WEBVTT - Union Busting at the Doughnut Shop 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:07.039 Also media welcome, Dick. It appen here at the podcast 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:09.320 that we're starting as if it was a nomal podcast 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:11.400 instead of doing some terrible thing like we normally do. 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:14.600 I'm your host, Bia Wong. This is a podcast about 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:16.480 things falling apart, and this is a putting it back 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:21.200 together again episode. Yeah, and I'm I'm here with two 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:25.200 workers from Donut Workers United, specifically at Blue Star Donuts, 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:29.840 Lydia and Ben, to talk about unionization efforts and some 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:33.640 really terrible union busting stuff. So Lydia, Ben, welcome to 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:34.000 the show. 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:37.560 Thank you, thank you for having us. Super excited. 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:40.640 Yeah, I'm really excited to have you two here. So 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:45.680 all right, So Blue Star Donuts is a donut place 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:49.879 in Portland's for people who are not in Portland's question mark, 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.080 which is probably a lot of you. I don't know, 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:55.880 I don't know where you are right now. So I 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:58.280 guess the place I wanted to start with talking about 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.440 this is how did you two get involved with this campaign? 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:06.640 You know, it's actually for me. It was right before Halloween. 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:10.800 I went to a coworker's house and you know, we 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:13.640 had some drinks and hung out and she just sort 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:16.880 of you know, the conversation just sort of organically led 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:19.840 to work and talking about work and you know, this 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:22.120 is messed up at work, this is frustrating us. And 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:25.560 then she was like, hey, like, what's your opinion on 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.520 you know, union stuff? And I actually had when I 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:32.160 worked at Starbucks in Texas, I had tried to unionize 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:36.840 my location and it didn't no one was interested, but 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:39.959 I you know, they She asked us if we wanted 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:43.120 to sign a union card or union authorization card, and 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:44.200 I was all for it. 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:47.400 You know, I'm very into it. So that's that's how 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:48.080 it started for me. 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:53.720 Yeah, So bouncing off of that, it was, I would say, 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.240 a couple of days before that Halloween party. For me, 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:02.080 I'm pretty close friends with the woman who started all 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.400 of this, and so I was visiting her and she 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.519 just kind of briefly mentioned She's like, hey, do you 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:11.440 know what's going on with Blue Star and kind of 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:16.560 open ended question, and you know this company, almost every 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:21.840 day something happens. So I was like, I mean, maybe 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:27.320 maybe not what's going on? And she's like, well, like 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:30.120 are you good with unions? And I'm like, oh, girl, 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.519 of course I am. I was actually involved with a 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:37.359 union in a previous job that was more higher end 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:43.240 like government board specific instead of an individual and I 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.120 was like, yeah, it hit me what's going on. And 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:48.640 she's like, okay, cool, we have a couple of people 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:54.000 interested trying to unionize Blue Star and I was like, oh, 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:58.160 sign me up, Like let's do this thing. And then 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.640 at that Halloween already when we were all kind of 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:05.760 gathered there, we briefly talked about it and how messed 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:10.000 up things were, swalk stories and it just kind of 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.800 click that leads to my brain of like okay, yeah, 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:17.760 let's do this. So that was that was my end. 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.040 Yeah, it seems like it was a really a pretty 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.800 quick campaign. I know you all had an election. Oh 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:25.720 how many weeks ago? 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:26.400 Was that like. 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:29.760 Two weeks and half? Two weeks ago? 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:34.800 Yeah, I guess it'll be like three when this goes out. Yeah, 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.000 so that's that's a very very quick campaign. How many 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.320 people like ish are are at the shop. 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:45.880 It depends on if you're adding like all the satellites 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:49.280 and versus like the regular Flagship store. I think we 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:53.640 have thirty something at Flagship, which is the location on Jefferson, 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.360 and then I think there's maybe fifty one employees total. 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:02.440 Yeah, we're pretty scattered around all of Portland, with one 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:06.560 shop in Lake Oswego, but majority of us are in 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.320 headquarters at Flagship. Yeah. 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.400 That's something I think is pretty interesting about this campaign 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:17.120 and about a lot of the independent campaigns, is that, Yeah, 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.159 it's shops that are it's shops that are pretty small, 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:23.839 shops that are split around, and it shops that, like, 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:27.240 you know it shops with high turnover. Now I was wondering, well, actually, 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.560 I don't know. I'm assuming you get high turnover. 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.719 There is a lot of turnover in the satellite shops 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:35.320 for sure. 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.320 I mean I would even say that there was a 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:42.279 fair amount of turnover at Flagship. You know, we had 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:47.080 a time where in our kitchen, which is the wholesale 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.160 kitchen which makes the doughnut bites. We refer to it 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:52.839 as Red Kitchen, we had four people quit in four 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:58.159 days jesushost. They didn't Yeah, they didn't replace those people 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:02.400 to continue working than producing the same amount with four 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:03.040 less people. 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:07.240 Yeah, but there were you know. 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:10.159 A lot of like poached wororker like temporary workers that 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:11.800 were coming and going while I was there. 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:15.000 And yeah, some pretty serious turnover. 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:18.039 That kind of happened with me. Last year, I was 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:22.240 working at Blue Star for like about eight months. Oh 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:24.800 it's the new year, I guess two years ago. And 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:29.520 then I quit. I left, and then unfortunately last year 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.520 I hit a little unemployment zone and I'm like, I 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:35.000 need a job. So I came back to Blue Star 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.720 for about three months and this is when everything was 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:42.880 going on. But long story short, sorry, last time I 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:45.359 was there, we kind of had a little bit of 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:50.039 turnover as well. A lot of people were not great, 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:53.560 and we had a lot of meetings and got some 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:58.640 people fired. Granted, like Ben was saying, is that no 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:02.960 one replaced them, and so it's very much of like 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:08.240 we have to cover them and a lot more quantity. 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.839 Yeah, so has the sort of speed ups from that 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.400 was that one of the main things that was driving 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:17.919 the unionization or like what other kinds of things were 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:20.320 like driving people into this. 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.400 There were a few things, a few main things. 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.440 Pay and inconsistency of pay was a real big issue. 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:31.200 For instance, there was a person in our kitchen who 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:33.880 me and her started around the same time. We had 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:38.679 very similar previous experience. Neither of us were cross trained. 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.200 We did the same exact job she was making three 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:45.080 dollars an hour more than I was. And so that 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:49.599 kind of thing happens a lot at Blue Star. And 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:54.800 there's one of the biggest things for me, honestly, was 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:57.560 the point system, what they call the point system the 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:01.919 disciplinary system at Blue Starly, you get a certain amount 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:06.200 of points that you're allowed to hit. If you go 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.520 over that amount of points, you're done, you're fired, and 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:11.840 you can get h you know, I don't remember the 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:14.840 numbers exactly, but it's like one point for calling out 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:17.880 of a shift, half a point for being ten minutes late. 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:18.559 Geez. 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:20.800 There's all these things that you can earn. Yeah, there's 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:22.920 all these things that you can earn points for. And 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.320 it you know, if you reach that number eight, it 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.920 doesn't really matter how good of an employee you are, 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:29.040 you're fired. 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:32.800 Yeah. And on top of that, with the point system, 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:38.119 it's incredibly unfair because you get points due to things 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:39.960 you can't control, like the weathering. 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:40.680 It's very able. 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:47.040 Yeah, And the main issue, what's traffic and crashes. If 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.640 like a car crash happens and you're stuck in that 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.160 you and you're like late to work because of it, 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.600 even when you like let your managers know and let 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.480 your team. Know, you still get punished for it and 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:03.600 you get points and that counts to the eight point total. 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:07.240 So that was a main part of the point system 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:12.120 that really really had us upset and very unfair, honestly. 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.840 Well, and it's very it's a very ablest system. I 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.680 mean there were multiple people in our kitchen alone that 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:23.520 had chronic illness issues, ye, myself included. And I there 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.840 were two nights when in the three ish months that 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:30.480 I was working there, two days where I had not 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.160 slept it all the night before and I was literally 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:35.760 not seeing straight, like I was seeing double. I couldn't 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.480 walk in a straight line like I was not okay, 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:41.640 And you know, there's some heavy machinery and like some 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:44.600 really hot oil in the kitchen, and I was like, 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:46.720 I really don't think I'm safe to come to work. 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:48.600 And they're like, that's fine, you know, stay home, get 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:50.840 some rest, but you are getting a point. 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:56.480 What the And yeah, so you know, a very ablest system. 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:01.040 Yeah, and going off with that as well, whole sick 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:06.120 time and PTO was a mess. And when we get 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:10.920 like paid time off, it won't even cover a whole shift. 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:15.800 We'll be lucky to get four hours. Yeah, no, it's 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:23.239 it's insane really, and so I'll never forget. Like just recently, 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:29.280 our special Christmas prize thing, our grand prize on the 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:32.840 twelfth day was two hours pto. 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:37.920 Two hours congratulations. 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:44.680 And sick time too. Yeah, there were super proper like 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.560 we were so hard for this, you deserve this, blah 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:52.480 blah blah. And with sick time it like will barely 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:56.000 cover a day. And on top of that, if you're 0:09:56.080 --> 0:10:00.560 like sincerely sick, I got bronchitis on my birthday and 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:05.439 I had to leave work for like a week, And 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:10.480 around the like second or third day, my manager is like, okay, 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:14.280 well for you to be excused properly, you have to 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.360 go back and get a doctor's note from them and 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:20.839 to prove that you are not able to come into work. 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:25.120 And you know, I could ramble on like they they 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:29.080 don't handle COVID. Well, they're like, if you can stand up, 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:31.480 you can slap on a mask and come into work. 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:38.000 And COVID specifically spread so quickly there because people were 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.480 so scared of not coming to work that they would 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:45.160 get punished and get points. This then the other that 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:49.160 sick people will come into work and get other people sick. 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:51.720 It happened, yeah, all the time. 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:54.600 I mean I can think of specifically. We had a 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:58.679 coworker who, you know, kind of young. This was you know, 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:00.680 she was kind of getting her feet wet in the 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:04.560 working world, and she had had some issues with illness, 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:10.040 and she came to work with strep throat. Yeah, because 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:12.640 she was so afraid of getting I mean she literally 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:16.360 was like in tears, like having a breakdown to the 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.800 managers because she was like, I can't get fired, Like 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:22.560 I need to keep this job, and I'm afraid that 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:26.000 if I don't come in, I'm going to get fired. 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:28.840 And that's the kind of culture they create there with 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:30.040 that disciplinary system. 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:35.000 Yeah, it's it's really rough because majority of these workers 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:39.640 rely on this job, like this job is their income 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:46.480 and they can't really do anything else. And it's so 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:53.920 incredibly toxic there where they're just so afraid to not 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:58.360 come into work because they will be punished over it. 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.199 It kind of goes without saying which we as you 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.200 should say it, which is like it is unbelievably discussing 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:06.760 to literally put people's lives in danger because you don't 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.720 want to let someone take like a few days off 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:13.880 because they have fucking stripped Like that's unbelievable. 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:17.400 Yeah, over like peace and love to Blue Star, but 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:25.920 over donuts like donut bite yeah, like yeah, like like 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:26.760 I don't, I don't. 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:28.480 I don't think. I don't think it's okay to make 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:32.640 like nurses go in when they're sick, but like donuts, 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:35.480 like this is oh my god, like. 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.720 You know, as you know, who cares if we're suffering 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:42.360 as long as they make their bottom line? 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:42.600 You know. 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:47.160 Yeah, It's really one of those things. It's like yes, 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:50.800 like they will survive if slightly less donuts are produced, 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:54.880 like they will be fine. However, Comma all over here 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:57.920 are getting terribly sick because of all the ship that 0:12:58.040 --> 0:12:59.880 is that is terrible. 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:04.880 Yeah, no, like I laugh all the time about it, 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:07.720 and I, you know, my roommate and I are like 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.720 best friends. I come home almost every day from those 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:14.720 shifts being like you'll never guess what happened over like 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:19.559 the most craziest hilarious things. I'm like, I can't believe 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.120 this is real, Like I'm experiencing this. 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.720 Yeah, and we are going to talk more about the 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:29.240 absolutely wild stuff that happened here. Unfortunately after we come 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:33.160 back from this ad break that pays some of the 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:48.720 bills question Mark we are back. So yeah, I wanted 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.320 to ask about some of the other stuff that's been 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:55.480 happening at this shop, because everything that I've ever heard 0:13:55.520 --> 0:14:00.400 about is just like, I don't know, just deeply weird. 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:02.920 And it's well, I guess, I guess one place we 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:04.760 can sort of story. It's like it seems like it's 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.520 one of these places where they, I don't know, it 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:11.959 has this very sort of like progressive eveneer around it, 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.640 and then when it comes time to like you know, 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:19.840 like like even sort of live up to those ideals, 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:23.720 you just get this. Everyone's forced to come home with COVID. 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:28.960 Yeah, and it's it's so funny because you walk in 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:32.400 and you know, there's there's pride flags there, you know, 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.360 all all of the workers are you know, queer and 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:39.880 cool and progressive, and you know they're supporting the Portland Teachers' Union. 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:44.680 And yet you know, and this story is just disgusting. 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.760 We had a worker in our kitchen, actually in Lydia, 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:52.960 in a nice kitchen, who sexually assaulted two of our coworkers. 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:53.760 Jesus Christ. 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:59.359 Yes, these these women brought it forward to management. Management 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:03.560 victim blamed, they thanked them for keeping it quiet and 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:07.840 not letting it interfere with their work. Yeah, it was 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:12.520 not handled well. That was specifically the manager of Red Kitchen, 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:16.600 Britney Bergner. A lot of just really like callous and 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:18.800 inappropriate mishandling of that situation. 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:22.160 Yeah, and it was really disgusting. 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:27.400 Yeah, it was disgusting. And I was so so grateful 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:30.720 that I wasn't there when this happened, because I would 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.560 literally toward this man apart. But the thing with that 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:39.720 manager is that him and her got along really well, 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:44.480 and what I've heard I wasn't there. I heard that 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:50.960 there was some favoritism towards him, and so when these 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:55.480 allegations came up, that's when she got She mishandled it 0:15:55.960 --> 0:16:00.560 a lot, and it was not dealt with properly at all, 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:05.880 and it seemed very much swept under rug kind of 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:08.800 very much. So yeah, he did. 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:10.120 Nobody talked about it. 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:14.640 Yeah, he did get fired eventually, but eventually that's the 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.280 main thing. Yeah, and was handled right away. 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:20.520 And the you know the effect it had on these 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:23.680 women that came forward that this happened to. I mean 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:26.080 I I hung out with them outside of work where 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:28.200 they would talk about you know what happened and how 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.520 it was handled, and like you know, they were sobbing, 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:34.320 they were you know, their lives were torn apart over this. 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.000 I mean it's a very serious thing. As you know, 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.520 we all know, to be sexually assaulted and then you know, 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.560 to have it treated this way by someone who's in 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:46.480 a position of authority over you, it's you know, I 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.640 can't help but keep using that word disgusting. It's just 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:53.520 it's inhumane and honestly, like that's blue. 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:58.400 Star, Yeah, especially by a company that reaches how open 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:03.200 and awesome and those family we are, and then behind 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:08.560 the scenes they're actually mistreating their workers literally every single day. 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:13.000 So it's it is, it is disgusting. I have no 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:15.080 other word to describe it. 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.479 Yeah, I mean that's like someone's sexually assaulting you and 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:24.160 then them not being fired means you can fucking run 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:27.720 into them at your job, which is like the fucking 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.679 just absolute nightmare shit. That is like the worst fucking 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:32.440 shit that can happen. 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:34.120 And we all worked in the same kitchen. 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:36.000 We all worked in the same kitchen, so we were 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:38.240 guaranteed to see each other for most of the day 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:40.439 every day, and it's like, yeah, you know, you expect 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:42.239 these women to go to work and stare at this 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:44.520 guy and and you know, talk and laugh with this 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:46.560 guy who assaulted them, Like that's crazy. 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:52.280 Yeah, that's absolutely fucking terrible. And I hope, I hope, 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:56.080 like I hope fucking like some shit happens to these 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.359 people because like God. 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:01.679 Oh yeah, don worry. We got him banned from some 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:07.480 bars because classic thing is drugging drinks Jesus Christ. So 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:12.040 We've spread the word and got flyers, and I'm pretty 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:15.159 sure he's banned I know for sure too bars, but 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:16.679 I think others as well. 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:17.280 I'm not sure. 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:23.280 Yeah, yeah, don't get me wrong. I will definitely go 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:25.880 out of my way to destroy a man's life. 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:30.040 Yeah, And so I guess, like you know, with with 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:32.679 just like the absolute fucking horrifying shake going on, and 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:35.680 also with YouTube, like you know, people doing organizing outside 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:37.800 of the workplace to go after these people, it may 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:40.159 it makes it makes a lot of sense that, you know, 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:44.399 the unionization campaign has been going, and I wanted to 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:46.120 ask I want, well, I guess I wanted to talk 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:50.000 about sort of the vote and the stuff leading up 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:51.960 to the vote and the things that happened to YouTube 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:53.520 because oh my god. 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:58.520 Yep, yeah, you know. 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:03.399 We we had our vot on January seventeenth. There were 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:07.199 seven votes that were left unopened that were challenged by 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:11.120 Blue Star management. Three of them because the employees were 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:16.000 no longer active employees, and four of them for honestly 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.680 just like completely bullshit reasons, like they had to get 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:19.720 a new envelope. 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:23.200 You know, they they were there before the vote, but. 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:26.240 Like seven minutes after the cutoff that you know that 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:29.800 Blue Star wanted one person had to get a new ballot, 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:32.920 and you know, it's like, these are technicalities that really 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:36.679 should not prevent someone from having their vote counted. And 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:41.000 so we as DW Blue Star objected to six of 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:45.600 those challenges, the four that were very ticky tachi for 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:48.199 obvious reasons. And that was the weekend that was the 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:50.159 week of the big snow snowstorm. 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:52.440 As well, we should talk for people who weren't in 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.040 Portland for this. Okay, So the city of Portland, this 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:56.719 is the thing I have heard. I am a Chicagoan, 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:00.400 so like I grew up in snowstorms, right the city 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:02.919 of Portland, Like this is I get, this is this 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:04.600 is this is this is the this is the the 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:06.880 Mia rants about the city of Portland for about five 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.560 minutes thing because, oh my fucking god, the city of 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:14.159 Portland does not actually substantively do any kind of like 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:16.480 street clearing. They don't do salt. They don't really I 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:20.280 think they might have like two snowplows. And this means that, 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.119 you know, when it, for example, snows, and then the 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:25.000 temperature goes back up and goes freezing, then it goes 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:27.720 back down below freezing, the entire city is covered in 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:30.359 a sheet of ice. And this lasts for days and 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:34.280 days and days and days. It is terrible. I came 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:37.760 into Portland's like in the middle of this, like you 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:40.679 you walk three steps and you're just going flying on 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.359 this ice. It is terrible. It is dangerous to drive, 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:45.560 It is dangerous to walk. It is it is dangerous 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:48.679 to scoot on your butt like terrible. I don't know, 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:52.080 Like if you did this in Chicago, if the city 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:55.600 of Chicago failed to clear the streets sufficiently that this 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:57.960 was happening, the government would be would fucking collapse in 0:20:58.040 --> 0:20:58.359 a week. 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:01.240 Portland, you deserve better. 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:06.480 I personally would have preferred snow, like six feet of 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:12.080 snow over a half ice that inane the whole entire 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:17.200 city shuts down, and it's it is incredibly dangerous for sure, 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:21.679 and the city does not prepare for it. The city, 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:27.280 like landscape itself is not prepared for it. And yeah, 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:30.879 it's awful. I tripped and fell like three times within 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:35.119 a week, and my room and I were literally locked 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:39.719 into our house for days, like four maybe five days. 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:43.199 We could not leave. And on top of that, we 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:45.080 had to turn our water off, like it was a 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:45.640 whole night. 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:48.600 There so many, so many people lost power, so many 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:49.160 people's like. 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:54.639 Yeah, Roath and the NLRB building itself was shut down 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:58.560 for I don't remember how long, but it was shut down, 0:21:59.119 --> 0:21:59.840 and so it was. 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:02.280 It was shut down for most of that week leading 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:04.160 up to the vote. Our vote was on a Thursday, 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:07.520 and I think Thursday was the first day that the 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:10.800 actual office was open. There might have been some people 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:14.080 there on Wednesday, but the office itself was closed the 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:16.760 you know, Monday was Martin Luther King Junior Day, so 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:19.600 that it was close closed. But you know, I tried 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:22.199 to take you know, I in my little hatchback with 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:26.560 two two wheel drive hatchbag tried to drive across Portland 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:29.440 to take people to the office to turn in their 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:33.119 their ballots, and because we were doing a mail in ballot, 0:22:33.119 --> 0:22:34.920 but some people had left it at the last minute, 0:22:34.960 --> 0:22:36.000 you know, as human beings do. 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:39.560 And we we. 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:42.919 Get you know, we drive across this ice and snow. 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:44.960 We get to the NLRB office. 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:48.359 There's security guards in the lobby and they say, well, 0:22:48.359 --> 0:22:49.640 you can't go up there as closed. 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:53.360 I'm like, okay, what about tomorrow. 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:55.399 They're like, we don't know, we'll be here, but we 0:22:55.440 --> 0:22:57.880 can't guarantee that, you know, the nler. 0:22:57.840 --> 0:22:58.600 Office will be here. 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:02.119 Yeah, And so I call up our rep at the NLRB, 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:05.360 Michael Moles, and I say, hey, like, what's the deal. 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:06.480 When can we drop these off? 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:08.840 And he goes, well, actually, you know, you can drop 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:10.840 them off when we're not there. You can slide them 0:23:10.920 --> 0:23:14.360 under the door, you know, as long as it's the person, 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:17.280 you know, as long as the person whose ballot is 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:19.560 being turned in is turning in the ballot, like, you 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:21.040 can't send someone else to do it for you. 0:23:21.160 --> 0:23:22.320 So we go back up. 0:23:22.160 --> 0:23:25.639 On Wednesday and get some turned in and you know, 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:28.040 at this point, the people who wanted to turn in 0:23:28.080 --> 0:23:29.000 on Tuesday. 0:23:28.640 --> 0:23:29.960 They've got you know, they've got work. 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:32.479 They've got other things going on, they have to find 0:23:32.520 --> 0:23:35.480 a time to get in. So we're going like Thursday morning, 0:23:35.520 --> 0:23:38.960 Thursday afternoon, right before the vote. And that's why all 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:42.960 of these votes were you know, missing things or you 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:45.800 know a little bit late. Is because the whole city 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:48.320 was shut down for half a week, almost a week, 0:23:48.800 --> 0:23:52.600 and things got you know, messed up. 0:23:53.480 --> 0:23:56.359 Yeah, Like the fact that the City of Portland doesn't 0:23:56.640 --> 0:23:59.199 does not like refuses to buy snowplows and doesn't know 0:23:59.240 --> 0:24:01.440 that you can use be juice is an anti ice thing. 0:24:02.640 --> 0:24:04.840 Like the fact that the fact, the fact that the 0:24:05.000 --> 0:24:08.199 fact that the city leadership is utterly incompetent like should 0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:10.840 not should not be a reason why your union vote 0:24:10.880 --> 0:24:12.639 doesn't your votes don't get counted. 0:24:12.800 --> 0:24:14.360 That is absolutely absurd. 0:24:14.840 --> 0:24:17.399 It's also like, you know, I mean, like okay, like 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:20.800 I get like the responsible thing to do dream this 0:24:20.880 --> 0:24:22.680 storm was to close and a lot of places were 0:24:22.680 --> 0:24:26.600 fucking open, and that is a disaster. But the fact 0:24:26.680 --> 0:24:31.840 that the LRB is closed and all workers are still 0:24:31.840 --> 0:24:35.840 having to go to work is like, just oh god. 0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:37.760 Well. 0:24:37.800 --> 0:24:42.520 And I emailed or I called Michael Males again, our 0:24:42.600 --> 0:24:45.040 rep at the NLRB, and I was like, hey, like 0:24:45.600 --> 0:24:48.280 this is kind of unprecedented, Like, can we push the 0:24:48.359 --> 0:24:51.159 vote out like a week just to make sure that 0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:55.399 everyone can safely get their ballots in. And he told me, 0:24:55.440 --> 0:24:57.840 in no uncertain terms that we would not be doing that. 0:24:58.720 --> 0:25:01.480 He gave me this, you know, long speech about how 0:25:01.480 --> 0:25:03.399 hard it is, how difficult it is, how you know, 0:25:03.440 --> 0:25:07.120 we have to get all these permissions. And you know, 0:25:07.240 --> 0:25:10.879 I'm fairly new to all the legal avenues and legal 0:25:10.880 --> 0:25:13.040 parts of union and stuff, and so I didn't really 0:25:13.080 --> 0:25:15.359 have a counter argument. So I was just like, you know, 0:25:15.400 --> 0:25:18.720 throw my hands up, Okay, whatever, we'll do our best. 0:25:19.040 --> 0:25:23.120 Well. At the time, people are literally risking their lives. Yeah, 0:25:23.200 --> 0:25:26.640 and to drive cars. They're risking their cars, They're risking 0:25:26.680 --> 0:25:30.280 their lives trying to get these votes in. So that's 0:25:30.320 --> 0:25:33.600 why this appeal to these challenges are so important that 0:25:34.720 --> 0:25:38.840 it's not fair if we don't count in a full 0:25:38.960 --> 0:25:43.680 ice storm and the actual we have to account for that. Yeah, 0:25:43.720 --> 0:25:46.959 So like all these things matter and should count, and 0:25:47.000 --> 0:25:51.680 that's why we're really pushing that these votes be counted well. 0:25:51.720 --> 0:25:54.160 And two of the votes where people who had quit, 0:25:54.840 --> 0:25:58.359 and one of those was was Lydia, and she was 0:25:58.480 --> 0:26:02.159 straight up intimidated and quitting and you can lydia if 0:26:02.200 --> 0:26:02.960 you want to talk about it. 0:26:03.080 --> 0:26:07.879 Oh my gosh. Okay, So they I use this word 0:26:07.960 --> 0:26:10.520 pretty loosely, but the more I talk about the more 0:26:10.600 --> 0:26:15.439 it's true. They forced me to quit, point blank period. 0:26:16.920 --> 0:26:22.560 They pulled me into this meeting where at Blue Star 0:26:22.680 --> 0:26:27.120 they have these every thirty day check ins and meetings 0:26:27.160 --> 0:26:31.480 to talk about like how you're doing and how's the work, 0:26:31.560 --> 0:26:36.919 et cetera. So on our ninety day check in, we 0:26:37.160 --> 0:26:42.800 are promised a raise after working here for ninety days, 0:26:43.160 --> 0:26:46.040 and but first we have to go through a whole meeting, 0:26:46.200 --> 0:26:50.840 and this whole like spectrum one through five. They rate 0:26:50.920 --> 0:26:56.040 you on different topics. So I come in and not 0:26:56.080 --> 0:27:00.560 only is my manager there, but HR and our chef 0:27:00.640 --> 0:27:04.680 is there. And last time I did in ninety day 0:27:05.080 --> 0:27:09.679 that didn't happen. It was just my manager. So immediately 0:27:09.680 --> 0:27:13.920 I'm like, what is going on? This is weird. And 0:27:15.840 --> 0:27:20.520 we went through the normal stuff until chef interrupted and 0:27:20.680 --> 0:27:25.479 brought up my schedule. So at the time I was 0:27:25.560 --> 0:27:30.960 working two jobs, Blue Star and another bakery, And before 0:27:31.000 --> 0:27:35.720 any of this I checked in with my managers and 0:27:36.119 --> 0:27:38.880 chef to make sure that this was possible and okay 0:27:39.440 --> 0:27:41.760 to put me from full time to part time at 0:27:41.760 --> 0:27:45.800 Blue Star. And they were thrilled. They were like, oh, 0:27:45.840 --> 0:27:49.480 that's so great for you. Congratulations. Yes, we can totally 0:27:49.520 --> 0:27:52.840 work with you. This is not a problem at all. 0:27:53.359 --> 0:27:57.879 I'm like, okay, great, awesome. And so they brought up 0:27:57.920 --> 0:28:01.479 my schedule and they're like, so we're gonna change some 0:28:01.640 --> 0:28:05.240 things with Red Kitchen and we're going to change production 0:28:05.480 --> 0:28:09.720 times and we're going to bump everything up a couple hours. 0:28:10.200 --> 0:28:15.000 Totally fine, Okay, I get it. And I said, I'm like, okay, well, 0:28:15.080 --> 0:28:20.399 you know I work until one pm, so you know 0:28:20.400 --> 0:28:25.879 I'm not available to be here until like two. And 0:28:25.880 --> 0:28:31.280 apparently that was an issue because my schedule, my availability 0:28:31.320 --> 0:28:35.200 is no longer working for them, which doesn't make sense 0:28:35.440 --> 0:28:41.239 because a closing shift still exists. And I'm I told them, 0:28:41.240 --> 0:28:43.640 I'm like, you can use me. I am part time, 0:28:44.240 --> 0:28:48.840 you can use me for like four hours closing, Like 0:28:48.960 --> 0:28:53.680 I am okay with that, and they shut me down. 0:28:53.880 --> 0:28:57.400 Chef kind of clicked her teeth and was like, you know, 0:28:57.520 --> 0:29:01.200 that's not really worth it for us, and what are 0:29:01.200 --> 0:29:04.080 you doing over the holidays because this is right before 0:29:04.080 --> 0:29:07.560 our Christmas break and I. I was kind of confused. 0:29:07.600 --> 0:29:10.880 I was like, oh, nothing, I'm just at home. And 0:29:10.920 --> 0:29:14.480 she's like, okay, well you should really take this time 0:29:14.480 --> 0:29:18.480 to think about your future here with us, and like 0:29:18.680 --> 0:29:24.080 kind of like stared at me, and I'm like what, Like, 0:29:24.200 --> 0:29:27.880 I what do you mean? And she's like, you know, 0:29:29.240 --> 0:29:32.280 we're changing some things around here, and we don't want 0:29:32.280 --> 0:29:34.520 to get rid of you, we don't want to fire you, 0:29:35.040 --> 0:29:39.160 but you should really think about your future here and 0:29:39.360 --> 0:29:44.400 really leaned in and emphasized that and kind of like 0:29:44.480 --> 0:29:48.480 everyone was kind of like looking at me as if like, hey, 0:29:49.640 --> 0:29:52.320 we want you to quit, but we're not allowed to 0:29:52.480 --> 0:29:58.480 like say anything like that. And I asked my manager. 0:29:58.520 --> 0:30:00.840 I was like, it kind of sounds like you're not 0:30:01.400 --> 0:30:05.719 giving me any options here. What am I supposed to 0:30:05.760 --> 0:30:09.520 just leave? And they looked at each other and they 0:30:09.600 --> 0:30:11.080 look back at me. You're like, you know, we can't 0:30:11.080 --> 0:30:14.120 really say one thing or the other, so you know, 0:30:14.440 --> 0:30:17.080 we need your decision by the first and I'm like what. 0:30:18.240 --> 0:30:22.240 I It was very it was very tense. It was 0:30:22.400 --> 0:30:26.880 very weird and awkward, and I was very confused because 0:30:27.280 --> 0:30:31.320 I never thought my job was on the line. I 0:30:31.400 --> 0:30:34.520 never thought it was gonna be jeopardized, and I kept 0:30:34.560 --> 0:30:37.000 offering them different options. That was like put me in 0:30:37.080 --> 0:30:39.720 front of house. You know, last year I was trained. 0:30:39.960 --> 0:30:41.880 I was actually supposed to be a manager in our 0:30:41.920 --> 0:30:45.480 other kitchen, but they kind of screwed me over on that. 0:30:45.480 --> 0:30:49.160 That's a whole different story. Like I know how to 0:30:49.160 --> 0:30:54.560 handle Purple Kitchen. Put me there, like I'm okay going 0:30:54.600 --> 0:30:58.800 from one job immediately into here to save time. And 0:30:59.240 --> 0:31:02.640 with every single option I was giving them, they shut 0:31:02.680 --> 0:31:04.720 me down and would not work with me at all. 0:31:05.360 --> 0:31:10.560 And then on top of that, they extended my ninety 0:31:10.640 --> 0:31:14.920 day period, and from doing that, I was no longer 0:31:15.360 --> 0:31:20.920 allowed to get a raise. And yeah, like you have 0:31:21.000 --> 0:31:23.640 to finish ninety days and you get a raise, and 0:31:23.680 --> 0:31:27.240 I'm like, period, that's the policy. Everybody knows that. But 0:31:27.360 --> 0:31:32.920 because my ninety days was extended like probation period, I 0:31:33.080 --> 0:31:35.120 was no longer allowed to get a raise. 0:31:35.480 --> 0:31:38.240 And what's funny is they extended my ninety days as well. 0:31:38.280 --> 0:31:40.800 I can talk about that more later, but this is 0:31:41.640 --> 0:31:44.920 it's just it's just odd because Red Kitchen, our kitchen, 0:31:45.200 --> 0:31:47.160 which at that point was made up of I think 0:31:47.240 --> 0:31:50.960 six people, all vocal union supporters, wore buttons every day. 0:31:51.400 --> 0:31:54.680 Yep, we were the most vocal people about it. We 0:31:54.720 --> 0:32:00.200 wore our union buttons every day. We like everybody knows that, Like, 0:32:01.440 --> 0:32:04.880 we were firm believers standing up for this union. And 0:32:05.880 --> 0:32:10.440 that kind of segues into the furlough situation where they 0:32:10.480 --> 0:32:14.280 all shut down our kitchen. They our whole entire team 0:32:14.320 --> 0:32:18.600 are six people of vocal union supporters, suddenly no job. 0:32:19.840 --> 0:32:22.640 It's incredibly messed up, and we're going to come back 0:32:23.000 --> 0:32:26.320 for more unbelievably messed up stuff after this ad break. 0:32:37.720 --> 0:32:38.400 And we're back. 0:32:39.360 --> 0:32:42.080 Going back to the votes that were challenged, The other 0:32:42.160 --> 0:32:47.160 person who quit was one of the main organized She 0:32:47.240 --> 0:32:49.640 was with her and one other person where the people 0:32:49.640 --> 0:32:53.160 who kicked off all of the organizing at Blue Star, 0:32:53.720 --> 0:33:00.200 and basically they changed around her schedule so much to 0:33:00.320 --> 0:33:03.320 kind of force her into quitting. She was very stressed 0:33:03.360 --> 0:33:06.640 with school and like just the way that they kept 0:33:06.680 --> 0:33:10.280 messing with her made her quit. Basically, she was afraid 0:33:10.280 --> 0:33:11.880 that she was going to be fired, so she went 0:33:11.920 --> 0:33:16.800 ahead and quit. And so that was that other challenged vote. 0:33:17.000 --> 0:33:21.160 But yeah, the furlough situation is wild. And I also 0:33:21.240 --> 0:33:26.280 got my probation extended. I actually filed a unfairly reor 0:33:26.320 --> 0:33:29.680 practice because of that, Because the reason they gave me 0:33:29.800 --> 0:33:35.120 for extending my probation was that I was bringing the 0:33:35.120 --> 0:33:39.520 their words on paper, bringing the vibe down by complaining 0:33:39.720 --> 0:33:45.680 about working conditions. Bringing the vibe down by complaining about 0:33:45.720 --> 0:33:53.680 working conditions, and. 0:33:50.880 --> 0:33:56.240 How ridiculous this company is. The third reasons where I'm 0:33:56.240 --> 0:33:59.120 like this must be the Truman Show, like this is 0:33:59.200 --> 0:34:02.160 not real. Where are the cameras well? 0:34:02.200 --> 0:34:05.040 And first of all, complaining about working conditions is a 0:34:05.080 --> 0:34:08.759 federally protected act. Ye, I can do that and I 0:34:08.800 --> 0:34:10.000 cannot be punished for that. 0:34:10.040 --> 0:34:11.760 It is against the law, which is why I filed 0:34:11.760 --> 0:34:12.200 the ULP. 0:34:12.760 --> 0:34:16.080 Second of all, the reason I was complaining is because 0:34:16.360 --> 0:34:20.000 they had taken us down from three to four people 0:34:20.080 --> 0:34:25.359 opening shifts to two. And the way two people work, Yeah, 0:34:25.760 --> 0:34:28.520 the way two people operates for opening shift in Red 0:34:28.640 --> 0:34:31.600 Kitchen is one person is mixing the dough and loading 0:34:31.640 --> 0:34:34.279 it into the fryer, and that is a constant thing, 0:34:34.400 --> 0:34:39.920 like you mix batches for like four hours like on 0:34:40.160 --> 0:34:41.520 like back to back to back to back to back, 0:34:42.120 --> 0:34:43.960 and the other person has to stand at the end 0:34:43.960 --> 0:34:47.000 of the conveyor belt and take the glazed bites off 0:34:47.040 --> 0:34:49.759 of the conveyor belt and put them onto trays. This 0:34:49.840 --> 0:34:52.960 is a non stop job. You cannot even walk away 0:34:53.040 --> 0:34:56.640 for a few seconds. And when you know, typically, like 0:34:56.680 --> 0:34:59.640 the best practice that was done the entire time I 0:34:59.680 --> 0:35:02.640 was there to this was that you did not do 0:35:02.840 --> 0:35:05.440 that position for more than an hour because it was 0:35:05.480 --> 0:35:09.640 physically difficult to stand in one place like that and 0:35:09.760 --> 0:35:12.719 do that and do those repetitive motions. And two, it's 0:35:12.760 --> 0:35:16.440 like fucking psychological torture because you're in the corner of 0:35:16.480 --> 0:35:19.960 this room, You're not speaking to anybody, You're literally just 0:35:20.000 --> 0:35:23.359 staring at your own hands. I mean, it's it's not 0:35:23.640 --> 0:35:26.359 like nobody likes to they call it catching. Nobody likes 0:35:26.360 --> 0:35:30.080 to catch. And I was doing this for up to 0:35:30.200 --> 0:35:36.279 three hours a day uninterrupted, and I have psiatic nerve 0:35:36.320 --> 0:35:39.279 issues with my leg and I you know, I've made 0:35:39.320 --> 0:35:43.000 them aware of this multiple multiple times. I cannot catch 0:35:43.080 --> 0:35:46.040 for more than an hour at a time, and you 0:35:46.080 --> 0:35:48.600 know what I was doing catching for three hours every day. 0:35:48.640 --> 0:35:49.680 So they're just trying to injure. 0:35:49.800 --> 0:35:52.000 So that's what I was, yes, and that's what I 0:35:52.040 --> 0:35:54.880 was complaining about. I was saying, I'm in pain. 0:35:55.080 --> 0:35:58.200 I'm literally having to go on muscle relaxers every single 0:35:58.280 --> 0:36:01.040 day because of the fact that this is having on 0:36:01.120 --> 0:36:04.800 me physically, Like I I can't sleep at night because 0:36:04.840 --> 0:36:07.799 my leg is so tense and it's in so much 0:36:07.840 --> 0:36:12.600 pain from fucking catching these donuts and putting them on trays. 0:36:12.719 --> 0:36:13.440 It's insane. 0:36:14.120 --> 0:36:19.040 And so you know, they're yet they're penalizing me for 0:36:19.120 --> 0:36:22.279 having the gall to voice the fact that what they're 0:36:22.280 --> 0:36:25.560 doing is literally ruining my quality of life. 0:36:26.200 --> 0:36:29.640 Really and going off that every single issue we bring 0:36:29.800 --> 0:36:33.480 up to management, they have the tone of like, well, 0:36:33.560 --> 0:36:37.080 that sucks, that's a bummer, deal with it, and literally, yeah, 0:36:37.160 --> 0:36:41.480 literally just like okay, and we're like, okay, fix it, 0:36:41.960 --> 0:36:45.319 because we are human beings with nerves and bones and 0:36:46.120 --> 0:36:49.600 we cannot stand on our feet for this long like 0:36:49.760 --> 0:36:53.359 it's it's wild, it is. 0:36:53.480 --> 0:36:58.040 And you know that that kind of also segues into 0:36:58.040 --> 0:37:01.239 the furlough thing that we were all very vocal on 0:37:01.320 --> 0:37:04.880 union support. You know, I had filed at this point 0:37:04.960 --> 0:37:09.799 two ulps because of the extended probation and because they 0:37:10.040 --> 0:37:15.440 suspended me for three days for something that was absurd, 0:37:16.160 --> 0:37:19.480 and I had filed two ulps, and this came like 0:37:19.640 --> 0:37:23.080 right on the heels of that second ULP. They you know, 0:37:23.120 --> 0:37:26.560 we had Christmas Day off and I had taken the 0:37:26.960 --> 0:37:29.520 next day, the Tuesday off, so I was visiting family 0:37:29.560 --> 0:37:33.160 in Dallas, and I believe everyone else had that Tuesday 0:37:33.160 --> 0:37:36.719 off as well. And we come back on that Wednesday, 0:37:37.360 --> 0:37:40.600 and you know, we're working a regular shift. About halfway 0:37:40.600 --> 0:37:43.160 through the shift, they say, okay, you know, we're having 0:37:43.360 --> 0:37:47.120 a red kitchen meeting. Everyone come into the office, which 0:37:47.239 --> 0:37:49.280 that had never happened before. 0:37:49.320 --> 0:37:51.360 We never had an all kitchen meeting like that. 0:37:52.000 --> 0:37:54.080 They pull us in and you know, we're all looking 0:37:54.120 --> 0:37:56.040 at each other on the way in like, oh fuck, 0:37:56.040 --> 0:37:57.279 what are they going to do? Like are they going 0:37:57.320 --> 0:37:59.680 to reduce our hours? Are they going to fire one 0:37:59.760 --> 0:38:02.239 of us? You know what's happening? And we get in 0:38:02.280 --> 0:38:07.600 there and head chef Stephanie Thornton says, okay, so you 0:38:07.640 --> 0:38:12.200 know we've had an issue happen. What's happened is our 0:38:12.239 --> 0:38:15.160 distributors have told us that they are returning a bunch 0:38:15.200 --> 0:38:16.320 of our product. 0:38:16.480 --> 0:38:18.480 It's you know, some of it's expired, but most of. 0:38:18.480 --> 0:38:21.319 It is just fine, but it's nearing its expiration date, 0:38:21.640 --> 0:38:25.319 so they're returning it. I'm saying that m okay, sounds fake, 0:38:25.360 --> 0:38:29.960 but okay, And then they say, unfortunately, because of this, 0:38:30.560 --> 0:38:34.160 because we don't have space in our freezer to continue 0:38:34.200 --> 0:38:36.960 to put product in the freezer, to continue to make 0:38:37.000 --> 0:38:39.480 product and put it in the freezer, we are having 0:38:39.480 --> 0:38:42.799 to put you guys on indefinite furlough. You know, we 0:38:42.840 --> 0:38:45.239 don't have a return to work date. We don't have 0:38:45.280 --> 0:38:48.520 a plan for bringing you back. You know, we asked, 0:38:49.000 --> 0:38:51.160 can we get you know, those of us who are 0:38:51.200 --> 0:38:53.840 cross trained, can we work in other areas? Can you 0:38:53.880 --> 0:38:55.880 cross train those of us who aren't, so that we 0:38:55.920 --> 0:38:58.600 can work up front or work at a satellite store 0:38:58.640 --> 0:39:01.760 you know there they are literally hiring for satellite stores. 0:39:02.160 --> 0:39:05.040 But they furlowed us, and we were asking, can we 0:39:05.040 --> 0:39:08.120 do these other things? And they said no, point blank no. 0:39:08.880 --> 0:39:13.040 So all of a sudden, you know, six people who 0:39:13.120 --> 0:39:16.239 had jobs, you know, a minute or two ago, All 0:39:16.239 --> 0:39:20.239 of a sudden, we're facing For me personally, I'm facing homelessness. 0:39:22.280 --> 0:39:26.960 That's the reality, you know. And we have too. 0:39:27.080 --> 0:39:29.680 Our two shift leads, they are a couple and they 0:39:29.719 --> 0:39:34.440 live together and like that is their entire income. And 0:39:34.920 --> 0:39:39.480 it's just on a kind of more personal note, it's wild. 0:39:39.600 --> 0:39:42.360 And maybe this is me being a little bit naive. 0:39:42.400 --> 0:39:46.520 But it's wild to have spent months in company with 0:39:46.560 --> 0:39:50.160 these people and have them pretend to care about me 0:39:50.800 --> 0:39:53.840 and then have them do something that quite literally puts 0:39:53.840 --> 0:39:56.320 my life in danger, especially because I had just signed 0:39:56.360 --> 0:39:59.719 up for healthcare with them and I have multiple chronic 0:39:59.719 --> 0:40:03.640 Illnes says, I have to go to doctors regularly, and 0:40:03.960 --> 0:40:06.640 all of a sudden, I'm like, holy shit, my life 0:40:06.640 --> 0:40:09.760 has completely changed in thirty seconds. 0:40:09.840 --> 0:40:13.279 You know this is the day after Christmas? 0:40:14.160 --> 0:40:16.800 What? Yeah, the day after Christmas. 0:40:16.320 --> 0:40:19.560 We were giving two days notice, Jesus said, in two 0:40:19.640 --> 0:40:23.040 days starting on January first. You don't have a job, 0:40:23.040 --> 0:40:25.879 and we don't know how long, but you know, we'll 0:40:25.960 --> 0:40:28.319 let you know if we ever are going to do 0:40:28.360 --> 0:40:30.239 production again, and we can bring you back, even just 0:40:30.280 --> 0:40:33.440 for a little bit, which they didn't. They started up 0:40:33.480 --> 0:40:37.080 production again and we were not told or called in 0:40:37.160 --> 0:40:37.640 or anything. 0:40:38.200 --> 0:40:40.560 So I want to touch a little more on our 0:40:40.680 --> 0:40:44.040 shift leads. Per second. Yes, there are a couple. They 0:40:44.080 --> 0:40:48.760 live together, but much like then, they are basically they're 0:40:48.800 --> 0:40:53.680 facing houselessness as well. And luckily they do have another 0:40:53.760 --> 0:40:59.960 roommate who can somewhat cover them, but that can't last forever. Yeah, 0:41:00.120 --> 0:41:03.080 and just the other day, I had to run them groceries. 0:41:03.400 --> 0:41:11.359 They can't afford anything, and it's it's a huge buck 0:41:11.440 --> 0:41:17.400 over for them because they love, they are so passionate 0:41:17.480 --> 0:41:22.279 about this job and like they rely heavily on it, 0:41:22.760 --> 0:41:27.720 and they got their pay raises and their higher positions 0:41:28.040 --> 0:41:32.880 and more responsibilities, and to be so betrayed like that 0:41:33.120 --> 0:41:39.120 from a company quite literally destroyed them. Our shift lead 0:41:40.040 --> 0:41:44.080 he had a full breakdown and stormed out and walked out, 0:41:44.640 --> 0:41:49.239 and it affected them so heavily and so emotionally and 0:41:49.320 --> 0:41:54.600 so mentally, and they keep trying to, you know, find 0:41:54.600 --> 0:42:00.279 other jobs, and you know, still in contact. Just yesterday 0:42:00.680 --> 0:42:04.280 they sent me a screenshot of them talking to chef 0:42:04.680 --> 0:42:07.960 and being like, hey, is there any updates? Is there 0:42:08.520 --> 0:42:12.280 you know, anyway we can come get our job back. 0:42:12.840 --> 0:42:15.600 Is you know we're still waiting for you to tell 0:42:15.680 --> 0:42:19.480 us literally anything And Chef said, oh, we don't know. 0:42:20.280 --> 0:42:23.040 We can't give you an answer right now, and just 0:42:23.120 --> 0:42:24.120 kind of brushed it off. 0:42:25.440 --> 0:42:29.800 And one thing that's particularly insulting is that they ended 0:42:29.840 --> 0:42:31.640 this meeting with us where they were telling us we 0:42:31.640 --> 0:42:34.520 were losing our jobs by giving us a sheet of 0:42:34.600 --> 0:42:38.120 paper on how to file for unemployment in Oregon. And 0:42:40.239 --> 0:42:42.600 the thing with an indefinite furlough, if you don't have 0:42:42.640 --> 0:42:46.200 a return to work date, then you have to go 0:42:46.400 --> 0:42:48.640 you have to jump through the hoops of applying for 0:42:48.760 --> 0:42:53.200 jobs while you're like in order to get unemployment. So like, 0:42:53.239 --> 0:42:55.399 if you're if you have a return to work date 0:42:55.440 --> 0:42:58.239 and it's within four weeks of the you know, the 0:42:58.320 --> 0:43:01.200 day that you got furloughed, you can get unemployment for 0:43:01.280 --> 0:43:01.800 that time. 0:43:01.920 --> 0:43:04.719 And you don't. You can just hang out and get unemployment. 0:43:05.120 --> 0:43:07.239 If you don't have a return to work date, you 0:43:07.280 --> 0:43:09.279 have to treat it as a layoff and you have 0:43:09.360 --> 0:43:13.280 to be making a like conscious efforts to job hunt 0:43:13.440 --> 0:43:15.840 every single week. You have to record those efforts. If 0:43:15.880 --> 0:43:18.279 you get an interview, you have to take it. If 0:43:18.360 --> 0:43:20.239 you get a position offered to you, you have to 0:43:20.280 --> 0:43:22.840 take it, and it has to be in the field 0:43:22.880 --> 0:43:26.120 that you got that you got furloughed from. And there's 0:43:26.160 --> 0:43:29.520 all these very specific rules and it just makes it 0:43:29.560 --> 0:43:30.680 incredibly difficult. 0:43:30.840 --> 0:43:32.560 You know, all these hoops you have to jump through. 0:43:33.000 --> 0:43:37.080 It's dehumanizing, it's fucked up, and it's insulting. 0:43:37.840 --> 0:43:40.040 There was no support other than that if you need 0:43:40.719 --> 0:43:44.080 that support, there's no severance package. There was no like 0:43:45.320 --> 0:43:48.840 short in the meeting, they're like, yeah, sorry, guys, this sucks, 0:43:48.880 --> 0:43:52.919 but like it just didn't feel real, Like this whole 0:43:52.960 --> 0:43:56.560 situation was not empathetic at all, and like all. 0:43:56.480 --> 0:43:58.600 Theos and you know, you could tell their excuses bullshit 0:43:58.680 --> 0:44:01.200 because like okay, like let let let's say what they 0:44:01.200 --> 0:44:03.279 were saying was real that like, okay, they got a 0:44:03.320 --> 0:44:04.680 bunch of stuff return and they don't have room in 0:44:04.719 --> 0:44:09.160 their freezers. It's been a month. They should now, there's 0:44:09.239 --> 0:44:12.520 no way that they now still do not have room 0:44:12.680 --> 0:44:13.920 in their freezers. 0:44:14.400 --> 0:44:19.080 Like what Well, and here's the here's the kicker is 0:44:19.120 --> 0:44:23.399 that we were for maybe them a month, maybe over 0:44:23.440 --> 0:44:26.560 a month really since we filed the union petition, since 0:44:26.560 --> 0:44:29.600 we handed them the petition, we had ramped up production 0:44:29.840 --> 0:44:32.879 even though we were in the slow season and we 0:44:32.880 --> 0:44:36.560 were not actually like the bites that we were making 0:44:37.120 --> 0:44:40.040 were not ordered by anyone. We were just putting. We 0:44:40.040 --> 0:44:42.840 were making extra to put in the freezer. 0:44:44.200 --> 0:44:48.839 Not only the freezer, but they rented a whole entire warehouse. 0:44:49.280 --> 0:44:51.000 We haven't the strategy. 0:44:52.400 --> 0:44:54.920 Yeah, so that they they did this, you know, I 0:44:54.920 --> 0:44:56.680 don't want to say they did this on purpose, but 0:44:56.719 --> 0:44:59.319 it is it might be suspicious to me that they're 0:44:59.400 --> 0:45:03.239 that there bill up these these you know bites in 0:45:03.280 --> 0:45:06.040 the freezer when they didn't need them, when they didn't. 0:45:05.760 --> 0:45:08.040 Have orders for them, and now all of a sudden, 0:45:08.120 --> 0:45:09.719 oh we don't have room in the freezer. We have 0:45:09.800 --> 0:45:10.880 to let you go, you know. 0:45:11.160 --> 0:45:14.120 Yeah, Yeah, oddly convenient. 0:45:14.600 --> 0:45:15.560 It is. It is. 0:45:15.640 --> 0:45:19.080 And that really ramped up when they when we gave 0:45:19.080 --> 0:45:21.840 them the union petition November seventeenth. 0:45:21.200 --> 0:45:25.160 Yeah, which is just really very blatant retaliation. 0:45:26.880 --> 0:45:30.759 Yeah, yeah, And I. 0:45:30.680 --> 0:45:33.759 Have filed an unfair labor practice for it's called what 0:45:33.800 --> 0:45:36.880 they call a lockout for the you know us being furloughed, 0:45:37.440 --> 0:45:42.400 and it, like you said, it really is blatant, especially 0:45:42.480 --> 0:45:44.879 given that, you know, even walking into that meeting, all 0:45:44.880 --> 0:45:49.040 of us were wearing our union buttons. I just why 0:45:49.080 --> 0:45:52.640 would you lay off an entire department, especially when that 0:45:52.760 --> 0:45:56.440 department is what is keeping your business afloat, Like that 0:45:56.600 --> 0:45:59.200 is the money maker for Blue Stars, those wholesale. 0:45:58.760 --> 0:46:02.879 Bites, and we've been told that all the time. It's 0:46:02.920 --> 0:46:07.839 like these donut bites make the money, So make that 0:46:07.880 --> 0:46:11.600 makes sense. Then why are you shutting down that money 0:46:11.600 --> 0:46:15.080 maker and the other kitchen and front of house are like, 0:46:15.640 --> 0:46:19.239 are still there, still doing production? Like not touched by 0:46:19.280 --> 0:46:19.799 this at all. 0:46:21.840 --> 0:46:22.040 Yeah. 0:46:22.120 --> 0:46:24.040 And that's one of these things you get with employers 0:46:24.080 --> 0:46:26.160 all the time where it's like, well, okay, so employers 0:46:26.880 --> 0:46:29.719 very very clearly and obviously know where the money is made. 0:46:29.719 --> 0:46:32.400 They know exactly where the money is made, literally up 0:46:32.480 --> 0:46:35.040 until the moments that you start asking from more of 0:46:35.080 --> 0:46:37.759 the money you're making them, at which point suddenly like, 0:46:37.840 --> 0:46:40.400 oh who knows where money comes from? 0:46:41.200 --> 0:46:44.800 Yeah, yeah, you have no money, even though the CEO 0:46:44.960 --> 0:46:47.400 has like at least three teslas. 0:46:47.880 --> 0:46:49.760 Totally oh my god. 0:46:50.239 --> 0:46:52.840 Yeah, like Katie Pope can't take a little bit of 0:46:52.840 --> 0:46:54.759 a pay cut so that you know, we can all 0:46:54.840 --> 0:46:57.120 keep our jobs and you know, survive. 0:46:57.840 --> 0:46:58.840 It's wild. 0:46:59.360 --> 0:47:01.120 Yeah. And and I mean this is one of the 0:47:01.120 --> 0:47:04.400 other things too, is that like businesses, you know, this 0:47:04.480 --> 0:47:07.719 is this is the the way capitalism works, is that 0:47:08.200 --> 0:47:13.279 businesses would rather fucking lose money than have their employees 0:47:13.440 --> 0:47:17.680 have slightly like not be intobilitating pain, not be sick, 0:47:17.760 --> 0:47:19.240 and get slightly more money. 0:47:20.719 --> 0:47:20.919 Yep. 0:47:23.160 --> 0:47:25.759 It is crazy to me because this whole you know, 0:47:25.800 --> 0:47:29.160 they're they're hiring all these lawyers to to you know, 0:47:30.239 --> 0:47:33.080 you know, handle the union stuff, and I'm like, you 0:47:33.120 --> 0:47:35.239 shut down Red Kitchen, you hire these lawyers, You're doing 0:47:35.280 --> 0:47:37.240 all these efforts, and I'm like, you would have saved 0:47:37.360 --> 0:47:41.400 so much money if you just recognize our fucking union. 0:47:41.960 --> 0:47:43.600 Like that's how easy it is, you know. 0:47:44.080 --> 0:47:48.400 And not only that, we have what five shops in Portland, 0:47:48.600 --> 0:47:51.520 we have a shop in la as well, Los Angeles 0:47:51.760 --> 0:47:57.360 where prices are extravagant, Like they have money. We know 0:47:57.520 --> 0:48:01.120 they have money, and we're honestly at the point, I'm 0:48:01.160 --> 0:48:03.799 at the point of show me your books, show me, 0:48:04.120 --> 0:48:06.360 prove to me that you do not have this money, 0:48:06.800 --> 0:48:10.640 because then that will be a different discussion. Like it's 0:48:10.840 --> 0:48:20.160 just it's frustrating. It's typical corporate business and I'm over it. 0:48:20.280 --> 0:48:22.319 And the I'm over it for how they treated me. 0:48:22.440 --> 0:48:26.080 I'm over how they treat my friends, my team. It's 0:48:26.600 --> 0:48:31.040 it's ridiculous and they should know better, honestly. 0:48:31.719 --> 0:48:35.719 Yeah. Yeah, So is there anything else that you two 0:48:35.719 --> 0:48:36.719 want to make sure you get in? 0:48:37.880 --> 0:48:39.560 Maybe just the gofund me? 0:48:40.239 --> 0:48:43.160 Yeah yeah? How can how can people support you support 0:48:43.200 --> 0:48:43.640 the union? 0:48:45.040 --> 0:48:45.279 Yeah? 0:48:45.320 --> 0:48:47.440 So we have a go fund me setup for the 0:48:47.480 --> 0:48:50.680 six furload workers to provide a month's worth of income 0:48:51.440 --> 0:48:56.680 two weeks for the employees who quit early, and that 0:48:56.800 --> 0:49:00.640 is it's called help loose our employees, fighting investing. And 0:49:00.840 --> 0:49:03.520 right now we're at just under one thousand dollars. Our 0:49:03.560 --> 0:49:06.279 goal for all six of those people's incomes for a 0:49:06.320 --> 0:49:10.560 month is fifteen thousand, just under sixteen thousand. You know, 0:49:10.680 --> 0:49:13.279 I don't know if we'll ever reach that goal, but 0:49:13.600 --> 0:49:15.279 you know, the as much as we can get is 0:49:15.320 --> 0:49:19.240 great because right now, you know, I'm surviving on cereal. 0:49:19.920 --> 0:49:22.640 I know that the shift leads we were talking about earlier. 0:49:22.680 --> 0:49:25.719 You know, they're getting groceries from lydia. People are struggling. 0:49:26.200 --> 0:49:29.719 Yeah, I was definitely in my survivor era on rice 0:49:29.800 --> 0:49:33.600 and beans. It was it's really tough, and you know, 0:49:34.120 --> 0:49:37.480 it is a big goal, realistically it is. But you know, 0:49:37.600 --> 0:49:41.120 not to sound desperate or anything, but truly, every little 0:49:41.200 --> 0:49:43.960 bit helps. If you can really only afford five or 0:49:44.000 --> 0:49:47.280 ten bucks, we'll take it. That is, we're so grateful 0:49:47.360 --> 0:49:53.800 for anything, and it's it's people's lives. It's literally people's lives. 0:49:54.239 --> 0:49:56.960 Multiple people are facing not being able to have a 0:49:57.040 --> 0:50:02.799 roof over their head because of this, So truly any 0:50:02.840 --> 0:50:04.960 little bit helps. 0:50:04.520 --> 0:50:09.360 Yeah, so please go help them out. I I don't know. 0:50:09.360 --> 0:50:12.880 This it it's. 0:50:12.320 --> 0:50:15.960 Just really really brutal too. And especially like again, like 0:50:16.520 --> 0:50:19.919 this is also a fucking terrible time, Like there's there's 0:50:19.920 --> 0:50:22.640 never a good time to like be at risk of 0:50:22.680 --> 0:50:26.120 losing your home. Uh, winter is especially fucking bad for that. 0:50:26.440 --> 0:50:28.640 There are yeah, so there there's so many. There are 0:50:28.680 --> 0:50:31.520 so many sort of terrible compounding things that these union 0:50:31.640 --> 0:50:34.600 that these union busting companies are sort of relying on 0:50:34.760 --> 0:50:39.680 to screw over and intimidate and hurt the people who 0:50:39.719 --> 0:50:40.960 make them all their fucking money. 0:50:41.960 --> 0:50:43.160 So well, and that's what it did. 0:50:43.200 --> 0:50:46.480 It scared a lot of people into unfortunately voting no. 0:50:46.600 --> 0:50:48.920 It scared a lot of people who were really involved, 0:50:49.280 --> 0:50:52.279 you know, in the organizing process to step back and 0:50:52.560 --> 0:50:54.759 and you know, not respond to our text messages and 0:50:54.760 --> 0:50:58.200 not continue to advocate for the union. It you know 0:50:58.280 --> 0:51:02.680 that us getting furloughed really fucked with our whole union campaign. 0:51:03.840 --> 0:51:07.279 So yeah, go go go give go, go, give these 0:51:07.280 --> 0:51:10.520 workers your supports they really need it, and yeah go 0:51:10.719 --> 0:51:14.239 you know, and one thing again like that needs to 0:51:14.280 --> 0:51:16.279 sort of we need to sort of emphasize is that 0:51:16.320 --> 0:51:19.440 this is illegal. They cannot fucking they legally cannot do 0:51:19.480 --> 0:51:23.160 this but you know this is this is one of 0:51:23.239 --> 0:51:25.680 the things that is fucking hard about union organizing is 0:51:25.719 --> 0:51:30.319 that the law, assuming the law does like ever, fucking 0:51:30.360 --> 0:51:31.959 catch up to these people. It takes time. 0:51:33.000 --> 0:51:36.160 And yeah, there is one little thing I do want 0:51:36.239 --> 0:51:40.120 to make sure people know about because we just found 0:51:40.120 --> 0:51:43.200 this out pretty recently while we were doing shop visits. 0:51:43.360 --> 0:51:47.640 They have jars for tips that say tips are shared 0:51:47.680 --> 0:51:48.320 with the kitchen. 0:51:48.760 --> 0:51:52.280 They're not. Yeah, that's not true. This is not true. 0:51:52.440 --> 0:51:55.520 We saw no tips and there was an instance where 0:51:55.560 --> 0:51:59.239 we accidentally got tips, and one by one we were 0:51:59.280 --> 0:52:02.480 sent to the back to sign a form saying this 0:52:02.760 --> 0:52:06.440 was an accident. You are not gain tips. Sign this, 0:52:07.040 --> 0:52:13.279 and they took our tips away. It's not fair. And 0:52:13.360 --> 0:52:15.520 on top of that, they're lying to the public. They're 0:52:15.600 --> 0:52:18.279 lying to their customers that kitchen is gain tips when 0:52:18.320 --> 0:52:18.640 we're not. 0:52:19.880 --> 0:52:24.160 Yeah, and I will say, in addition to the GoFundMe, 0:52:24.600 --> 0:52:26.719 we do have you know, if you're not able to 0:52:26.719 --> 0:52:30.080 support monetarily, we do have a Twitter and an Instagram 0:52:30.280 --> 0:52:32.479 where we post updates if you want to follow along 0:52:32.520 --> 0:52:34.840 with our progress and see, you know, how our election 0:52:34.960 --> 0:52:38.120 goes and everything. It's just on both Twitter and or 0:52:38.120 --> 0:52:43.239 excuse me x and Instagram. It is at DWU Underscore 0:52:43.320 --> 0:52:43.799 Blue Star. 0:52:44.120 --> 0:52:46.200 So yeah, well we'll we'll have links to all this 0:52:46.239 --> 0:52:47.840 out of the description awesome. 0:52:47.920 --> 0:52:51.040 Word of mouth is really the biggest thing, even going 0:52:51.040 --> 0:52:56.080 off again, like, if you can't support us financially, you 0:52:56.120 --> 0:52:59.560 can just share the GoFundMe through friends, family, whoever, and 0:52:59.680 --> 0:53:00.840 just it out there. 0:53:01.960 --> 0:53:05.360 Yeah, and so go go go do that. Yeah, go 0:53:05.480 --> 0:53:09.120 help any way you can. And yeah, go go go 0:53:09.160 --> 0:53:12.600 fight your own bosses because they're screwing yous, like screwing 0:53:12.640 --> 0:53:15.960 you in very similar ways. What's happening here? Two? Yeah, 0:53:16.000 --> 0:53:18.160 and this is the spinnaket happen here. You can find 0:53:18.239 --> 0:53:21.040 us at Twitter and Instagram at happen here pod and 0:53:21.280 --> 0:53:25.880 you can find more Clozobdia shows at closeid Media. Yeah 0:53:26.080 --> 0:53:28.760 go go go into the world and make life worse 0:53:28.880 --> 0:53:30.360 for people who do terrible stuff. 0:53:35.960 --> 0:53:38.320 It could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. 0:53:38.560 --> 0:53:41.200 For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 0:53:41.280 --> 0:53:43.520 cool Zonemedia dot com, or check us out on the 0:53:43.520 --> 0:53:47.120 iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 0:53:47.360 --> 0:53:49.440 You can find sources for it could Happen Here. Updated 0:53:49.560 --> 0:53:53.600 monthly at cool zonemedia dot com Slash Sources thanks for listening.