I got a press release yesterday bout a rally by Fresh Direct workers and labor leaders on Friday outside the company’s Long Island City headquarters.
There is outrage because of the firing of two employees who were attempting to organize workers secure benefits, reasonable hours and fairer pay for their co-workers.
The rally is Friday morning at 9:30 am at Borden Avenue and 23rd Street in Long Island City, Queens.
Here’s an after-rally update from Evan Thies from Berlin Rosen Public Affairs.
September 28, 2007 – Workers at food delivery
giant FreshDirect rallied with labor leaders and more than 100 protesters today
outside the company’s Long
Island City
headquarters, outraged at the firing of two employees who were organizing to
secure benefits, reasonable hours and fair pay for their co-workers.Warehouse
workers Loreto Gomez and Lonnie Powell were fired from their jobs at
FreshDirect earlier this month after they complained of poor working conditions
and publicly participated in a Teamsters’ organizing campaign at the
Internet-based grocer.
"I walked in to work with a union t-shirt on and FreshDirect fired me soon
after,” said Lonnie Powell, one of the two warehouse workers who were
terminated after encouraging their co-workers to unionize. “All we
want to do is organize so that we can make sure our rights as workers are
protected. FreshDirect is trying to keep us from doing that. If
they ran a business that treated their employees fairly, this would have never
happened.”
The
fired workers cited standard shifts in excess of 12 hours, forced overtime, low
pay and unaffordable benefit plans as their reasons for organizing fellow
employees at FreshDirect. Warehouse workers at FreshDirect start at just
$7.25 an hour while most workers make less than $9, with family healthcare
costs so high that employees can’t afford the plan, workers said.
By comparison, the average Teamster warehouse worker in the Tri-state area
earns $14 to $15 an hour plus employer-paid healthcare and pension
benefits. Teamster workers also start at a much higher wage—$10 to
$12 an hour.
Teamsters
presidents and other labor leaders called the firings at the 800-person
Queens facility inexcusable, demanding swift changes by
FreshDirect to treat employees fairly and guarantee worker safety. The
labor leaders said they would push hard for the workers to be re-instated and
for FreshDirect to allow organizing at the warehouse.
“The
firing of these workers is outrageous,” said Sandy Pope, President of
Teamsters Local 805. “FreshDirect’s employees are sending a
message to the company brass that they feel they are being treated unfairly,
and now that they are trying to give their movement a voice, the company is
trying to shut them up. In order for FreshDirect to be the respected,
thriving company it can be, it has to provide safer working conditions and treat
its workers fairly.
.”
Sorry. I’m with Bob. I’m all for supporting local businesses but I’m not an idiot. I get better produce at a lower price from freshdirect than from any store near me! Also, I think if you look into it a little more, you’ll find that a lot of employees had to be fired because they had supplied freshdirect with false papers and were in fact not legal to work in the US.
Out of all the big businesses, freshdirect is at least conscious of their actions. If you check around you’ll find lots of ways that they are trying to clean up their act and do good things for their customers, employees and the environment. Research and give them a chance before you start complaining.
I use to work in Fresh Direct to I got fire because of favorticism. Most of the managers and superviser are predujices to blacks and hispanics. They treat you like garbage theres no union, no good pay, and make you work more than twelve hours and you are force to work extras hours. my name is jaime pina and most of the worker now me and if you ask them how they treat them they will respond unfairly. which is an acurate answer please do something about this
To Whom It May Concern,
This is just a quick note to let you know that FreshDirect is treating their customer service team in an unfair way. If you don’t already know, they are forwarding the calls that can’t be handled (due to them constantly firing people and not replacing them in time. They fire then go to a temporay agency and hire leaving a gap in coverage of at least a month) to a company in Canada, that will soon take over the whole customer service department. They aren’t telling their NY staff when it will happen, and expect the customer service department to grin and bare it. The entire customer service department will eventually get laid off when Canada takes over. The Canada team so far has received numerous complaints from our current customers that are being ignored. They expect customer service to point out errors so they can use that to train them better. They don’t want to tell the customer service department because they don’t want them to find other jobs and quit before the company in Canada is fully trained and ready to take our jobs. Between the union issues and this, FreshDirect really doesn’t care about their employees. No raises, no answers. What can a company in Canada do for you?
just another great reason to join the Food Co-op….or support your local supermarkets trying to catch up on organic stock without too many personal truck deliveries….
I love Fresh Direct. New York City is expensive enough as it is. If you drive a delivery truck and don’t make enough money, perhaps you should change jobs or go back to school and learn a skill that pays better. Holding your employer hostage is not the answer.
First their idling, polluting delivery trucks, and now this is the clincher. fresh direct’s $50 voucher is going in the trash.
First their idling, polluting delivery trucks, and now this is the clincher. fresh direct’s $50 voucher is going in the trash.