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posted by martyb on Thursday May 03 2018, @10:13AM   Printer-friendly
from the a-win-for-workers-everywhere dept.

The International Socialist Organization reports

The Burgerville Workers Union (BVWU) in Portland, Oregon, has become the first federally recognized fast-food workers union in the U.S.

With a vote of 18-4 in a National Labor Relations Board election, workers at Store #41 notched an important victory in the drive to organize the 1,500 workers at all 42 Burgerville sites located in Oregon and southwest Washington. BVWU spokesperson Emmett Schlenz says that six of the company's locations now have publicly active unions. Workers at another store have already filed for an NLRB election.

[...] The union has been pressing for a $5 an hour raise, stable scheduling, affordable health care, paid maternity/paternity leave, free childcare and transportation, and an end to the employer's use of e-verify to exclude undocumented immigrant workers.

Using direct action tactics, including mass picketing with community allies, occupations and a three-day strike at four restaurants, the all-volunteer BVWU has drawn the support of dozens of local unions, many community and faith-based organizations, and some elected officials.

The union called a boycott of Burgerville after a number of union activists were fired.

[...] The union's announcement of its victory stated:

In this moment of victory, we want to celebrate, yes, but we also want to turn our attention to the 4.5 million other fast-food workers in the United States. We want to speak to everyone else who works for poverty wages, who are constantly disrespected on the job, who are told they aren't educated enough, aren't experienced enough, aren't good enough for a decent life. To all of those workers, to everyone like us who works rough jobs for terrible pay, we say this:

Don't listen to that bullshit. Burgerville workers didn't, and look at us now.


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  • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:53PM (2 children)

    by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:53PM (#675182) Journal

    I have experience both as a fast food cook and as a fast food customer.

    As a cook, I usually got the grill* orders right, sometimes not. Sometimes the not was my fault.

    As a customer, I rarely receive an order from a fast food place that isn't wrong in some aspect. (This week's example: "Would you like scrambled McEggs, or a folded McEgg portion?" "Scrambled please." (time passes) "Here is your order, have a great day!" "These eggs aren't scrambled. This is a folded egg portion. This isn't rocket science.")

    The numbers are off in the industry. At least in my area, customers are a zillion percent** more likely now to receive a wrong grill order than decades ago when I was making them. And we didn't have the fancy computers controlling everything. The majority*** of the time I put in a grill order at a fast food restaurant, it comes back wrong.

    So how about this:

    If your (shift|store) has good stats like friendly, professional, with >= 98% accuracy for a (week|month) as reported on our feedback survey, then you become eligible to apply for the $5 raise.

    And none of this nonsense [freworld.info] (Actual example! From the restaurant whose cook(s) did not know the difference between scrambled eggs and folded egg portions). Real feedback.

    As a fast food owner or manager I would cheerfully institute such a policy right now, even without a union:

    • Vast majority would never be eligible and just complain about it instead of improving their commitment to accuracy
    • But the eligible ones would be ones I'd want to keep

    Can't do sustained accuracy? No raise. Can't do accuracy at all? No job.

    I am not saying fire people who can't read (unless they lied about it)--mentor them, help them develop necessary skills. But don't keep people that can't "add bacon" and *certainly* don't give them a raise.

    ----------
    * A "grill order" is a special order, or an order with a special request. "Add bacon", for example, or "no onions".
    ** A zillion, give or take a few orders of magnitude.
    *** "Majority" means more than 50% across multiple restaurants (ex. McDs, Hardees/Carl's Jr, Burger King, Bojangles, Wendys)

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 03 2018, @07:23PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 03 2018, @07:23PM (#675258)

    And none of this nonsense [freworld.info] (Actual example! From the restaurant whose cook(s) did not know the difference between scrambled eggs and folded egg portions).

    When I used to see things like that, I would think that it was because someone didn't know what they were doing. These days I'm more inclined to think: "Someone's bonus was based on how many "highly satisfied" surveys got sent in".

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 03 2018, @08:58PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 03 2018, @08:58PM (#675307)

    This happened last month: My son was looking for his first job. He applied to the local McDonalds and was called by the manager and asked to report for an interview. He showed up on time and was told the manager had left for the day. He was asked to come back the next day. He returned the following day. Same issue. No manager. He was then given a website and a code to enter to schedule his interview. He followed his instructions and was never called.

    While eating there this month, he saw one of his friends had been hired. He explained his problems getting his interview and his friend said the same thing happened to him. He said you just have to keep coming back. Eventually they will hire you.

    When we sat down, he told me, "Dad. That guy I was talking to is retarded." I told him that they are the only ones who would put up with such poor managers and hiring practices. I asked him if it is any wonder that this place always seems to be run by idiots? You have to really really want to work at McDonalds. My son has already found work at another place.