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Vol. 75/No. 16      April 25, 2011

 
Union organizers fight
firings by Jimmy John’s
 
BY FRANK FORRESTAL  
MINNEAPOLIS—Six organizers of the Jimmy John’s Workers Union are fighting their firings for putting up posters around town demanding paid sick days at the chain of sandwich shops.

David Boehnke, Erik Forman, Micah Buckley-Farlee, Davis Ritsema, Max Specktor, and Mike Wilklow were fired by Jimmy John’s March 23. They have filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). They say their activity is protected union activity.

“The firing is bogus,” said Jaim’ee Polte, a sandwich worker, while on break outside a Jimmy John’s shop in downtown Minneapolis. Those fired were “the core organizers of the union,” said Polte, who is also a student at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

“As far as I am concerned, the firings were a violation of free speech,” said Mathias Sturn, a delivery driver.

The Jimmy John’s Workers Union, affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World, narrowly lost a union representation election last October. Voting for the union were 85 workers while 87 voted against. The unionization drive was one of the few national attempts to organize fast-food workers. It received broad solidarity among working people in the Twin Cities.

Following the October vote, the union filed charges against the owners saying that they had engaged in a pattern of labor rights violations, from firing prounion workers and bribe offers to threats of closing shops if workers voted for the union. The NLRB ruled in the union’s favor, allowing a new representation election to be called anytime in the next 18 months.

Low wages (most workers are paid $8 or less), irregular hours, no medical benefits, and no paid sick days are the main issues that sparked the unionization drive.

In the months since the election, the union has focused on fighting for paid sick days. A union flyer states, “We don’t want to work sick, we can’t afford to work sick, and we sure as hell believe no one should be disciplined for refusing to work sick or for fighting for paid sick days.”

Posters put up by union supporters show two identical sandwiches. One shows a sandwich made by a healthy worker, the other by a sick worker. “Can you tell the difference?” the poster says. “We hope your immune system is ready because you’re about to take the sandwich test.”

The union’s complaint says the workers were fired for “publicizing the ongoing labor dispute over the employer’s sick-day policy and related pattern and practice of firing workers for calling in sick.”

Boehnke told AlterNet that the six discharged workers received notices that said they were fired for “defaming the brand and disloyalty to the company.” The owner of the franchise, Michael Mulligan, said the workers were fired for “defaming the company” and that their union activity was not protected under law.

The union is fighting to have all six workers reinstated, and will press ahead on its demand for paid sick days.
 
 
Related articles:
Thousands march to defend public workers under attack
Workers hit by ‘shared sacrifice’ in California  
 
 
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