Solidarity Unionism at Jimmy John's CA Speaking Tour

~~ Solidarity Unionism at Jimmy John’s~~
California speaking tour with Jimmy John’s worker Brittany Koppy

-We will also be fundraising to pay for travel costs and asking those who attend to show their solidarity by donating!

Monday, June 27th at 7pm
C.A.F.E. Infoshop
935 F. St (Chinatown) Fresno, CA 93706
http://www.myspace.com/cafefresno


Solidarity Unionism at Jimmy John’s
California speaking tour with Jimmy John’s worker Brittany Koppy

http://jimmyjohnsworkers.org/

Worker and organizer Brittany Koppy will talk on her involvement with the IWW’s unprecedented campaign to organize food service workers at the corporate sandwich chain Jimmy John’s. The campaign is based on the IWW’s model of solidarity unionism that emphasizes a bottom up and worker led approach that relies on solidarity and direct action.

Going public on Labor Day weekend 2010 with solidarity actions happening in 23 states, the campaign went on to hold a union election for 200 workers at ten Minneapolis-area Jimmy John's in October 2010, an historic first in the nation's almost entirely non-union fast food industry.

Jaim'ee Bolte, a member of the union, says, “People say fast food is unorganizable. We say failure is not an option. Service industry jobs are the future and our future needs to have quality jobs for working families with living wages, affordable healthcare, paid time off, consistent hours, and basic respect. It's time for change in America, we hope this will be a turning point for all workers.”

Fraught with company intimidation the campaign lost the election by two votes only to have the National Labor Relations Board nullifying the results in January 2011. Not letting the employer stacked election process deter their efforts the campaign is now focused on pushing for its “10 Point Program” to Reform Fast Food Industry. Core demands include sick days, improved job security, guaranteed work hours, a reasonable pay increase and regular raises, improved harassment policies, other basic job benefits, and the establishment of a system of shop committees giving workers a democratic voice within the company.

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.