Submitted on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 3:24am
August 18, 2011 - Contact: press (at) brandworkers.org
Queens, NY - Immigrant workers at Pur Pac, a food distribution warehouse supplying many landmark Chinese restaurants, bakeries, and cafes in Chinatown and around the City, have won a major settlement with the company after prevailing in a bitterly contested workplace justice campaign. The comprehensive settlement will return $470,000 in illegally withheld minimum wage and overtime pay and subjects Pur Pac to a binding code of conduct which includes protection for collective activity and compels compliance with all workplace laws including anti-discrimination and health & safety protections. The workers organized with Focus on the Food Chain, a joint campaign from Brandworkers and the IWW which is challenging sweatshop conditions in a sprawling industrial corridor of food processing and distribution warehouses that service New York City markets and restaurants.
"No one who wakes up and goes to work every day should have their wages stolen," said Primo Aguilar, a former worker at Pur Pac and a leading member of the campaign. "I feel proud today that my co-workers and I stood up, got organized, and won. This settlement means a great deal for us and our families but also for our effort with the Focus campaign to win respect for all of New York City's food processing and distribution workers."
Through grassroots advocacy and protest, the workers persuaded key food retail customers of Pur Pac to stop doing business with the company until the dispute was resolved. Pursuant to the settlement, workers' representatives are notifying customers that the dispute has been favorably resolved. Pur Pac's product line includes bulk rice, sugar, cooking oil, chop sticks, and soy sauce. In a previous companion agreement, Pur Pac acknowledged that it was the successor to two predecessor companies, E-Z Supply Corp. and Sunrise Plus Corp., and has recognized the Industrial Workers of the World labor union as the exclusive collective bargaining agent of Pur Pac employees.
Submitted on Mon, 06/27/2011 - 11:08pm
Contact - press (at) brandworkers.org
New York, NY- The Cottage chain of Chinese restaurants has discontinued all restaurant supply purchases from Pur Pac, a Queens-based distribution warehouse that, through predecessor companies, engaged in massive wage theft and illegal retaliation against workers who stood up for their rights. Though Pur Pac, through its previous incarnations as E-Z Supply and Sunrise Plus, was found liable in both federal court and the National Labor Relations Board for pervasive workers' rights violations, the workers have yet to see any of the compensation they are owed. Cottage restaurants, by far one of Pur Pac's most significant customers, dropped the distribution company after a spirited worker-led advocacy effort calling on Cottage to avoid using suppliers that violate workers' human rights.
"This is heavy, difficult work and we worked hard every day doing it only to be cheated out of the wages we were owed," said Jorge Paez, a former delivery truck driver at the company and a member of Focus on the Food Chain, the workers' rights campaign organizing for justice at Pur Pac. "I'm pleased that Cottage has chosen to stop using the rice, soy sauce, cooking oil and many other supplies it was purchasing from Pur Pac until the rights of my co-workers and I are respected."
Focus on the Food Chain challenges sweatshop conditions in a major industrial corridor of processing and distribution warehouses in Brooklyn and Queens that provide food and supplies to NYC restaurants and grocery stores. Conditions at Pur Pac are typical of the sector where violations of basic workers' rights, exploitation of recent immigrants, and relentless retaliation against worker organizing are the norm. Earlier this year, a Brooklyn tortilla factory in the heart of the corridor claimed the life of 22 year-old Juan Baten, a Guatemalan immigrant who was crushed to death on the job. The Focus campaign is a joint effort of non-profit organization Brandworkers and the NYC Industrial Workers of the World labor union.
"Cottage was a large and long-time customer of Pur Pac and it's a testament to the workers' resolve that they were able to move these restaurants to stop using sweatshop-distributed products," said Daniel Gross, the director of Brandworkers. "This is a big step forward towards winning accountability and respect for the rule of law at Pur Pac."
The Focus on the Food Chain campaign promotes a sustainable food system that incorporates respect for workers' human rights. Brandworkers is a New York-based non-profit organization protecting and advancing the rights of retail and food employees. The Industrial Workers of the World is a dynamic and member-driven union committed to workplace democracy and global solidarity.
Submitted on Thu, 05/05/2011 - 5:58pm
Embattled Kosher Food Factory Faces Growing Retail Consensus on Workers' Rights Abuses
New York, NY- Morton Williams, a well-known chain of twelve supermarkets, has discontinued the sale of Sonny & Joe's hummus over concerns about workers' rights violations at Flaum Appetizing Corp., the Brooklyn-based producer and owner of the Sonny & Joe's brand. Morton Williams joins a critical mass of prominent retailers including Fairway, Zabar's, and Food Emporium that have dropped Sonny & Joe's hummus after immigrant workers began speaking out against pervasive wage theft, abusive management, and denial of benefits at Flaum. Workers are waging an energetic campaign with the Focus on the Food Chain initiative to bring Flaum Appetizing and its owner Moishe Grunhut into compliance with the rule of law and to recover illegally withheld compensation. 45 supermarket and grocery store locations have pulled Sonny & Joe's hummus off the shelves amid the heated dispute over Flaum's lack of respect for immigrant workers.
Submitted on Thu, 12/16/2010 - 12:07pm
By Bill Reed, December 15, 2010
Perhaps you have heard about the Flaum Appetizing company cheating their employees out of large amounts of overtime pay and firing the workers for joining the IWW. Perhaps you were leafleting or picketing at supermarkets last summer or last spring to support the workers and get customers to boycott Sonny and Joe’s hummus. Perhaps you were in court or read about the National Labor Relations Board ruling against the owner.
The owner has simply refused to obey the federal laws including the NLRB ruling.
The Flaum company has been treating their staff badly and breaking the federal labor laws for a long time. This is business as usual in New York - and many parts of the U.S.
These workers have been standing up for their human rights. This shows that they are stronger and smarter than a lot of people who get cheated and unjustly fired. Lots of people just take it and move on with their lives. Look for a new employer. Hope that they are not repeating the situation.
When the labor union movement grew in the U.S., or anywhere, it was because labor united. People have to band together and try some ways to demand and get better treatment. It is just that simple. Sure, it is complicated in many ways, but the solid rock bottom basic truth of the matter is that people need to unite together and do something with as many of the other regular working people/taxed consumers as possible. We need to stick together to somehow force the wealthy powerful owners of the businesses and the government to stop their wicked ways.
The government is not normally enforcing laws when the wealthy break them. The law tricks us and deceives us. The rich - they have no legal obligations. We will always have some problems in our lives. If your problem is with an employer who does something wrong or even illegal – I’ve heard owners and managers tell my coworkers, “What are you gonna do? Call a cop?” We’ve got to help each other.
Submitted on Mon, 12/06/2010 - 2:35pm
New York, NY- Legendary First Amendment litigator Martin Garbus and noted workers' rights organization Brandworkers have taken on the representation of gourmet coffee workers being subjected to a controversial defamation lawsuit by prominent Brooklyn-based coffee company, Gorilla Coffee and its owners. After sustained attempts to improve what they viewed as a hostile work environment, the workers caused a stir in the gourmet coffee community and in the news media by resigning their employment at Gorilla Coffee as a group and discussing their decision in a letter to the New York Times. The Times, which published the letter online, and one of its reporters are also defendants in the suit which erroneously argues that the letter was defamatory. The letter is available online here.
"Retaliatory, anti-speech lawsuits like the one from Gorilla Coffee have the potential to both harm innocent people who choose to speak out and chill the speech of others who would like to make their voices heard," said Martin Garbus. "This lawsuit is without merit and will be defended vigorously until victory."
A well-known Park Slope institution, Gorilla Coffee was shuttered for over two weeks after essentially the entire staff resigned en masse last April. The workers took issue with what they viewed as the heavy-handed management style of operations director Carol McLaughlin and finally had enough when it became clear that company owner Darleen Scherer was unwilling to remedy the situation. In their letter to the Times, the workers cited their repeated attempts to create a tolerable work environment at Gorilla Coffee, attempts which ultimately proved unsuccessful. Instead, they were left to deal with a workplace that in their view represented a, "...perpetually malicious, hostile, and demeaning work environment that was not only unhealthy, but also, as our actions have clearly shown, unworkable."