Two members of IU 460 at the MLK Day protest. (Photo: Thomas Good)
New York, NY – January 15, 2007. The Industrial Workers of the World celebrated Martin Luther King Day in New York with a series of boisterous demonstrations at four IWW shops in Brooklyn and Queens. With the help of Laborers’ Local 1010, which lent its notorious inflatable rats, and many other labor and community organizations, the Wobblies showed the bosses that their morale is high and their support strong. All union workers have been fired from two of the shops, and management in all four has demanded for the first time that workers show proof of legal immigrant status–a matter in which they had no interest until the workers organized and demanded living wages, reasonable hours, and respectful treatment.
The day began at 5:30 in front of Top City Produce. Only a handful of workers arrived to the sound of whistles and home-made drums, but those were enough allegedly to make a supervisor afraid to open the shop before the manager arrived at 6:30. The Top City workers then went to work, and the demonstration moved on to Amersino Marketing. Amersino illegally fired four union leaders late last year, but a strong body of union workers remain in the shop.
After a stop for breakfast, the marchers proceeded to Sunrise Plus Corp., formerly E-Z Supply Corp., a restaurant supplier that fired all of its union workers on December 28, where they were joined by Wobblies from Rhode Island and numerous local supporters. Owner Lester Wen arrived as the protest reached its peak, and he passed through the crowd with a scowl and an obscene gesture.
The final stop on the tour was Handyfat Trading. The foodstuffs distributor has continued operating with short staff after firing all union workers on the fourth of January, but on this Monday–not usually observed as a holiday by this management–the warehouse was locked up tight. The party went on without the boss, however, as a crowd that grew to nearly 100 marched and chanted for over two hours, inspired by the music of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra.
The bosses called the police at every stop, as usual, but the cops actually expressed sympathy for the fired workers and did not interfere.
The event broke up about midday with speeches of thanks from several of the fired workers and their supporters. IWW organizer Billy Randel afterwards expressed himself satisfied with the day’s events in every respect.
Anybody who wants to make a donation to the relief fund for the fired workers may send it by mail to P. O. Box 7430, JAF Station, New York, NY 10116, or on-line via PayPal, www.paypal.com, by clicking “Send Money” and entering the email address iww-nyc@iww.org.
Wobblies from several branches marched in solidarity with immigrant workers. (Photo: Thomas Good)
