WASHINGTON — Twenty years after 9/11, Sekou Siby still feels the pangs of survivor’s guilt. A cook and dishwasher at the World Trade Center’s Windows on the World restaurant, Siby had swapped shifts that day with a co-worker who ended up dying in the terrorist attacks.
The tragedy sent Siby on a path he had never imagined he would take when he emigrated from the Ivory Coast in 1996: He made it his mission to advocate for higher pay and better working conditions for restaurant workers — a role that has gained importance as the restaurant industry has struggled more than most in the grip of the viral pandemic.
Siby, 56, is now the president of Restaurant Opportunities Center United, a nationwide advocacy group that emerged from the attacks.
The pandemic’s calamitous impact on restaurant workers has raised the group’s profile since last year’s widespread shutdowns initially cost 6 million restaurant workers — nearly half the industry’s total — their jobs. ROC United, using donated funds from foundations, responded by distributing $1.5 million in cash payments to about 5,000 laid-off workers.