Foodstuff Workers Industrial Union 460

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

Flaum's Lawyer Accused of Ethical Violation in Bid to Trick Workers Out of Wages!

Posted Mon, 09/26/2011 - 12:33am by IWW.org Editor

Dear Focus Friends,

Good morning, I hope you're well. I wanted to update you with breaking news which I hope you'll share.

In a bombshell legal brief filed yesterday, Flaum Appetizing's attorney,  Jeffery Meyer of the firm Kaufman Dolowich Voluck & Gonzo LLP, has been accused of extremely serious ethical violations in connection with an attempt to trick immigrant workers at Flaum into signing away their right to the wages they worked for.

The prominent blog Failed Messiah, which published the brief in full, calls the revelation, "...a serious ethical violation that could (and probably should) lead to censure and perhaps disbarment." The brief makes for very troubling reading and you can access it in full at http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2011/09/flaum-appetizing-tries-to-cheat-workers-again-678.html.

This development provides further evidence of the ruthless and illegal misconduct used by Flaum and its representatives to undermine the effort  of workers to protect their basic employment rights. In 2009, a judge found that Flaum illegally fired en masse seventeen of its employees for  engaging in protected activity. All appeals are exhausted and the conclusion that Flaum violated federal law cannot be changed. However, Flaum is seeking to avoid compliance with that final decision by raising  discriminatory allegations about immigration status.

In Global Day of Action, Kosher Consumers Join with Workers to Call on Tnuva to Honor its Distribution Workforce

Posted Mon, 09/26/2011 - 12:23am by IWW.org Editor

Rabbis, Workers' Rights Advocates Around the World Take Joint Action Over Abuses at Kosher Cheese Giant's New York Distribution Company

September 22, 2011

Contact: press (at) brandworkers.org

New York, NY -- Workers and kosher consumers around the world participated  in actions Friday to call on Tnuva, the world's largest kosher cheese company, to honor the human rights of its distribution workers. The multinational kosher cheese giant distributes its cheese in New York City though the Flaum Appetizing Corp., a business widely shunned for unlawful labor practices and abuse of immigrant workers from Latin America. While a consensus has largely emerged against Flaum's labor practices, Tnuva continues to do business with Flaum.

"Flaum Appetizing exploited its immigrant workers for years," said Ari Hart, a founder of Uri L'Tzedek, an Orthodox social justice organization. "Tnuva should use its influence to get Flaum to pay its workers or, if Flaum won't, to choose a company that is yosher (ethical)."

In the New York metropolitan area, Flaum workers and supporters rallied at Tnuva USA's headquarters while Jewish leaders rallied outside a kosher supermarket in Queens calling on CEO Yoram Behiri to ensure respect for the rule of law at Flaum. Phone calls were made to Tnuva from Yeshiva University students and from individuals around the country  participating in the ongoing occupation of Wall Street. Supporters took action outside New York in a wide variety of locations around the United States including Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Minnesota, Missouri and internationally in the British Isles, Canada, Germany, and Poland.

Flaum Appetizing is a highly profitable kosher food processor and distributor in Brooklyn that has engaged in systematic exploitation of immigrant workers from Latin America. The company pushed its employees to work at unsafe speeds, with 60-80 hour work weeks, while denying them  overtime pay. When workers stood up for their rights, Flaum illegally fired seventeen of them in retaliation. A National Labor Relations Board  judge found that Flaum engaged in extensive and unlawful retaliation, but the company has refused for almost three years to comply with the court order to pay its worker $260,000 in back wages.

"For years my coworkers and I worked hard to bring Tnuva products to its  customers," said Felipe Romero, a former Flaum worker who was illegally  fired. "Tnuva should show concern our rights and help us recover our stolen wages."

With Focus on the Food Chain, the Flaum workers are leading a powerful campaign that has resulted in more than 65 of New York's most popular supermarket locations to stop selling Flaum products until Flaum is held  accountable. Tnuva is owned by a sprawling private equity company, Apax Partners, which has financial interests around the world in a diverse array of industries. Another Apax-owned company, the Tommy Hilfiger clothing brand, has also come under fire for using sweatshop labor. The Global Day of Action was organized by Focus on the Food Chain and Uri L'Tzedek.

WATCH OUT: Kansas City is Organizing (with the IWW!)

Posted Sat, 09/10/2011 - 1:15am by IWW.org Editor

By FW Zachary M.- September 9th, 2011

A new organizing campaign is in full swing at a sub-sandwich shop. No, it’s not Jimmy Johns, but a local Kansas City deli and pizzeria. The campaign, initiated by a brand new member in a brand new branch, started about four months ago when a worker joined the Wobblies and then realized that the IWW is the perfect platform for making changes at the oppressive restaurant he works at. I am that worker, and this is the beginning of our ongoing struggle to take over our workplace.

I started working at the shop about two years ago but only started to organize after becoming a Wobblie in April. After a mixture of stabbing in the dark, taking advice from the group that would later become the Greater Kansas City Branch, attending a wonderfully helpful meeting with some Wobblies from the Starbucks Union in Omaha in May, and then receiving an exceptional Organizer Training in June, some real organizing started to take place. Energized and educated by the Organizer Training, I started to rally my co-workers to defend each other at work. These activities lead to our first meetings where we committed to solidarity in the workplace and began to figure out the concrete problems at our shop. After a few more weeks of organizing and trying to establish some concrete ground from which to move forward, management decided to rearrange the structure of the store and started clamping down; enforcing new and old policies alike. This new enforcement of the rules led to understaffing as workers were fired or left due to frustration over harassment in the workplace. Management refused to replace these workers and then expected the few remaining workers to pick up the slack.

Then, at the beginning of August, things at our workplace started to heat up. Corporate management decided that they want to open more locations so they need a whole new set of rules and a rigid cost cutting strategy to squeeze every last penny out of every store. To do this they are using our location as a guinea pig and transferred in a management loyal worker who has worked for the company on and off for the last 20 years. This person, whom we refer to as the Corporate Manager (CM), for lack of a better term, is not a manager but is in charge of enforcing the new rules and cutting costs. During this transition, the assistant manager was fired due to rumors that he was taking home extra food.

The weekend after the firing, I was away on vacation, so the store was more understaffed than usual because the precedent is that no one is called in to cover shifts no matter how much notice is given that a worker will be off. On Saturday there were only two line cooks, Fellow Worker Charlie and another worker. The other line cook was sent out on a catering delivery. Our store never does catering on Saturday and the worker who was sent out had never done catering before. This left FW Charlie alone to do the work of what normally is done by three workers. The store starts to get busy with the lunch rush, so FW Charlie starts running back and forth between the lines making sandwiches and running them down to our expo line which is being worked by our store manager. FW Charlie forgot to write the name of a sandwich on the wrapper (writing the names on the wrappers is a new, superfluous policy being enforced as one of the many brand new “corporate” rules because the manager refuses to read the tickets we give him with the sandwiches). The manager picks up the sandwich and yells “WRITE THE NAME ON THE GOD DAMN SANDWICH!” and throws the sandwich at FW Charlie. Not surprisingly this upsets FW Charlie. He calmly takes off his hat and apron, clocks-out, and leaves without saying a word.

Workers Win Large Settlement at Supplier to Chinese Restaurants After Hard Fought Campaign: Energetic Worker-Led Campaign Saw Key Customers Drop the Distribution Warehouse Until Workers' Rights Were Respected

Posted Fri, 08/19/2011 - 2:24am by IWW.org Editor

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.

‘Unfair Labor Practice’ at the Forest Hill Crossroads Coffee & Ice Cream

Posted Thu, 08/18/2011 - 1:12am by IWW.org Editor

An ‘Unfair Labor Practice’ has been filed with the National 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.