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Fast Food Workers in Portland Launch Strike at Burgerville

Submitted on Wed, 02/07/2018 - 8:12pm

By Burgerville Workers Union - It's Going Down, February 1, 2018

In Portland, Oregon, fast food workers with Burgerville USA have walked off the job and launched a strike. In recent months, more Burgerville workers in a variety of stores have joined the union, the revolutionary anti-capitalist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). What follows is a direct report and announcement on the strike from the Burgerville Workers Union. Follow their social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook for up to the minute updates, and be sure to check our past coverage of their struggle as well as their appearances on our podcast.

Workers at the Convention Center Burgerville just walked off the job, launching a strike and kickstarting the biggest weekend of action yet from the Burgerville Workers Union.

April will mark the BVWU’s second anniversary of going public. Since 2016, our demands have largely remained the same: fair wages, consistent scheduling, and affordable health care. We as a union have grown since then. We have found new ways to support each other, and we have won victories in the workplace that make the weight of our day to day lives easier to bear.

Despite all of this, however, Burgerville still refuses to negotiate with the union. The company continues to ignore the voices of its workers, prioritizing profits over the human needs of the workers who make those profits possible.

We are on strike today because no one deserves to live in poverty. Life in Portland only gets harder – rents go up, groceries get more expensive, and Burgerville wages stay unlivable.

 

We are on strike today because every worker deserves a voice. We have the right to organize, but Burgerville has waged an intense union busting campaign. They have fired us, intimidated us, and threatened us, even resorting to physical aggression. This cannot stand.

We are on strike today because Burgerville needs to stop ignoring us. They need to recognize the poverty its wages have forced workers into. They need to acknowledge that health care, consistent scheduling, and basic dignity on the job are all necessary parts of living a full, human life. They need to realize there’s nothing it can do to bust this union.

We are on strike today because we cannot take it any longer. Something has to change.

It’s time, Burgerville. Negotiate.

Stay tuned for updates. It’s going to be a wild weekend.