Restaurant, Hotel, and Building Service Workers I.U. 640

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Militant union takes aim at fast food - Workers at nine Jimmy John's locations will vote on joining the I.W.W.

Posted Thu, 10/21/2010 - 4:28pm by x344543

Disclaimer: - This article and accompanying image are reposted in accordance with Fair Use guidelines.

By Mike Hughlett - Minneapolis-St Paul Star Tribune, October 20, 2010

As union elections go, it doesn't get much rarer than what's being served up Friday at nine Minneapolis-area Jimmy John's sandwich shops.

About 185 workers are slated to choose whether they want to unionize under the banner of the Industrial Workers of the World. Organized labor is all but unheard of in the fast-food sector; most unions don't even try to make a run at burger or sandwich joints.

Of course, the Industrial Workers of the World isn't exactly a conventional union.

In its heyday in the 1910s, the IWW pioneered a fiery grass-roots style of unionism aimed at organizing workers that other unions shied away from. Its time in the limelight is long gone, but the IWW never went away and in recent years has resurfaced with a campaign to organize Starbucks workers.

The IWW has historically tended to eschew formal union elections conducted by the National Labor Relations Board, making Friday's vote at Jimmy John's particularly uncommon.

"Maybe it takes something on the fringe, like the IWW, to have the courage or craziness" to unionize fast-food workers, said John Budd, a labor relations expert at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.

The election will be held at seven Jimmy John's outlets in Minneapolis and two in St. Louis Park. All are owned by Rob Mulligan and Mike Mulligan, who declined to be interviewed. In a statement last month, they said they "take issue with the claims made by the IWW. We value our relationship with our employees and offer competitive wages and good local jobs."

Pro-union Jimmy John's workers say they want better pay and benefits, common themes in most union drives. Workers start at the federal minimum wage of $7.25, said David Boehnke, 25, who gets paid $7.90 an hour after working for about a year and a half at a Jimmy John's in downtown Minneapolis.

[New York Times] - Rare Vote Set on a Union in Fast Food

Posted Thu, 10/21/2010 - 4:06pm by x344543

Note and Disclaimer: - The writer of this article obviously doesn't understand the concepts of solidarity unionism, because the IWW has won many gains at Starbucks due to our constant campaigning and direct action strategies. Details can be found here.

This article is reposted according to Fair Use Guidelines:

By Steven Greenhouse - New York Times, October 20, 2010

MINNEAPOLIS — The Jimmy John’s restaurants here are known for serving attitude with their sandwiches. Many of their young workers wear nose rings, beards and dreadlocks, and the shops sport mottoes like “The Customer Is Usually Right” and “Subs So Fast You’ll Freak.”

But recently, the employees at the 10 shops here have started to exude more attitude than management would like. Some of the 200 workers wear T-shirts that say, “Wages So Low You’ll Freak,” and many are backing a campaign to unionize the shops, which compete with Subway and Quiznos.

The unionization drive is one of the few efforts to organize fast-food workers in American history. Employees will vote Friday, and if the union wins, organizers say they will seek to unionize fast-food workers in other cities.

The issues that have roused the Jimmy John’s workers are typical of what many low-end service-sector workers face: earning the $7.25-an-hour minimum wage or slightly above that, working unpredictable and often short shifts and dealing with their bosses’ wrath when they call in sick.

Solidarity for IWW Members! - Phone Zap Thursday (Oct 21) - Saturday (Oct 23)

Posted Thu, 10/21/2010 - 3:22pm by x344543

Thank you to all of you who participated in the call-in a few weeks ago. as some of you may know, Ozzie's had their lawyers write a threatening letter to the GHQ of the IWW after the last phone zap in which they tried to intimidate us out of exercising our right to free speech and our right to engage in protected union actions against corrupt, anti-union bosses.

So we need to step up the pressure! that's why the NYC branch of the IWW is asking you to join us in a second phone zap against Ozzie's. this time we're asking that people call and text both the SM Rafael and the co-owner Melissa Azulai, in addition to calling the two Ozzie's locations in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday - October 21-23, 2010.

  • Call and/or text GSM Rafael: (347) 658-4190
  • Call and/or text co-owner Melissa Azulai: (718) 496-6623
  • Call the 5th Avenue location: (718) 768-6868
  • Call the 7th Avenue location: (718) 398-6695

Once again, thank you for participating earlier, now lets hit them twice as hard!!! feel free to leave them multiple texts and/or voicemails. please be polite, yet firm, in issuing your demands:

  • 1. reinstate fired union barista, jeff bauer.
  • 2. stop lying about jeff's work ethic.
  • 3. treat workers with dignity & respect.
  • 4. obey federal labor laws, especially in regards to the national labor relations act.
  • 5. stop wage theft. pay time and half for overtime and stop the SM from illegally taking a cut of the tips.

Minneapolis AFL-CIO Endorses Jimmy John's Workers Union

Posted Fri, 10/15/2010 - 1:58am by x344543

Support Builds for Sandwich Workers in Run-up to Historic Union Election with Rally Planned for Monday.

Rally and Press Conference: 5:30pm Monday 10/18, Block E Jimmy John's

MINNEAPOLIS– The Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation has voted to endorse the IWW Jimmy John's Workers Union, throwing the weight of its 75,000 members in 125 affiliated labor unions behind the unprecedented effort to unionize franchised fast food. 200 Jimmy John's workers at 10 Minneapolis locations will vote in an historic NLRB union election on October 22nd. If a majority of workers vote in favor of unionization, 10 Minneapolis Jimmy John's will become the first union fast food franchise in the United States.

“We are so grateful for this support. The franchise owner Mike Mulligan has been saying we aren't a 'real' union. If we're not 'real,' then why does the largest union federation in this city support us? We are very real, and we are going to win our demands for fair wages, consistent scheduling, sick days, and respect,” said Ayo Collins, a member of the union at the Ninth St. Jimmy John's.

Franchise owner Mike Mulligan has refused to address the workers grievances over pay hovering around minimum wage, shifts as short as one hour, and pressure on workers to work while sick. Instead, Mulligan has employed a third-party union-busting firm at an estimated cost of $3000 per day to undermine the unionization effort with a campaign of captive audience meetings, misinformation, and misrepresentations, often crossing over into illegality.

In response, the IWW Jimmy Johns Workers Union has filed Unfair Labor Practice charges over 22 alleged labor rights violations. The National Labor Relations Board is investigating the charges.

Despite a harsh employer response, the sandwich workers remain confident of victory.

“You can only keep people down for so long. We are standing up for better wages, consistent hours, and a better life for ourselves and our coworkers. And we know that millions of fast food workers across the country are watching. We will win,” said David Boehnke, a union member at the Skyway Jimmy John's.

The Jimmy Johns Workers Union, open to employees at the company nationwide, is affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World labor union. Gaining prominence in recent years for organizing Starbucks workers, the IWW is a global union founded over a century ago for all working people.

Contacts - Ayo Collins, 612-281-0882; David Boehnke, 651-315-4222.

Student Debt Dance-a-Thon in Dinkytown Protests Low Wages and Skyrocketing Tuition

Posted Fri, 10/08/2010 - 12:55pm by x344543

Jimmy Johns Workers Join National Day of Action in Defense of Education

MINNEAPOLIS– Dinkytown will resound with protest chants and techno beats at 4pm this afternoon as Jimmy Johns workers and student allies join in a dance party protest of low service industry wages and skyrocketing tuition at the nation's colleges and universities.

“There's no way you can pay for school or pay off student loans on the poverty wages workers like us make at Jimmy John's and other fast food businesses,” said Emily Pzybylski a delivery driver at the Dinkytown Jimmy Johns and student at the University of Minnesota. "High tuition and low wages turn these into dead-end jobs," she added.

Many Jimmy Johns workers are either attending college, paying back student loans, or hoping to go back to school for additional job training in order to escape low-wage service industry employment. As college and university tuition has increased, the dream of higher education has become an unreachable mirage for many. Tuition at the University of Minnesota has more than doubled in the last decade. At the same time, university graduates have found fewer and fewer job opportunities, prompting BusinessWeek to dub today's young workers “The Lost Generation” because of high rates of joblessness and chronic underemployment.

“People say 'get a better job.' What they don't realize is that places like Jimmy Johns are some of the only jobs that are left. We decided to organize a labor union at Jimmy Johns because if we're going to be stuck in this service economy, then it needs to provide quality jobs for working families. We are not going to be a 'lost generation',” said Ayo Collins, a worker at the sandwich chain.

The National Labor Relations Board will conduct a union election for 200 Jimmy Johns employees at 10 Minneapolis locations on October 22, a historic first for the nation's largely non-union fast food industry. If a majority of Minneapolis Jimmy Johns workers vote in favor of the union, franchise owners Mike and Rob Mulligan will be legally required to negotiate in good faith over the terms of a contract. The Jimmy Johns Workers Union is seeking improved wages, sick days, consistent scheduling, and basic respect for workers.

The Jimmy Johns Workers Union, open to employees at the company nationwide, is affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World labor union. Gaining prominence in recent years for organizing Starbucks workers, the IWW is a global union founded over a century ago for all working people.