[act-ma] 2NITE! 8 PM, UNIONIZE INSOMNIA COOKIES! HARVARD SQ CAMBRIDGE

[Geoff Carens]

Dear Everyone,

At midnight on August 18, all four Insomnia Cookies workers in the Harvard
Square location voted unanimously to go on strike because of their
poverty-level pay and unsafe working conditions. They were summarily fired
by a manager who even threatened a lawsuit for "violating contractual
provisions."
The strikers joined the Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW)<http://www.iww.org/>,
which is working with Insomnia's employees to get justice and union
recognition. You're invited to join the the Boston
IWW<http://iwwboston.org/2013/09/11/striking-workers-at-insomnia-cookies-join-the-iww-by-jake-carman/>and
members of Harvard's Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM), tonight in
a
demonstration demanding union recognition for Insomnia Cookies workers, at
the Harvard Square location, 65 Mt. Auburn St. Cambridge (2 blocks from the
Harvard Square MBTA stop). We will gather starting at 8 pm, a busy time for
the store, to maximize our impact. See you there! The Facebook event
is here<https://www.facebook.com/events/1405934196300747/>.
To make a donation to the Insomnia Workers' strike fund, pls click
here<https://www.wepay.com/donations/1952435343>
.

*Background*: Insomnia staff hired as bakers, who also act as cashiers in
the busy store, make just $9/hr, at times with no break time. For months,
"drivers," who had to use their own bikes to make deliveries, didn't even
make minimum wage. They are paid just $5/hr plus tips, and are under
competitive pressure to have the lowest delivery times possible, leading to
unsafe riding. So-called drivers often don't get legally-mandated meal
breaks either. On August 18, the four workers declared they were on strike,
served every customer and shut down the store. Their demands were: a living
wage, health care, legally-mandated break time, and the ability to form a
union without interference from the company (which has 30 locations in the
US). The manager who terminated them placed a phone call threatening to sue
one of the strikers. Since the campaign began to unionize Insomnia, the
company has signaled its willingness to reinstate one striker and pay a
small amount of back pay, but much more remains to be accomplished.

In Solidarity,

Geoff for the Boston General Membership Branch, IWW
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