NYC restaurant workers win
2016Marty Goodman 2016-02Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 3 →
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NEW YORK—Braving union-busting layoffs and retribution, workers at Brod Kitchen (formerly Hot and Crusty), lo cated on 63rd St. in the wealthy Upper East Side of Manhattan, are fighting to save their union and their jobs.
On Jan. 14, the Hot and Crusty Workers Association, a mostly Hispanic immi grant workforce of 19, entered into ne gotiations for a new contract. The man agement of the renamed Brod Kitchen told union reps that Brod would shut its doors the next day, giving lack of funds as the excuse. Later, the layoff threat was extended to 30 days.
A spirited solidarity rally of up to 200 unionists and activists was held Jan. 29 at Brod’s new non-union Greenwich Vil lage location. A day later, the uptown Brod laid off union President Mahoma Lopez and union activist Marcelino Cano. A second rally on short notice attracted dozens. Then a third worker, Layla Mejilla was fired.
The new downtown Brod location is across the street from the New York University campus, a high-rent area. While the Village café is not formally owned by Hugo Uys, the South African TV chef who owns the 63rd St. location, the uptown workers report that em ployees have been sent to work there and that an interchange of management personnel exists.
Moreover, Brod is spreading lies against the union by posting a claim in its Village location window that the union is “stealing our jobs.” Signers of the so-called appeal of Brod workers in cludes the Brod restaurant supervisor! Brod is using the non-union restaurant as a club to bust the union.
The Hot and Crusty Workers Associa tion was born in 2013 as the result of a
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Canada, but UE was the first national union in the USA to formally endorse.
The UE’s answer to the Labor Board charge was that the resolution was not part of a collective-bargaining tactic of secondary boycott but First Amendment-pro tected expression of opinion and call for action. The board agreed.
UE General President Peter Knowlton said, “The NL RB’s decision is a victory for the growing BDS move ment across the U.S., which faces increasing political attempts to silence and intimidate critics of the Israeli government. As Americans who have a constitutional right to criticize our own government, we certainly have a right to criticize and, if we choose, boycott a foreign government that is heavily subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.”
More details of both victories can be found on the UE website at: ueunion.org/ue-news-updates Thanks to the Boss—A story entitled “Why More Nurses Are Unionizing in Phila.” in the Philadelphia Inquirer corroborates an article of faith for veteran union organizers: it’s not the unions that convince workers they need to be organized—the bosses do that. While wages and benefits are, of course, always important, fair treatment and working conditions are usually paramount. That seems particularly true for nurses who are dedicated to care for patients in a