Day-to-Day Report on Pizza Time Strike
Updates provided by mediaisland.org.
Day 10 - Monday, February 21, 2005
Pizza Time workers suspend picket line while Pizza Time is closed.
Pizza Time owners greeted workers Saturday with a "Sorry, Closed for Repairs" sign on the business entrance in place of the orange and black sign reading "Help Wanted". Pizza Time workers see this as a positive step in the negotiation process. Pizza Time workers will suspend picketing while Pizza Time is closed and discussions continue. Support from the community keeps Pizza Time workers strong in the coming days as the dialogue between workers and ownership develops.
Day 8 - Saturday, February 19, 2005
Olympia Pizza Time Negotiations Go Favorably For Workers' Rights.
Olympia Pizza Time owners Shane Bloking and Richard Kelly are feeling community pressure from all angles. Richard Kelley's mother woke him up at 6:00 in the morning to express her concerns about the Pizza Time strike. Shane Bloking wants most of his money back from Richard Kelley for him to leave.
The Olympia Pizza Time owners' last attempts to water down the workers' demands reveal they are running out of ideas to break the striking pizza workers' morale. Pizza Time workers remain 100% positive and are inspired by the growing community support.
The ultimate threat of closing Pizza Time was repeated by Richard Kelley during negotiations on Friday. Although Richard Kelley only admitted he "could" or "should" close Olympia Pizza Time and lock nine local workers out of their jobs in downtown Olympia, he remains open to negotiations with the striking workers. Richard Kelley feels the workers' strike has caused so much damage to the Pizza Time name that no one would ever buy a pizza from Olympia Pizza Time again.
Pizza Time workers are confident business will increase if all the workers' reasonable demands are met in writing and are given time to inform the Olympia community that Pizza Time workers are back to work, the building is actively being repaired and Shane Bloking is not given the chance to utter another racial slur or arbitrarily fire another worker in Olympia again. The Pizza Time workers' demands remain the same although a lot has changed in seven days on strike for better work conditions.
Pizza Time workers continue urging community support of all kinds. Every car horn, wave and community member on the picket line means the world to local Pizza Time workers. The Olympia community inspires Pizza Time workers to continue this struggle for workers' rights and justice.