Fast-food striker fired — but not for long

Source: Salon.com

By Josh Eidelson

Friday, 200-some New York City fast food workers returned to work after pulling off an unprecedented strike against one of the country’s largest and lowest-paying industries. They didn’t return alone – the strikers were escorted back into their stores by squads of supporters designed to discourage managers from retaliating. And organizers say the fast food companies so far haven’t tried to punish strikers, with one dramatic exception: A Wendy’s store that told a woman she was fired, then backed down after the store was occupied and picketed by activists, community leaders, and a member of the City Council.

According to Councilmember Jumanne Williams, 10 out of 11 strikers were allowed to resume work when they arrived at Brooklyn’s 425 Fulton Street Wendy’s, but management told the eleventh that she was being fired for absenteeism. Williams said that workers provided management with written notice that they were striking Thursday, but a manager claimed not to have received it. “We tried to speak with the general manager that was there, and he wasn’t forthcoming in talking to me,” said Williams. “So I decided to ask all of the customers that were there if they would leave in support of the worker that was fired. That did happen – they left. We began to protest in the store.”

More community leaders, including the heads of the New York Working Families Party (WFP) and the group United New York, were called in to join the chanting protesters in occupying the store. When police showed up and asked them to leave, said Williams, they began a vigorous picket on the sidewalk. “A good amount of people did decide not to go into that Wendy’s,” said Williams. “Which we were very proud of.”

Eventually, said Williams, the store manager agreed to meet: “He said he could talk to the public officials, but not to anyone associated with the organizers” of the strike. WFP Executive Director Dan Cantor, who was in the meeting with Williams and the manager, said it seemed the manager had been “following company policy” by initially firing the woman, “and then he reversed it.” Both men said that by the time they left the store, the previously-fired striker was getting ready to start her shift.

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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2012/12/01/fast_food_striker_fired_but_not_for_long/