Victory at Leichhardt café!
Solidarity and direct action win the day
The back story
Sydney Solidarity Network was contacted by CJ, a worker who was exploited and sexually harassed. She is a traveler on a working holiday visa who started working at a café in Leichhardt in early March. There were problems from the beginning. The boss would continually try to touch her and other women against their will. She was paid only $17 per hour, which is below the Restaurant Award wage ($22.24 on weekdays and $26.69 on weekends, for casuals).
The pay was cash-in-hand, and the boss would always pay late. No contracts were signed and the boss never asked for their tax file numbers. There were other workers who were fired on the spot, with no notice, for no reason. When CJ spoke up, she was taken off the shift roster, with no notice. She decided to quit. She asked the boss to pay her outstanding wages (at $17 per hour): $433.50. He refused, and one of the supervisors slapped the face of CJ’s friend who was there to support her. The cops were called but they didn’t help CJ, but instead told her to come back a few days later as the boss requested. When she came back the boss only paid her $200 and withheld the rest ‘for damages to property’ – a completely fictitious claim.
So CJ contacted SydSol and asked for help to get back her stolen wages. Together, we demanded that the boss pay CJ the full $1,108.70 she was owed – which would bring her wages up to the award minimum for the hours she worked.
Exploitative, violent, disrespectful, and sexist behaviour by bosses, supervisors and cops is all too common – in the hospitality industry and elsewhere. But in this case, the workers decided to stand up and say “NO!”
Sydney Solidarity Network takes action
Over a two week period, SydSol organised 3 actions at the café. The actions were lively and energetic, with chanting, singing, banners, placards and leaflets. Between 20 and 40 SydSol supporters came to each action. During the actions we gave out almost 1,000 leaflets to passersby, telling CJ’s story. We had lots of conversations and caused much discussion on the busy Leichhardt street! Most passersby were very supportive. Each action lasted for around 2 hours, during which time almost no customers went to the café.
At first the boss refused to pay. He started off trying to ignore us, but soon found that didn’t work. He then became more antagonistic, publishing defamatory messages about the ex-worker, throwing buckets of water at the protestors and threatening to break someone’s arm! The boss called the police a number of times, but no arrests were made. He even hired musicians to try to drown our our chanting! But we kept going!
Victory!
After the third action the boss paid the full amount owed to CJ. We won! As part of the settlement, SydSol participants agreed to remove the name of the café from our website and social media posts.
CJ was overjoyed and even decided to donate part of the money she was paid to Grandmothers Against Removals, and an activist legal fund, to spread the solidarity!
Another worker from the same café also quit during the period SydSol was taking action, because of similar issues with her employment. However that worker told us that, to her surprise, the boss paid her what she was owed – almost certainly because of our actions!
This was a great campaign, which resulted in a real victory for workers. We came together as a solidarity network and strengthened our organisation and ability to take action. We showed the power of direct action – action taken by oppressed people ourselves, on our own terms, and in our own interests.
What next?
Sydney Solidarity Network continues – but we need you!
Sign up to our supporters email list, to get updates and action alerts: http://eepurl.com/UGQev and get your friends to sign up too!
Come along to our meeting/picnic at 3pm on Saturday 14th May in Camperdown Park, followed by celebratory drinks from 5pm at the Courthouse Hotel in Newtown. (In case of poor weather, we’ll be in the Courthouse Hotel from 3pm.) We need more people to get involved in the SydSol organising group!
Share this story on social media and tell your friends about it!
We also ask you to think about any issues in your own life, and the lives of your friends and families, to identify the problems in your workplace and your community. Problems which can be changed through direct action – like underpayments, bullying, landlords refusing to do repairs, or real estate agents evicting you without reason. And get in touch about taking action together to fix these problems!
