The reaction of Green Way management to the situation in its restaurants is to be expected: denial and PR. ZSP is calling for a boycott.
Making people work without contracts on unpaid trial periods, forced overtime and shit work conditions were exposed in Green Way vegetarian restaurants in at least 4 locations over the last couple of years. (See: Green Way Vegetarian Restaurant Doesn't Pay Workers)
During a recent picket of a Wroclaw restaurant where people were hired and worked illegally without pay, a former worker of the restaurant confronted the owner who simply lied and claimed the women had never worked there. Yesterday and today, a couple of workers and comrades visited Green Way to demand back pay and copies of contracts proving that they worked there. They were offered money under the table, but with no written contract or evidence of having worked there - so they refused, demanded a copy of a contract and went back today. Today the owners were more agressive, threatening to sue us if articles about them do not disappear off the internet within three days. Also, they showed on the computer some "statement" written by "satisfied workers" which presumably they will try to print to convince people that there is "no problem" in their restaurants.
The reaction of the overall management of the franchise has been both to paint this as an isolated incident (which it is not) but at the same time pretend that, since it is a franchise, they cannot control what goes on in the restaurants. This is not true since it the owners of the company pay close attention to details such as interior design of the restaurants, menu and location, making sure the franchise holders conform. The restaurant has not given any concrete sign about what they will do with the situation.
ZSP has declared a boycott on the restaurant, which does not even follow the labour law, let alone provide good conditions. It is boycotting the whole chain.
Last week it published the following statement:
According to our information we can say without any doubt that at the Green Way restaurant on Kuznica St. in Wroclaw, workers' rights were violated repeatedly. Everything indicates that the people running the restaurant think nothing about workers and just try to make as much profit off them as they can.
Since January at least 6 people worked in that restaurant for free. Taking into acount the scale of short-term hires and the fact that the place is always looking for new workers, we suppose that free labour is a constant source of profit for the owners. It is scandalous that they do not even try to present working conditions to their "employees". People who start off working for free do not know what kind of contract they might sign or even what salary they can expect. The bosses evb claim that setting a hourly rate is unneccessary and warn that salaries will be paid at the owners' discretion. Workers are also not entitled to get paid for work performed after closing time.
The free trial period is of an undetermined length, and people who go through this trial are told that the more hours they worked, the faster they will start to get paid. At first the free work is called "a trial period", then "training" and then they even can write a fake mandate contract for "working in the storeroom", written in one copy, with the warning that the amount of money written on it will not be paid.
One of the workers there was told that she cannot get a work contract because she didn't work full-time. However, this was not true and contradicts the law. It is illegal to work on a specific work contract since the work done is as an employee, with the work done on the premises, under the supervision of the owners. So this is just a way to deny workers their statutory benefits guaranteed under the Labour Law. We know cases where even such a contract is not signed when people started work.
In addition, during working hours, which sometimes last 11 hours, there is no break - also a violation and workers are often harrassed not to spend time resting, eating or drinking.
We would like to stress that even according to the law, which in no way sufficiently defends the interests of workers against the owners, a contract or a statement confirming the intent to hire somebody must be signed by the first day of work. This same law states that in this type of work it should be a work contract which guarantees not only an hourly wage, (with extra for overtime), but also paid vacation and sick leave.
Because this is not the first situation when he learned about violations of workers' rights in Green Way, we suppose that the board of the company cannot guarantee workers good conditions or is simply not interested in this. As a workers' organization, we cannot accept this. We are not interested in PR statements - we are interested in a concrete solution. We therefore demand that the board find an effective and permanent solution to the problem of exploitation in Green Way restaurants. This could be done, for example, by signing a annex to franchise agreements which would make it a breach of contract to violate workers' rights which would lead to dissolution of the franchise agreement. This would be a sign to us that Green Way cares about its clients eating ethically. If there is no resolution of this problem, we will call a boycott of Green Way.
Since this time we have heard nothing - except threats of being sued. So the boycott begins.
Związek Syndykalistów Polski
http://zsp.net.pl
http://zsp-iwa.blogspot.com/
http://wroclaw.zsp.net.pl
Comments
There were pickets today as
There were pickets today as part of the boycott. We think there is already pressure to settle this issue soon. In the meanwhile, there has been more contact between workers and information about unpaid overtime.
About the picket in Warsaw, which was with the slogan "Green Way is Worse than McDonalds":
http://cia.bzzz.net/warsaw_picket_at_greenway
Page for the campaign:
www.greenway.zsp.net.pl
Is there anyway others can
Is there anyway others can offer help on this?
Yes, actually there is. There
Yes, actually there is.
There are a few people who want to organize in Green Way. First and foremost now we are looking at (and for) groups who organized in the food industries to send open letters encouraging efforts to organize.
Support from others is welcome, but we need to discuss the best way today and probably later today or tomorrow someone can post info on how to support here.
Reposted on
Reposted on Anarcho-Syndicalism 101: http://www.anarchosyndicalism.net/newswire/display/46145/index.php
Scandalous Threats from Green
Scandalous Threats from Green Way Lawyer
Today there will be a radio show about the situation in Green Way. Before the show, we published a copy of a threatening letter sent to our colleague in Wroclaw, who was one of the cheated workers in the restaurant. The letter is completely scandalous, even the more so that the President of the corporation claims to all that inquire that the "situation in Wroclaw is resolved". BULLSHIT.
Not only have the unpaid workers not received compensation, but if they speak openly about what happened to them, they get threatening letters.
The laywer Anna Grzegorska writes to our colleague that she was informed that she had to undergo unpaid "training". Of course both trial periods and training are paid and this type of unpaid labour is against the law in Poland. The lawyer uses a host of tricks to try to scare the worker.
The lawyer calls for her and ZSP to stop writing about her client on the internet calling it "blackening the name of the client". The lawyer falsely claims that THERE IS NO LEGAL BASIS to demand payment for her work (!!!!) Further, Grzegorska claims that demanding money amounts to the crime of BLACKMAIL. She claims that organizing a picket in front of Green Way to demand unpaid wages is ILLEGAL, since it is BLACKMAIL and that CRIMINAL CHARGES will be brought against this girl if she doesn't stop.
The lawyer goes on to explain that blackmail is punishable by up to 3 years in prison.
Further, the lawyer starts to talk about defamation charges.
One other law that the lawyer tries to threaten our colleague with is organizing activity which can lead to the termination of business activity, which falls under the same paragraph as an assassination threat (!!!) and is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
In the end, the lawyer attempts to misinform our colleague once again by claiming (again, falsely) that notifying the public prosecutor of this WILL RESULT IN THE starting on criminal charges against this girl; this isn't true - a person filing a complaint does not decide what the prosecutor will charge or not.
And just for those who were thinking that Stalinism was eliminated years ago, the lawyer also threatens to inform the university where the girl studies of her "anarchist activity". !!!!
For anybody who can speak Polish, the scan of the letter is attached to this article: http://cia.bzzz.net/wroclaw_green_way_straszy_sadem_oszukana_pracownice
The radio show will be on the internet for a while so also for those who can understand Polish: http://www.zsp.net.pl/altergodzina_greenway
Needless to say, we are mad as hell and will not tolerate such an outrage.
my comment on this:
my comment on this: http://cia.bzzz.net/14_years_for_demanding_wages_green_way_lawyer_with_no_scruples
14 years for Demanding Wages? Green Way Lawyer with no Scruples
A new addition to the list of outrageous attempts to repress social movements is the Green Way case, where the lawyer for the restaurant, Anna Grzegorska, has written a threatening letter to our colleague A. A. refused to waive her right to get salary turning her training / trial period at the Wroclaw restaurant. In fact, even if she had waived it, it doesn't matter: such work should still be paid. A. demanded her salary for that period.
The lawyer for Greenway threatens to bring criminal charges against A., for "crimes" such as blackmail, posing a risk to business and slander. Together these crimes could carry as much as 14 years in jail.
Just to add insult to injury, Grzegorska informs that should A. not cease in her campaign to get her wages, her university will be informed of her "anarchist activity".
This would be a major threat of repression, with a pptential sentence similar to what the Belgrade Six were facing - if it weren't for the fact that there is absolutely no basis for this and it is just scare tactics. It is probably more likely that Grzegorska will face disciplinary proceedings for her breach of ethics than anything will happen to A.
Still, we take these threats very seriously.
These are the tactics that sleazy bosses are taking against workers who stand up to them.
How many people like this young Green Way employee try to stand up for themselves at the workplace, only to face lies and threats of serious repression?
The casual workforce in places like Green Way is often made up of young students and first time workers - often people desperately in need of money. They are often misinformed of their labour rights by thieving bosses who look for pliable and naive workers, often young girls, to obediently do as they are told without any questions. Standing up to this can carry a high price for the young workers: mobbing, loss of job or being cheated. In this case, Green Way's lawyer has no scruples about even threatening 14 years in jail. In such an atmosphere, we can only admire A.'s courage not to be broken by this: unfortunately, most people would have given up, too scared or discouraged to even ask for their salary.
Something now has got to change and if we have our way about it, it will be Green Way's treatment of their workers.
Well, unfortunately you are
Well, unfortunately you are counting on customers who have an inkly of social consciousness. The worst problem we had in this campaign were asshole vegetarians and anarchists who think that promoting vegetarianism is such a worthy goal that all the rest doesn't matter. They undermined the campaign, going so far as to make counterpropaganda amongst workers.
There is very high turnover and most all our colleagues working there already left for the summer - but this isn't over and probably in the fall we have to start back up. They had promised that "it wouldn't happen again" and I just found out that there are still a few problems.
We will do our best, but it is obvious we are working in VERY adverse conditions, where even supposedly socially conscious people are just sheepish consumers. But a few hundred people are boycotting it, so this is something.
It's strange that people
It's strange that people won't listen (maybe you should change the arguments you are making?) - we've found it quite easy to turn people away from restaurants. We did notice that once the picket has around 7 or more people with signs it becomes more effective at turning away customers just due to its size. Perhaps the fact that it is the only vegetarian restaurant around makes people more determined to go there and nowhere else - but you could still try giving them a list of other restaurants. Or maybe offer free food outside it?
It is also easy when you are
It is also easy when you are there picketing. There also was an action with food not bombs. Maybe I was not clear - the problem is more with the long-term boycott and lack of support from alternative lifestyle people. It is usually NOT the only vegetarian option.
It is not strange given the local context. The Polish anarchist and alternative scene has deep capitalist, and individualist / lifestyle roots. Despite alleged anti-consumerism, one of the main thrusts of this scene is the creation of "alternative spaces" in a society that has very few and such people make up the clientele of these establishments. What passes for "alternative" here is sometimes just mainstream elsewhere; it is impossible to compare US and Poland in this respect.
All one needs to do is compare the situation in Kino Babylon in Berlin, where the management also claimed to have some left and alternative legitimacy and say, the situation with Falanster in Wroclaw, where there was also a conflict. In the Kino Babylon situation there was enough local support to sustain a campaign; in the Wroclaw situation, many people were more concerned that there was no other "good place" to have leftist movie nights. People are just years behind in the development of their consciousness, which is one of our main challenges.
Quote: The worst problem we
We had exactely the same problem in campaigns against bad works conditions (workers were "just" ask to work for free ..) in a (private) movie theaters, but that was labelled as "leftist". Some asshole "leftist subculture" people and even anarchists thought that it is more important to have a theater were you can see "underground movie", where they can organise a film festival against work, than to question the work itself in the theater ...
"cultural industry" is not seen as the same industry than other, many left people - and including miltants - are more leniant with bosses of cultural business.
More here (in french) : http://cnt-ait.info/article.php3?id_article=1338
This is a big problem.
This is a big problem. Another problem to be discussed is the working conditions in NGOs, which tend to be disastrous.
In Poland we even had labour problems in Aug. 80 trade union and the head of the union was found guilty of a number of violations.