IWW Insomnia Cookies Worker in Cambridge Needs Your Support!
Submitted on Wed, 01/21/2015 - 4:48pm
The Cambridge, MA Police are persecuting a union activist merely for picketing. Click here to donate to his legal & living expenses.
On November 14, 2013, Cambridge cops, aided by the HUPD*, attacked a peaceful picket of union-busting Insomnia Cookies, where workers had gone on strike for $15/hr, paid health care, and a union. The cops grabbed IWW member Jason by the throat, threw him on the ground and pinned him partially under a car. Jason was cuffed and dragged away, charged with with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assaulting a cop, even though the only assault committed was by the police against him.
Over a year later, the Kafkaesque criminal case against Jason drags on, even though a local judge compared it to the abuses of the Palmer Raids* in court. Because the case remains open and shows up in employers' background checks, Jason, who is currently unemployed, has been unable to find work and has no income. Please donate to help with his living expenses and legal expenses (while Jason's lawyers have massively discounted their fees, some costs will still accrue).
Jason's Trial will finally begin on March 18, more than 16 months after his arrest.
*Harvard University Police Department
**1919-20 campaign to arrest & deport radicals, especially anarchists, which led to hundreds of activists being deported.