Foodstuff Workers Industrial Union 460

All workers except agricultural and fishery workers, engaged in producing and processing food, beverages, and tobacco products.

Seafood Co. Losing Millions as Sushi Samba Says No More Wild Edibles

Posted Wed, 03/26/2008 - 2:54pm by x344543

Wild Edibles Continues to Lose Millions of Dollars Over Mistreatment of Workers

New York, NY- Large seafood wholesaler and retailer, Wild Edibles, is seeing its customer base rapidly erode with Sushi Samba, one of the nation's hottest sushi restaurants, cutting off purchases from the company until an employment dispute with workers is fairly resolved. Sushi Samba Park and Sushi Samba 7 join leading New York restaurants like Pastis, Union Square Cafe, La Goulue, and Mermaid Inn that have previously pulled out of Wild Edibles over concern for the treatment of employees there.

"We are very pleased that Sushi Samba has chosen to support the legal rights of workers at Wild Edibles," said Daniel Gross, the founding director of Brandworkers International, a non-profit workers' rights organization providing legal and advocacy assistance to the employees. "Wild Edibles' remaining customers would do well to consider playing a similarly positive role."

Immigrant NY Foodstuffs Workers Organize Industry-Wide IWW Campaign

Posted Wed, 03/19/2008 - 3:14pm by x344543

By Maria Rodriguez Gil - March 16, 2008

From the Anarcho Syndicalist Review:

Although the Industrial Workers of the World pioneered industrial unionism 100 years ago, it hasn’t seen a significant organizing drive in the United States for decades—until a recent drive among short-haul truckers on the West Coast and an ongoing campaign by the IWW Food and Allied Workers Union, New York Local I.U. 460/640, to organize food industry workers (the vast majority of them undocumented immigrants) in New York City.

The two-year-old organizing drive has reached about 500 workers in dozens of food industry companies and has significantly improved, directly and indirectly, wages and working conditions across the industry in the New York City area.

Proving wrong those who claim that you can’t build a union with undocumented workers, the IWW has succeeded where traditional unions failed, becoming the only union in the country with 90% undocumented members (more than 70 have joined Local I.U. 460/640).

Handyfat Workers Win $360,000 in Back Pay

Posted Thu, 03/13/2008 - 10:30am by x360279

IWW to picket Handyfat Trading in celebration of jury award for 6 fired workers of $360,000 in back pay!

Workers from Handyfat Trading founded IWW Industrial Union 460 in December 2005. They were instrumental and active in organizing all the other food service shops that have joined IU 460 since then (ten shops). In addition, these workers along with the workers from EZ Supply/Sunrise Plus achieved the first collective bargaining agreements in this segment of the food industry.

In December 2006 and January 2007, all union members from both Handyfat and EZ Supply were fired. After winning orders of reinstatement and back wages at the NLRB, the workers now begin to win the court battles for their stolen backwages.

The IWW will be holding a picket and press conference this Saturday at Handyfat.

Saturday - March 15th, 2008 at 10am

Harvest Co-op fired worker, a union backer

Posted Tue, 03/11/2008 - 1:00pm by x344543

By Bill Bumpus - The Bridge, March 2008

Deon Furtick, 31, of Roxbury, and a father of three, had worked for four years in the deli at the Jamaica Plain store at 57 South St. He was fired for not punching out for a meal break on January 8th.

Furtick had never punched out for meal breaks, and had never been told this was necessary. He did not suspect his job was in jeopardy.

Harvest Manager of Operations Marc Cutler used to be Jamaica Plain store manager. There he had personally signed off on employees’ hours every week. So he would have noticed that Furtick did not punch out on his breaks.

Taming Wild Edibles

Posted Wed, 02/06/2008 - 2:42pm by x344543
by Diane Krauthamer - February 3, 2008

Wouldn’t it be a real travesty to spend $50 on a wonderful lobster dinner at New York City’s highest rated restaurant, only to find out after your meal that the food was rotten?

Behind the scenes at New York City’s #1 rated restaurant

Of course, fine dining establishments must comply with health and safety standards in their kitchens. Of course, establishments ranked as NYC’s most popular wouldn’t dare serve rotten seafood. But there may not be any rotten seafood at all—this is only on the surface. Something happens well before the seafood even reaches the kitchen and it will make you even sicker.