[act-ma] TODAY! SUPPORT INSOMNIA COOKIES WORKERS ON STRIKE!! PLS FWD!!

[Geoff Carens]

Today! Rally at 6pm in Harvard Square!
https://www.facebook.com/insomniaunion       https://iwwboston.org

Striking Workers at Insomnia Cookies Demand Higher Wages, Benefits, and a
Union! All strikers have been illegally fired for their pro-union efforts,
and have joined the Industrial Workers of the World. They need your help
to win!

In this email:
1. Schedule for today's picket and rally
2. Background of the Strike
3. Insomnia Strike agreement
4. Other ways you can help


1. Schedule for Today (Thursday, August 22)
12noon - Picket Begins at the Harvard Square location, 65 Mt Auburn St
Cambridge, MA 02138.

2pm - Sign and banner making for the evening rally (come to picket to
participate in sign-making.) Bring materials if you can.

6pm - Rally! Meet near the main entrance of the Harvard Square T stop. We
will march to Insomnia. Bring everybody you can!


2. Background:
At 12:00 am on Sunday, August 18, the night shift at the Harvard Square
Insomnia Cookies voted to initiate a strike for higher wages, healthcare,
and freedom to build a union. Insomnia Cookies, with around 30 locations
in the Northeast and Midwest, caters to college students and runs late
night deliveries of warm cookies and milk to dorm rooms. Still delivering
cookies until 2:45 am, Insomnia workers who double-duty as bakers and
cashiers receive only 9$ an hour, while "drivers," who are expected to
deliver cookies by bicycle within a half hour, receive only 5$ an hour
plus tips. Neither receive healthcare, at a job where turnover is so high,
the typical employee lasts only one month. Insomnia workers have had
enough, and they need your help if they can win their jobs back and
achieve their goals.

Insomnia strikers have all joined the Industrial Workers of the World, and
the workers and their union have held pickets for the last four days at
the Harvard Square location, 65 Mt Auburn St  Cambridge, MA 02138.

Check the Boston IWW website, or the Insomnia Union facebook for updates:
http://iwwboston.org/   https://www.facebook.com/insomniaunion


3. Below is the agreement the night crew wrote then signed before walking
off the job:

Harvard Insomnia Strike Agreement
The following Employees of Insomnia Cookies hereby vote to go on Strike on
August 18, 2013 at 12:00am.

Our Demands:
1) Higher Wages.
2.) Benefits to Include Health Care and Dental.
3.) Union Membership.

We stand in solidarity with all those low wage workers across the country
who are oppressed and exploited.

Long Live the Workers Movement!
(signed by four workers, a shift leader, 2 bakers, and a driver).


4. Other ways you can help:
A. Call/Email the Regional Manager of Insomnia Cookies. (347)366-0991 -
chris at insomniacookies.com - harvard at insomniacookies.com

Call up Chris, the regional manager, and tell him to give the fired
workers their jobs back! They did what any of us what do - demanded to be
treated like people!

The ideal time to call is between 7PM to 3AM. Call every day while this is
going on! We are going to need everyone's help if we are gonna get their
jobs back!

B. If you live in a city with an Insomnia shop, please print the below
letter and hand-deliver it to the employees.

https://www.facebook.com/insomniaunion

Fellow Workers at Insomnia Cookies!
        The Night Shift at the Harvard Insomnia Cookies went on strike on
Sunday
August 18th at 12am, shutting down the store and occupying the premise
demanding increased wages, benefits and union membership. They also
demanded reparations for the gross violations that Insomnia Cookies/Serve
U Brands has perpetrated such as wage theft, no breaks and threats to
break the workers movement.
        So far, almost half of the workers have joined the Industrial
Workers of
the World and thus formed a union. We are also filing a grievance through
the NLRB.

WE CALL ON YOU TO JOIN US! Join the strike! You have nothing to lose! We
have a right to demand a fair, living wage and to support ourselves from
one full time income. From one low wage job to another, we must fight, for
no one will fight for us unless we fight for ourselves and each other.

The time has come to demand the impossible and to win!
        In Solidarity,
The Striking Workers of Harvard Insomnia Cookies
https://www.facebook.com/insomniaunion
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