IWW
05-25-2017, 08:41 PM
By Anonymous Contributor - It's Going Down (https://itsgoingdown.org/report-back-dc-standing-solidarity-fellow-worker-julia-flores/), May 20, 2017
https://www.iww.org/sites/default/files/images/julia42.JPGOn April 30th, the DC Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) (http://www.dciww.org/) staged a picket in support of fellow worker Julia Flores, a member of the IWW and the Comité de Apoyo Laboral y Poder Obrero (https://www.facebook.com/comitedeapoyolaboral/?fref=ts) (the Comité), who was wrongfully terminated by Whole Foods in September 2016. After 15 years of service, Whole Foods retaliated against Julia for collectively organizing to win back a fellow worker’s job. Since Julia’s wrongful termination, she has made several appeals to the company’s local and regional leadership only to be dismissed without justice. In December 2016, the manager who terminated Julia, Victor Vazquez, was fired along with eight other managers, for ‘stealing bonuses (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/whole-foods-accused-of-cheating-workers-out-of-bonuses-in-class-action-lawsuit/2016/12/21/104dfd7c-c705-11e6-bf4b-2c064d32a4bf_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.7cf71eea2358)’. Our picket was not only in support of Julia’s Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) claim (https://www.nlrb.gov/resources/nlrb-process) but to demand her reinstatement as well as restitution. Our message to Whole Foods and the surrounding employers was clear: We, the workers of the District of Columbia, will not tolerate repression of fellow workers, retaliation for organizing our workplaces, or wage theft. An injury to one is an injury to all!
Our coalition was comprised of around sixty comrades including members of Many Languages One Voice (MLOV), the Comité, the IWW and its General Defense Committee (GDC), the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Socialist Alternative, Future is Feminist, DC Stampede, DC Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), and the Socialist Snack Squad. We assembled at 10:30 am to review our overall strategy, our contingency escalation plan, and individual roles. The fulcrum of the action was a delegation of five comrades that accompanied Julia to Whole Foods to present her demands to the store manager in advance of the picket. Unsurprisingly, Whole Foods refused to negotiate and demanded the delegation leave the store. While we had no illusion that the bosses had any intention of conceding, workers organizing an effective picket should clearly articulate their demands to both the bosses as well as to the wider community. The delegation relayed the details of their meeting to the picket and then proceeded to canvas nearby businesses to put pressure on Whole Foods. At each stop the delegation explained the circumstances of Julia’s wrongful termination, Whole Food’s history of worker repression, and the delegation’s recent treatment by the store manager.
read more (https://www.iww.org/content/report-back-dc-standing-solidarity-fellow-worker-julia-flores)
More... (https://www.iww.org/content/report-back-dc-standing-solidarity-fellow-worker-julia-flores)
https://www.iww.org/sites/default/files/images/julia42.JPGOn April 30th, the DC Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) (http://www.dciww.org/) staged a picket in support of fellow worker Julia Flores, a member of the IWW and the Comité de Apoyo Laboral y Poder Obrero (https://www.facebook.com/comitedeapoyolaboral/?fref=ts) (the Comité), who was wrongfully terminated by Whole Foods in September 2016. After 15 years of service, Whole Foods retaliated against Julia for collectively organizing to win back a fellow worker’s job. Since Julia’s wrongful termination, she has made several appeals to the company’s local and regional leadership only to be dismissed without justice. In December 2016, the manager who terminated Julia, Victor Vazquez, was fired along with eight other managers, for ‘stealing bonuses (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/whole-foods-accused-of-cheating-workers-out-of-bonuses-in-class-action-lawsuit/2016/12/21/104dfd7c-c705-11e6-bf4b-2c064d32a4bf_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.7cf71eea2358)’. Our picket was not only in support of Julia’s Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) claim (https://www.nlrb.gov/resources/nlrb-process) but to demand her reinstatement as well as restitution. Our message to Whole Foods and the surrounding employers was clear: We, the workers of the District of Columbia, will not tolerate repression of fellow workers, retaliation for organizing our workplaces, or wage theft. An injury to one is an injury to all!
Our coalition was comprised of around sixty comrades including members of Many Languages One Voice (MLOV), the Comité, the IWW and its General Defense Committee (GDC), the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Socialist Alternative, Future is Feminist, DC Stampede, DC Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), and the Socialist Snack Squad. We assembled at 10:30 am to review our overall strategy, our contingency escalation plan, and individual roles. The fulcrum of the action was a delegation of five comrades that accompanied Julia to Whole Foods to present her demands to the store manager in advance of the picket. Unsurprisingly, Whole Foods refused to negotiate and demanded the delegation leave the store. While we had no illusion that the bosses had any intention of conceding, workers organizing an effective picket should clearly articulate their demands to both the bosses as well as to the wider community. The delegation relayed the details of their meeting to the picket and then proceeded to canvas nearby businesses to put pressure on Whole Foods. At each stop the delegation explained the circumstances of Julia’s wrongful termination, Whole Food’s history of worker repression, and the delegation’s recent treatment by the store manager.
read more (https://www.iww.org/content/report-back-dc-standing-solidarity-fellow-worker-julia-flores)
More... (https://www.iww.org/content/report-back-dc-standing-solidarity-fellow-worker-julia-flores)