Submitted on Thu, 02/09/2006 - 1:30pm
The Industrial Workers of the World chalked up another victory in an NLRB election on Thursday, the ninth of February, at E-Z Supply Corp., a wholesale distributor of restaurant supplies and foodstuffs, located in Queens, New York.
The nominal vote was close, with sixteen votes for the union and fifteen against, but the "no" votes included six office workers whom management inappropriately tried to include in the bargaining unit. Among the warehouse workers, fork-lift operators, truck drivers, and helpers who make up the unit petitioned for by the union, the vote was sixteen to nine. The votes of the office workers were challenged by the union, but given its clear victory, the union will most likely forgo those challenges and welcome the office employees into the organization as Fellow Workers.
Union members in the shop demonstrated admirable self-discipline and solidarity, and were jubilant at the success of their organizing efforts. The New York City General Membership Branch is grateful to all the members of the I. W. W. at large, Se Hace Camino al Andar/Make the Road By Walking, and of the New York community, who have donated money, time, and talent to this campaign. This is the second shop in New York's foodstuffs industry to line up with the I. W. W., and there are many more to come.
Submitted on Fri, 02/03/2006 - 2:55am
Industrial Worker - February 2006
Deep in the gritty, industrial district of North Brooklyn/Queens, 15 workers of EZ Supply started the new year right by marching to their workplace and demanding that their highly abusive boss sign a petition recognizing the IWW as their union.
Little over a month earlier they had come to the workers’ night at Make The Road by Walking, and told of working long hours without being paid overtime, which ultimately amounted to being paid less than minimum wage. Sometimes the trucks would finally be loaded to the top at 3 p.m., and the workers would be told that all 25 stops in Manhattan had to be made. And they did something rarely heard of: they collectively forced their boss to rehire a fired worker, who had been fired because he hadn’t made all the stops that day.