Grassroots House-Bay Area IWW Union Hall
2022 Blake Street
Berkeley, CA
EAT FOOD and GET DOWN!!?
Come out for the Bay Area IWW's annual Fall BBQ for an afternoon of dope music, bomb food (and drank! obvi), and some good ol' working class tomfoolery.
Kick it with your fellow workers, fellow travelers and all the those amazing friends and comrades who always make this the spot to be.
Suggested donations of $5-$10 will be accepted to support IWW organizing in Food and Retail. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
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.
An ‘Unfair Labor Practice’ has been filed with theNational Labor Relations Board against Crossroads Coffee & Ice Cream in Richmond, Virginia for a violation of an employee’s right to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection, as found in Sec. 7. [§ 157.] of the National Labor Relations Act.
On Jun 8, 2011, Holly L., a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), was terminated after sending an email, a common form of communication, to management and staff. The email addressed Crossroads owner Will Herring’s failure to close and lock up the establishment, forcing employees to wait for his arrival well after the end of their shift. This incident is one in a pattern of disrespectful behavior by Mr. Herring towards employees. While individual attempts were made by employees to address the problem, their failure led to the decision that collective action was the logical step towards resolving the issue.
Our intention is not to suggest a boycott of the establishment; rather, we want to join concerned workers and customers in sending a message to management and other Richmond employers that exploitation will not be tolerated. Members of the Industrial Workers of the World firmly believe that all employers, large and small, must respect the rights of its employees — including the right to an open and safe environment where employee concerns can be addressed without the fear of retaliation. If this simple demand can not be met, the working class will respond as necessary.
Last month, Tiffany White,an African American mother of two, and union leader and organizer with the Industrial Workers of the World Starbucks Workers Union, was terminated without justification from a New York Starbucks.
The practice of targeting female union members continues in Nebraska, with recent threats to union organizer Sasha McCoy. McCoy, also an African American mother of two,was recently threatened with termination when she reduced her availability at the 15th and Douglas Starbucks so she could return to school to pursue a B.S. in biology.
McCoy's new schedule meets all of the requirements outlined in the corporate scheduling policy. McCoy also spoke with representatives from Partner Resources, the H.R. branch of the Starbucks Corporation, who informed McCoy that her new availability met the company's requirements.
Despite her efforts to follow proper procedure, McCoy was told by manager Scott Creed that if she did not add an additional 30 minutes to her weekly availability, she would be terminated after four years of service to the Starbucks corporation.
"I feel like I am being targeted right now because I am part of the union," says McCoy. "My commitment to my job was never questioned until I joined the union. I'm a single mother working to put myself through college on my own so I can improve my life for my family. A company that claims to support women in the workplace is threatening to put me out of a job over half an hour. This has nothing to do with my availability and everything to do with my union."
On the 14th of August members of the Industrial Workers of the World Nebraska General Membership Branch confronted Creed with an Unfair Labor Practice charge, alleging intimidation to union members for his threat to fire McCoy. Two months ago, Starbucks settled three Unfair Labor Practice charges regarding anti union practices that had taken place at the 15th and Douglas and 72nd and Dodge Starbucks locations in Omaha.
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August 18, 2011 - Contact: press (at) brandworkers.org