Jimmy John's workers vote (today) whether to unionize

[Omaha Steve]

Source: MPR News

by Martin Moylan,

Minneapolis — A fast-food restaurant is about the last place you might expect to find unionized workers. The work is unskilled, the wages are low, and the turnover is high. Those factors make the fast-food industry a tough one for union organizers.

But today there's a union vote -- perhaps a groundbreaking one -- at 10 Twin Cities area Jimmy John's sandwich shops. The shops are located in Minneapolis and St. Louis Park. Some 200 workers are eligible to vote.

Union advocates say a majority of them signed cards calling for union representation, but won't give the exact figure. At least 30 percent of the workers signed up -- which is the minimum required to force a vote overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.

Not all the workers want a union, especially the union that's looking to represent Jimmy John's employees -- the decidedly leftist IWW -- Industrial Workers of the World -- which is also known as the Wobblies.


Ayo Collins is one of several Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches employees spearheading a push to form a union at the fast food franchise. Nearly 200 Jimmy John's employees from 10 Minneapolis and St. Louis Park locations will be voting today whether to join the Industrial Workers of the World union. (MPR Photo/Jeffrey Thompson)


Read more: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/10/21/jimmy-johns-union-vote/

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FULL story and audio at link.

[Starry Messenger]

1. k & r

[myrna minx]

2. K&R.

:applause:

[pasto76]

3. todays economy should see less turnover for them

just remember in the real world, today, going on strike is never good. keep working, go into arbitration, get it signed.

sgt pasto - 2nd gen union ironworker

[BolivarianHero]

4. Good on IWW...

Nice to see a union organizing vulnerable workers instead of merely serving as an arm of a centrist political party.

[Cal Carpenter]

5. Go union!

Woo!

[Recursion]

6. Go Wobblies!

That's good to hear.

[mzmolly]

7. Awesome!

I hope they'll vote in their own best interests.

[Omaha Steve]

8. I'll post results as soon as I get them

It may be a few days before we see them.