Original URL -  http://www.brandworkers.org/en/node/37146

Joe is an IWW member.

On Tuesday, September 2nd, Joe Richard was fired from Ward's Supermarket. He believes, as do his co-workers, that the firing was illegal and was direct retaliation for his workplace organizing efforts. On August 8th, Joe and 14 other employees in the Natural Foods Department submitted a petition to management requesting an increased employee discount (raising it to 20%, which is not uncommon for the industry) and a regular schedule of employee performance evaluations. Our petition was largely ignored for three weeks while the owners, Billy and Trish Ward, went on vacation. After they returned, on August 25th they held one-on-one meetings with the employees who signed the petition, elaborating a new 'open door' policy, by which employees could have 100% access to management if they had a concern or grievance. Beyond that, the requests listed in our petition were largely ignored.

Little over a week later, Joe was fired, ostensibly for 'stealing' a bag of coffee, which is donated by Sweetwater Coffee Company explicitly for the personal use of Natural Foods Department employees. This free coffee, which was and continues to be intentionally given for employees to drink at work and take home, was routinely taken home and made every morning by numerous Department employees, including Joe. To our knowledge, no employee has ever been punished (either received written warnings or been discharged) for the offense of taking home this free product, which the store never paid a single cent for. Joe didn't receive a written warning (as the employee handbook stipulates is appropriate for minor infractions) but was fired two days after checking out with the coffee in hand (buying eggs and donuts as well, on a Sunday morning).

For Immediate Release:
Brandworkers International

Contact: press (at) brandworkers.org

Celebrated Thai restaurant is the latest to drop Wild Edibles until it settles a year-long dispute with workers


August 7, 2008

New York, NY- Kittichai, the popular Thai restaurant in Soho, has stopped serving seafood from wholesaler and retailer, Wild Edibles, Inc. over concern for employee rights.  Wild Edibles workers and their allies have been campaigning for almost a year to reclaim stolen overtime pay; to compel compliance with workplace laws including the right to support a labor union; and to win a more livable wage as well as a health care and retirement plan.

"With Kittichai, thirty-four of New York's most well-regarded restaurantshave stopped serving Wild Edibles seafood," said Raymundo Lara Molina, one of eleven Wild Edibles employees fired or forced out in retaliation for asserting their rights.  "When will Wild Edibles see the writing on the wall and accept a just resolution of this dispute?"

From The Providence Journal

By David Scharfenberg

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — A year after a confrontation with police officers in North Providence left her with severe leg injuries, union organizer Alexandra Svoboda arrived at a rally yesterday with a cane, a knee brace and a message of defiance.

“This is the true spirit of resistance,” she said. “This is people saying, ‘no.’ ”

Svoboda, secretary of the Providence branch of the Industrial Workers of the World, was among a group of protesters who clashed with the police Aug. 11, 2007, while marching on Jacky’s Galaxie, a pan-Asian restaurant on Mineral Spring Avenue.

Union members were targeting Jacky’s because the eatery purchased rice and takeout containers from Dragon Land Trading, a restaurant supply company in Queens, N.Y., with a reputation for treating its employees poorly.