When the City of Ottawa installed speakers and started broadcasting muzak in busker Raymond Loomer's favourite underpass, he cut the speaker wires one day in May 2009. He then taped the wire on the door of the office door of the Downtown Rideau Business Improvement Area, a business lobby group that has waged a campaign to remove street people and performers from the city centre.

As a tin flute player, he was one of several buskers who relied on the unique acoustics of the downtown Ottawa underpass near the Rideau Centre shopping centre to make a living. Loomer is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He did not take kindly to having his live music replaced by a machine.

"They were playing music to interfere with our industry," he said.

City police arrested Loomer and charged him with two counts of mischief under $5,000. He was convicted on May 25, 2010 with a sentence of 12 months probation and 20 hours community service. Loomer represented himself and has appealed, saying the city failed to provide bylaw information he could have used in his defense and that he has rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to make a living and freedom of expression. He objected to the community service as "the slave style practices of government" for appropriating his labour power.

Loomer's appeal will be heard on November 12, 2010 at the city courthouse.

Ottawa had introduced restrictive bylaws requiring street performers to get a license and perform in designated spots chosen by the city. Ontario's Safe Streets Act, brought in to target squeegee kids, buskers and other street people making a living on the province's streets, has set the stage for tighter controls on informal workers.

For more information, visit www.ottawaiww.org

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.

In the last two weeks, many of us at Jimmy John's have had to sit through mandatory meetings with Rebecca Smith and Joe Brock. Rebecca Smith and Joe Brock claim that they just want to give us information so we can decide for ourselves if we want to form a union. The truth is that they are from Labor Relations Institute, Inc., a third-party anti-union company hired by Mike and Rob Mulligan. LRI promises employers that if they are hired, workers will be unable to form a union, or your money back. Their standard fee is $3000 per day, $375 an hour. Do you think the Mulligans pay these people hundreds of dollar an hour to be a neutral voice? Since September 15, we estimate they have been paid $45,000 by the Mulligans, or enough to give every Jimmy Johns worker $200 cash. In a recent campaign against workers organizing a union at Soaring Eagle Casino, LRI made $1.5 million total for their work. Rebecca Smith and Joe Brock have a financial interest in convincing you to vote no. They have a history of using misrepresentations, lies, and subtle threats to divide and conquer workers. Do they deserve our trust? No!

Here is more information about this pair that they have been hiding.

Rebecca Smith

• Claims to have worked as a union organizer. We contacted the Teamster union local she worked for when she lived near Pahrump, NV. They said she never worked as an organizer. She ran a program that taught people things like asbestos safety and forklift driving. That means she's lying to us.
• Claims she voluntarily quit her paid position in the Teamsters union. The truth is her own coworkers petitioned to have her removed from union office because of her gross incompetence.
• Was paid $103,031 for her work in a union-busting campaign at Soaring Eagle Casinos in Michigan in 2007. What did you get paid in 2007? Rebecca Smith gets a fat salary for union-busting, she doesn't know and doesn't care about what our lives are like.
• Kicked out of her own union, Rebecca Smith now travels around the country making misleading and manipulative statements about unions for employers.

Joe Brock

• Claims he was a union organizer. The truth is he was a highly paid official, not an organizer.
• Was happy to earn more than $80,000 per year from the Teamsters, then took a pay raise to attack the union members who gave him such a comfortable life style.
• Claims to be a Teamster who left because of problems in the labor movement. He doesn't tell us that he lost an election for office and then sued over losing. The Department of Labor ruled Brock’s claims against his local were baseless. So he quit and became a professional union buster.
• Claims his job as an anti-union consultant lets him help workers improve their lives on the job. Do you really think the Mulligans all of a sudden decided bring Brock here for $3,000 per day to improve conditions? Brock is not here to improve workers’ lives. He is here to earn a buck preventing us from having more input into how this place is run.

These are the facts. Decide for yourself, who do you trust? Highly paid outsiders like Rebecca Smith and Joe Brock, or your own co-workers who want all Jimmy John’s employees to have more voice on the job?

All of the information in this note is based on research gathered from US Department of Labor reports and given to us by unions that Rebecca Smith and Joe Brock worked for or were members of. If you'd like to see the documentation, we'd be happy to show it to you. Contact us here.

Labor Rights Violations Stack up as Sandwich Chain Turns to 'Union Avoidance' Consultants

MINNEAPOLIS– Jimmy John's will face a government investigation of 14 alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act at ten Minneapolis locations, the IWW Jimmy John's Workers Union announced today. The sandwich workers union has filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge accusing company owners Mike and Rob Mulligan of engaging in a pattern of labor rights violations ranging from physical intimidation and threats against union members, to tightening of company policies in retaliation for union activity.

“When we formed the union, we were hoping to just be able to sit down with Mike and Rob to talk about some basic improvements- sick days, basic respect, and a pay raise above minimum wage. We are dismayed that Jimmy John's has opted to bring in high-priced anti-union consultants and attempt to illegally union-bust rather than just come to the table,” said Ayo Collins, a member of the union.

Franchise owners Mike and Rob Mulligan have refused to meet with their employees to discuss their issues, prompting the sandwich workers to file for a National Labor Relations Board union election. The Labor Board recently announced that the election will be held on October 22.

If a majority of Minneapolis Jimmy Johns workers vote in favor of the union, the Mulligans will be legally required to negotiate in good faith over the terms of a contract.

In response to the union campaign, Jimmy Johns has contracted with Labor Relations Institute, Inc., a third party anti-union consultancy firm, to mount a comprehensive attack on union supporters. With the aid of Labor Relations Institute, the Mulligans have begun a series of 'captive audience meetings,' requiring their employees to watch anti-union videos in an attempt to break support for unionization. Other aspects of the anti-union campaign have crossed over into illegality, with reports of management threats, intimidation, and retaliation against union members surfacing across Minneapolis.

According to a 2009 report on employer responses to union organizing by noted Cornell University labor scholar Kate Bronfenbrenner, 63% of employers interrogate workers in mandatory one-on-one meetings about support for the union, 54% of employers threaten workers in such meetings, 47% of employers threaten to cut wages and benefits, 34% of employers fire workers, and 28% attempt to infiltrate the organizing committee. Due to these factors, only 45% of NLRB elections conducted from 1999-2003 resulted in a union victory.

In large part because of harsh employer opposition, union density in the food service industry hovers around a mere 1.8%. A union victory at Jimmy Johns could be a major breakthrough for labor in an industry where unions have struggled to gain a foothold, even as an increasing number of Americans find themselves employed in fast food.

Potential Turning Point for Labor as Millions in Service Sector Face Deepening Poverty

MINNEAPOLIS– The National Labor Relations Board confirmed today that it will conduct a union election for 200 workers at ten Minneapolis-area Jimmy John's on October 22, an historic first in the nation's almost entirely non-union fast food industry. The secret ballot union election could be a turning point for labor at a time of deepening poverty for millions of Americans affected by the recession, many of whom are employed in low-wage service sector jobs.

“People who thought of themselves as middle class or upwardly-mobile two years ago are now making minimum wage at Jimmy John's, with no real prospects for moving up. If these are the kinds of jobs that American workers will be stuck with, then we are going to make them quality jobs for working families,” said Mike Wilkow, a union member at Jimmy Johns.

If a majority of workers vote in favor of unionization, the company will be legally bound to negotiate with a bargaining team elected by its employees.

The unprecedented fast food union campaign at Jimmy John's comes at a time of deepening economic misery for US workers. According to a recent report by the US Census Bureau, a record-breaking 43.6 million Americans– 1 in 7 people– are living in poverty. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the unemployment rate at 9.6%, with 14.9 million people out of work and uncounted millions more too discouraged to look for work. Layoffs and outsourcing have decimated higher-paid jobs, particularly strongholds of unionization such as manufacturing and construction, forcing many workers to seek employment in low-wage areas of the economy once reserved for teenagers and students. For many, it feels like food service and retail are the only jobs left.

While many workers are forced to seek employment in food service, industry wages and working conditions are widely regarded as substandard; in 2009, the median wage in the fast food industry was $8.28/hr and as of July 2010, the average workweek in fast food was only 24.3 hours. The median annual income for fast food workers is $10,462, or $871 per month. This is less than half the federal poverty line of $21,954 for a family of four, and below the federal poverty line of $ 10,830 for an individual. Jimmy John's is below industry standards, paying most workers the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr, scheduling most workers less than 20 hours/week, and offering no benefits.

Immigrant workers fired from kosher food processor and distributor Flaum Appetizing Corp. carried out a Sunday morning demonstration at the home of owner Moshe Grudhut.

The workers are organizing with the Focus on the Food Chain campaign to reclaim stolen overtime pay, defend their dignity against abusive mangers, and end anti-immigrant discrimination at the company:

Watch Now - http://youtu.be/5DZHVGBt-GY

Focus on the Food Chain is a joint effort of non-profit organization Brandworkers and the New York City Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World labor union. The campaign is made of immigrant workers and their supporters challenging and overcoming sweatshop conditions in New York City's food processing and distribution warehouses.

Join with us to create a sustainable food system which incorporates respect for workers' human rights:

Facebook: "Focus on the Food Chain"

Workers at Birmingham's NHS Blood & Transplant centre in Edgbaston have just successfully organised to get a hot food canteen through a popular campaign.

Earlier this year office staff moved into former lab space left empty following cuts and closures. This influx highlighted and reminded people just how poor the existing catering on site was. Years ago there had been a full canteen serving cooked breakfast and the like, but the contract was operated by a local hospital and when that ended, no-one was willing to take it on, so the canteen was closed. Since then all that staff have had is over-priced vending machines which supply only salty, fatty and sugary junk food, and are frequently half empty. The dry sandwiches are universally hated. Considering the employer is the NHS, it seemed not a lot of thought had gone into how what employees eat effects our health, fitness, well-being, energy and concentration - especially those who work shifts.

This issue was something that absolutely everybody felt strongly about, so it was decided that instead of grumbling, which achieves nothing, a Campaign for a Canteen would be launched. The UNISON branch agreed to give the campaign its full backing. A petition was circulated and was signed by all, even visiting managers from other centres. An open meeting was also held so that ideas could be brainstormed to go into a written case.

Members of UNISON, Unite, IWW and also non-union members all came up with very strong arguments. The case was put together and presented to management along with pages of signatures, and a right earful from some of the most fired-up staff! Then, once we had made our case, many of us helped to keep the pressure up by sending the regional manager regular individual emails.

In the end management felt that our case was quite simply so strong and logical on all fronts that the only choice they had was to concede to our demand. Now we will be getting a full serving hatch which will give us access to hot fresh food and fruit and veg. This will be a good boost to morale and hopefully to people's health as well. Birmingham blood centre has lost a lot in the past few years and it's about time that we got something back! But this wasn't a gift - the truth is we wouldn't have got it if we hadn't organised.

The Richmond IWW responded to a plan that will re-develop a historical part of Richmond's East End whose residents are majority working class and African American. The East End Vision is made up of a group of professionals & city officials who held a five day charrette (town hall meeting) in June to allow for the community to give their input on what the community should look like.

We found that residents were concerned about possible gentrification and the overwhelming influx of middle class residents that would be attracted to such a development. Sustainable East End Development was formed by the Richmond IWW and local residents to help unify the voices of the affected residents and ensure that no one is displaced.

Another iniative the Richmond IWW is working on is creating a Richmond Renters Union to help residents organize and politicize themselves around the issue of gentrification.

Sustainable East End Development
St. Stephens Koinonia Church
505 N. 33rd St Richmond, Virginia
richmondiww@gmail.com
804-873-3067

Dear Councilperson Cynthia Newbille, Ashley Peace and Juanita Buster,