Submitted on Sun, 01/21/2007 - 1:24pm
Despite the below-freezing wind chill and icy patches on the ground, New Yorkers showed yet another display of endurance as more than 50 people converged in Brooklyn to demand an end to Handyfat Trading Co.’s union-busting activities. In early January, Handyfat management illegally fired nine workers for union activity, despite the company’s claims they were fired because of their immigration status.
Today’s picket and march, organized by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and Make the Road by Walking /Se Hace Camino Al Andar, proved, as it has on many previous occasions, that workers and their supporters are not backing down from the company’s attempts to repress the movement towards basic wage and hour rights. Beginning at 11 AM, workers and supporting community members picketed outside of Handyfat, then marched down Knickerbocker Ave. to Associated Supermarket, where owners have committed numerous wage violations against their workers.
At the Handyfat Trading Co., workers have been continuously subjected to harsh conditions and discrimination by their employers. In late December, owner Dennis Ho demanded that everyone at Handyfat submit their Employment Eligibility Verification form (I-9 Form) to prove that they are legally entitled to work in the U.S. Shortly after this, nine union workers were fired for failing to submit their forms. In a blatant display of illegal union busting, one worker tried to comply with their demands and was turned away by management. These terminations follow 2006’s strong drive of union organizing at the shop, and workers believe the firings are a direct retaliation for union activity. By law and regardless of immigration status, workers in the United States must be paid the minimum wage and have a right to organize.
"This is horrible--we make him money and now he tosses us into the street like we're garbage," commented Pedro Hidalgo Campos, a fired Handyfat union worker.
At Associated Supermarkets, management has failed to pay their workers minimum wage and overtime – and some workers have been paid solely in tips with zero benefits. Local community group Make the Road by Walking recently launched a campaign, ¡Despierta Bushwick! (Wake Up Bushwick!), to shed light on the rampant exploitation of immigrant workers in the retail sector. According to the website, the campaign has already pressured multiple employers to pay over $600,000 in back wages to immigrant workers in the community, and has filed a lawsuit to recover at least $1 million in back wages for more than forty workers at Associated, and is also calling for a boycott of the company.
Today’s activities highlighted the growing strength of the unionization campaign at Handyfat, Associated and other Brooklyn companies that put profit before the rights of their workers. A turnout like this on such a cold day shows that this community is united and determined to stop the injustice in our backyard. But our work is nowhere near done, and there will doubtless be many more pickets on many more frigid mornings before we finally see an end to the modern day slavery imposed on our neighbors.
Submitted on Sat, 01/20/2007 - 1:58pm
Michael L. Mack
District Manager, Starbucks Coffee Company
2600 Park Tower Drive, Suite 100
Vienna, VA 22180
January 19, 2007
Dear Mr. Mack,
We are members of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union (SWU), a labor organization for employees at Starbucks. As you may know, we are united to secure our work hours, earn a living wage, and win respect for our labor. Today baristas at a store in your Maryland-based district have announced their membership in the Union. They join workers at stores in New York City and Chicago who have done the same. We insist that you respect their right under domestic and international law to join a union.
Employees at Starbucks who have joined the SWU have improved their wages and working conditions through collective action. As this process proceeds in your district, the SWU will be monitoring your conduct closely. We strongly encourage you to obey the law and avoid joining the Starbucks managers who have chosen to cross the line into illegality.
Submitted on Thu, 01/18/2007 - 3:26am
Immigrant Workers Fighting Back!
March down Knickerbocker to demand equal rights for immigrant workers!
Join Us
Saturday January 20th and Demand Justice!
Saturday at 11am meet up at Make The Road by Walking - Menahan and Myrtle .
March with us down Knickerbocker Ave - first stop Associated supermarket and then to Handyfat!
In an attempt to rise out of sweatshop conditions, immigrant workers in Brooklyn have engaged in strikes, Boycotts protests, and filed lawsuits alleging systematic wage and overtime violations.
Join Make the Road by Walking and the IWW in a march through Bushwick to protest the widespread failure to pay immigrant workers minimum wage and overtime throughout Bushwick. At Associated Supermarket owners have committed egregious wage violations against their workers, including failure to pay minimum wage and overtime, and having some workers paid in tips only with absolutely no benefits. At Handyfat, a warehouse that distributes restaurant supplies, 22 workers were illegally fired over the holidays for organizing a union with the IWW and demanding back pay for years of failure to pay minimum wage and overtime.
Submitted on Wed, 01/17/2007 - 1:27am
click here for video footage.
On January 15, 2007, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, over one hundred and twenty IWW union members, supporters and labor movement allies marched on and picketed the warehouse of Handyfat Trading Inc. in Brooklyn. Ten days earlier, Handyfat owner Dennis Ho illegally fired nine workers in retaliation for their union activity, but allegedly over immigration status. Monday, Ho shut down Handyfat’s operations rather than face the picketing workers, at a loss of tens of thousands of dollars in business. With its workforce out on strike and the sight of daily picket lines a looming reality, Handyfat was given two choices by the Wobblies: back down or shut down.
Handyfat owner Dennis Ho fired the workers after the union filed a federal lawsuit demanding payment of over $100,000 in unpaid back wages. Union members say that management’s claim that workers were fired because of their immigration status is ridiculous, as many of those workers have been at Handyfat for over ten years, and were only fired after organizing on the job.
“The boss fired us now and it’s unjust because we’ve always worked very hard for him and all of a sudden he says he fired us because we don’t have papers,” said Handyfat worker Pedro Campos.
Workers like Pedro were not alone on the picket line. Union members from Laborers Local 79 and 108, Transit Workers Union Local 100, the 318 Restaurant Workers Union, United Electrical and the IWW’s Starbucks Workers Union marched with them, along with activists from the Million Worker March movement, NY Metro Area Anarchist Alliance, the Internationalists and Make the Road By Walking/Se Hace Camino Al Andar. The march and picket line even had its own marching band ensemble, courtesy of the Hungry March Band and Rude Mechanical Orchestra. When organizers told the police escort they intended to march right down the high-traffic Morgan Avenue to the warehouse, the only response from police was, “go for it.” Energy was high and it was clear their momentum was only building.
“A line has been drawn in the sand,” said Billy Randel, one of the union’s organizers. “We’re gonna fight, we’re disciplined and we will win.”
The strike at Handyfat is a part of a much larger campaign confronting unfair labor practices and mistreatment at food and restaurant supply warehouses in Brooklyn and Queens. Other companies include EZ Supply/Sunrise Plus, where thirteen workers were fired on December 28th for union activity, Amersino, where five workers were fired after voting to form a union, Top City Produce and Giant Big Apple Beer, Inc. Picket lines will stay up at Handyfat and organizing will continue at other warehouses until the fired workers are reinstated and back wages are paid in full. Workers say they’re in it for the long haul, despite the hardships.
“It’s clear that it was discrimination for trying to form a union,” another fired worker, Antonio Rodriguez added, “because he said when I have work for you, I’ll let you know. And he never called.”
For more information on the ongoing IWW’s Food Industry and Allied Workers campaign, visit http://www.wobblycity.org or contact [email protected].
Submitted on Wed, 01/10/2007 - 4:39am
Members of the Industrial Workers of the World, organizers at New York warehouses were sacked over the festive period, in retaliation for their successful unionising drive...
This week owners from four different warehouses illegally threatened to call immigration or terminate union workers due to their immigration status in clear retaliation for the workers' union activities. Tuesday's march and picket will target Amersino Marketing Group, 161 Gardner Ave, Brooklyn, NY.
Over the last year and half, food distribution warehouse workers in northern Brooklyn and Queens have organized a union with the IWW. The campaign has met with resounding success: workers have organized in five different warehouses, several of which have been certified in National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) elections, they have forced their bosses towards full compliance with wage and hour laws, and they have won several major wage and hour violation cases while still other complaints totaling more than $100,000 have been filed with the Department of Labor.
