UAW President Calls Boycott on Behalf of Detroit Restaurant Workers

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6460/uaw_president_calls_boycott_on_behalf_of_dcetroit_restaurant_workers/

Monday September 20 11:51 am

By Kari Lydersen

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS28HRKBn-k&feature=player_embedded

Workers fired from the Andiamo restaurant chain in the Detroit area took their campaign to a new level last week, with United Auto Workers (UAW) president Bob King joining them in calling for a boycott of the restaurant’s 11 locations in southeast Michigan.

The UAW has 150,000 members in the area, and is also calling on companies with which it has contracts – including Ford Motor Co. — and elected officials to boycott the chain. On Sept. 16 the UAW, Metro Detroit AFL-CIO and interfaith leaders joined ROC-Michigan and workers in trying to deliver a letter to management of Andiamo’s Dearborn location, where workers were fired for organizing with ROC-Michigan, an affiliate of the national Restaurant Opportunity Center.

A manager refused to take the letter, saying the group could send its complaints by mail. An Andiamo manager reportedly also told interfaith and worker leaders she would be out shortly to talk with them; she never showed. The next day, the boycott was called and a diverse crowd of workers and supporters marched carrying signs saying “Hungry for Justice.” (See video above).

UAW Region 1A director Rory Gamble told the crowd:

You have to put your feet to the pavement to tell them you’re committed to bring about positive change. And that’s what this is all about positive change. We want fair treatment and decent wages, decent standard of living, for these employees. That’s the American way, right?

In Motor City itself, the top-level UAW support is a strong statement – and especially significant given the UAW is supporting workers organizing with the Restaurant Opportunity Center, which is not a traditional union. King took office in June, and has been committed to an “ambitious new agenda that calls for broad organizing and social justice work," as a ROC-MIchigan press release describes it.

FULL story at link.