Pie Banquet

During this May Day 2009 performance, The Waitresses and Piece of the Pie Collective served pie facilitated conversations with participants about who deserves how much of "the pie" in the United States, in the CSUDH Loker Student Union. The group also doled out a "bill of reckoning" postcard. Audience members had the opportunity to send the "bill" to their congress-person, urging they support pay equity.

Like the "frame" created in many of Allan Kaprows pieces, both groups were dressed in uniforms that were suggestive of either a waiters and waitress. Six tables were set under an umbrella, while free pie was offered and served to a combination of students, pedestrians and trade unions various representatives of NGO's.

Occasionally a performer would enter the crowd and invite people to sit at the table and have a piece of pie. The performance lasted approximately one hour and at the end the remaining pies were distributed for free.
Past Press Release about the event:
Labor and Social Justice Fair / Event Description
April 30th, 2009, 12 noon - 9 pm
Loker Student Union, California State University, Dominguez Hills
1000 E. Victoria Street, Carson, CA 90747
http://dhlaborstudies.org
Together with more than twenty-five unions and social justice groups, high schools and local colleges, CSUDH is planning a career and educational event to commemorate May Day. There will be will be booths from each organization, workshops on key issues, as well as cultural programming and refreshments. The event is jointly coordinated by the Labor Studies Dept and the Labor Studies club.

Pie Banquet, a Piece of the Pie Collective performance action by Jules Rochelle, Chad Clark and Fred Portillo. The Piece of the Pie Collective is a Portable City Project. The Piece of Pie Collective will be collaborating with The Waitresses.
The Waitresses will serve up The UnHappy Hour performance art action, selling 77c cent slices of pie to women and $1.00 dollar slices of pie to men, from 7:30-8:30, accentuating wage discrepancy in the United States. Women make 77c cents, and people of color 71, to every $1.00 dollar a Caucasian man makes, for the same job. The Waitresses action is in conjunction with Pie Banquet, a Piece of the Pie Collective performance action by Jules Rochelle, Chad Clark and Fred Portillo.
The Piece of the Pie Collective is a Portable City Project.

The Waitresses and Piece of the Pie Collective will facilitate a conversation with participants about who deserves how much of "the pie" in the United States, in the CSUDH Loker Student Union. The group will also dole out a "bill of reckoning" postcard. Audience members will have the opportunity to send the "bill" to their congress-person, urging they support pay equity.

Pay Equity Bills / U.S. Government Background Information
Days into new presidency in January 2009, the House of Representatives passed, and Obama signed, the Lily Ledbetter Bill. Quickly riding on the heels of Lily, the Senate passed the Pay Equity Act. This is progress - however lets be clear: This legislation does not mean anyone is leveling all pay checks. It means the U.S. government has given women and people of color more than 6 months to take an employer to court and fight for the same salary as their white male counterparts.