Victory To The Cookie Workers

 

Dear All,

This summer & fall, waves of one-day fast food strikes swept across the US. On August 18, workers at Harvard Square's Insomnia Cookies declared their own strike. Some were making just $6/hr (the minimum wage is $8) as they used their own bikes to make deliveries, under pressure to ride as fast as possible, until 3:15 am.* They were often denied a half hour unpaid meal break, to which workers in MA are minimally entitled, for shifts longer than 6 hrs. With support from the IWW, Harvard's Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM) and Boston University's Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), Insomnia strikers still hold the line. They have maintained their strike for more than 50 days in the face of threats and attempted intimidation. Strikers' demands include $15/hr, health benefits, and company neutrality to union organizing. Please come to the picket line tonight, and stand up for low-paid bakers and bike delivery persons, who had the courage to stand up against exploitation and demand a union! We will gather at Insomnia Cookies' Harvard Square location, 65 Mount Auburn St (2 blocks from the Harvard Red Line MBTA stop), starting at 9 pm.

Strikers have been able to sustain their fight for justice & union recognition thanks to the Insomnia Cookies Workers Strike Fund which has raised over $1,200 so far. Please consider making a donation!

Please forward this message as widely as possible. The Facebook event for the picket is here.

In Solidarity,

Geoff for the Industrial Workers of the World / IWW

*Insomnia Cookies has been in trouble before for wage theft and ignoring city ordinances. A former employee writes, "Insomnia never paid me a cent they owed for the hours I worked. After a year and a half I’ve now completely given up on ever seeing that $8.50 an hour." You can read the whole story here.