so deeply entrenched across food systems, what is making conditions worse, and what governments, employers, and labour movements can do to break the cycle of exploitation and guarantee dignified food work for all.
Speakers
- Raj Patel, IPES-Food panel expert, professor at the University of Texas, Austin
- Olivier De Schutter, co-chair of IPES-Food, professor at the University of Louvain in Belgium and at SciencesPo in France
- Sue Longley, former General Secretary of IUF (the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations)
- Sumitha Shaanthinni Kishna, Founding Director of Our Journey Malaysia
Moderated by IPES-Food’s Nicole Pita
The event will be held in English with simultaneous interpretation to French, Spanish and Portuguese.
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