United Workers

By Pam Lovings

I was a retail sales associate at Hard Rock Café for 12 ½ years. Recently, I was forced out due to retaliation that took many forms from upper management. These are just some of the problems I had to endured before my termination.

I was given only 2 or 3 days a week. And if they did give me 5 days, they would cut me every day by 1pm. I was suddenly stripped of my duties in administrative work and receiving of merchandise. I asked my department head about it. He replied, “I have to guarantee the Russian students 35 hours for the next 3 months.” In the past, when we had Russian students working there, everyone was treated equally. They evaluated us based on sales performance. But how do you expect someone to put their best foot forward when the scales are unbalanced? The end result was that I couldn’t keep up with my bills, including my son’s orthodontist payments. I’m on the verge of eviction. And this restaurant is supposed to be family-oriented.

Then there was a lack of respect. For example, a manager used to call me “Girl,” rather than my name. One day, one of the managers started flicking coasters at me out of nowhere. Then later, that same person aggressively approached me asking various questions. He entered my personal space and was so close to me that I could feel the sprinkling of his saliva on my left ear. When I complained about his behavior to the general manager, nothing was done, so I complained to Human Resources. They remained neutral, as if protecting the company. The manager started harassing me. We were walking past the expo area, and he said, “Dead woman walking,” in front of a bunch of other servers.

The managers also injected their personal feelings and emotions in with their slurs towards me, which is one way to try to break me down emotionally, to make me want to quit. But instead, I tried to turn those negatives into a positive by focusing on how to stay afloat.

I was unable to function. Emotionally I was scarred. Mentally, too, because it was uncalled-for stress that was put upon me. It could have been prevented had there been more support within management. But everybody is for themselves. They put on one face to show that this is a “caring restaurant.” It’s all washed up. It’s just writings on the wall. They’re not standing by their mottos or their values.

I think the whole big issue is greed. It’s not about people anymore. It’s just about the mean green. Saving money by not paying people what they’re worth. If you’re paying people well and treating them right, you build a strong clientele. You get back what you put out. I don’t know how they expect people to grow if they’re trying to suck them dry.

Why can’t we get respect from management? Everybody has a right to be respected, to have dignity, and to voice their opinion in the event that they’re mistreated. The people who control the Harbor should take notice of the inhumane acts occurring on their watch. They need a wake-up call.

By Janice Watson

I was an employee at ESPN for 7 ½ years. Come take a walk with me. Let me show you just how ESPN was really operated.

A lot of people say, what you don’t know won’t hurt you. That’s a lie. Because Disney is the type of company that will take what you don’t know and use it against you. For example, you had to maintain 30-32 hours a week to keep your health insurance, but it’s impossible to do that if business is slow and your hours drop. So in the fall, when kids go back to school and business starts dropping off, the hours would slow down. So you lose your insurance.

For instance, one of my co-workers had to resort to social service for medical insurance because Disney had dropped her insurance. Another ESPN worker was on disability. But in the summertime, his hours being plentiful, he would work more. So the disability people would cut his benefits. But when September-October rolled around, he had to quit and go back on disability to keep his dialysis. Disney wouldn’t let him keep his insurance because he was only making 16-20 hrs a week.

The managers abused their power. If you weren’t a part of their clique, you were on the “hit list”. Such as one of the Sous Chefs, who would sneak around to wait outside the restroom to see how long we took. As a woman, this made me feel belittled; my privacy had been invaded. If we took too long, he would ridicule us and ask us why. As we started to explain, he would cut us off and tell us to get back to work. He was rude like that.

While I was working on a project, he interrupted me to tell me that a “cast member” saw me in the walk-in refrigerator eating ribs. This led to a suspension. I was suspended on speculation. I defended myself by saying this was not true and unacceptable. He had no proof. While I was suspended, this same Sous Chef began to lie by telling everyone he had caught me eating cold ribs. (Mind you, I have ulcers so I don’t eat anything cold) He propositioned another cast member to go along with the story so I could be terminated. When that employee refused, he was terminated. The executive chef and regional chef are just as guilty because they allowed these situations to take place without investigating. Disney and Cordish are just as guilty as the chefs are because they allowed these things to take place. The only thing they cared about was the Almighty Dollar.

On June 12, 2009 I arrived at work at 4:45 to start my PM shift. As I entered the kitchen, I saw it was a madhouse. Mind you, this is on a Saturday. As I’m making my rounds, I noticed that the AM shift had not prepped anything for us to use, especially the chips. They were being used as fast as they were cooking them; we were that busy. As I was in the walk-in refrigerator trying to do three jobs at one time, the Executive Chef came in and began about the chips. He told me that if he didn’t have them in 5-10 minutes, my co-worker and I would be terminated. They were always threatening to fire you if you didn’t do what they wanted the way they wanted it, and always took their frustrations out on you. No one should have to work under these deplorable conditions.

After all of this, hanging in there and taking all of this gripe, my reward was for ESPN to cease operations with no notice.

The whole harbor needs to be changed. It needs to be constructed with morals and principles. It needs dignity, so that people will want to go to work.

P.S. Do you think they were just after me? Or is this the way all the restaurants are run down at the harbor?

Check out this outstanding article from Kari Lyderson reporting for Working In These Times.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working

The case has become a centerpiece of United Workers’ Economic Human Rights Zone campaign in the Inner Harbor, a novel strategy uniting workers at various restaurants and stores to demand that as the area has received substantial taxpayer subsidies, developers of the two major malls should be responsible for making sure workers are paid a state living wage and basic workers rights are respected. Monday’s march came on the second anniversary of the declaration of the Human Rights Zone, and eight years after United Workers’ founding out of a struggle on behalf of homeless vendors at the city stadium.

United Workers began targeting individual employers in the Inner Harbor, but decided it was a more pragmatic and meaningful campaign to target the development as a whole, and demand the two major companies—GGP and Cordish—that lease and sell space commit to making sure their tenants treat workers right.

But as in the Republic Windows and Doors struggle, the ESPN Zone workers’ lawsuit serves not only to try to hold an employer accountable but also to raise the public profile of WARN Act violations in general and of the Economic Human Rights Zone campaign. Organizers say they will continue to investigate possible labor law violations and working conditions at various Inner Harbor outlets including the Cheesecake Factory, Phillips Seafood and Hooters. When United Workers initially surveyed restaurants trying to find the “worst of the worst,” Phillips’ name came up, they said.

To read more of Kari Lyderson’s cutting edge reporting from the labor movement, go to http://www.inthesetimes.com/working

When Sherlock Holmes heard that Disney’s ESPN Zone shut-down without giving workers any notice, he decided to look into the case with the help of his trusty partner, Watson. ‘Is it possible that Disney could treat workers with such a lack of respect and get away with it?,’ Sherlock wondered. Like any good detective, he gathered clues and heard from witnesses, the ESPN Zone workers who were dumped by Disney on June 15th.

“We are here today to demand justice from Disney…The way that we found out that the ESPN Zone was closing was totally disrespectful. It was like a “slap in the face”. We felt like disposable cups thrown out when we were no longer needed,” Leonard Gray, a former ESPN cook, explained.

After looking at the facts and listening to workers and allies, Sherlock concluded that Disney failed to abide by the most basic sense of decency when they put over 150 workers out with only a week’s notice. But his investigation of the ESPN Zone case revealed a much more frightening reality.

Holmes discovered that the trail of worker human rights abuses did not stop with the ESPN Zone, but extends throughout the harbor. Hearing from workers from the Cheesecake Factory, Phillips, and Hooters, he uncovered what lies beneath the surface: poverty wages, stolen tips, sexual harrassment, lack of healthcare, and barriers to education. ‘Different vendors, but the same story? The Inner Harbor is a Poverty-zone! But who is in control?,’ thought Sherlock.

As Holmes connected workers’ stories, he could see a common thread. As he followed his magnifying glass up the profit chain, the pieces fell into place. At the top of the profit chain sit the developers, GGP and Cordish, who control the Inner Harbor. ‘That’s it! When developers do not mandate human rights standards workers are denied the basic dignity they deserve,’ exclaimed Sherlock.

“No @%*# Sherlock,” said the workers. “We’ve known this all along and that’s why we are uniting to fight for Fair Development at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.”

Together, workers from Cheesecake Factory, Hard Rock, Phillips and Hooters, faith leaders, students, and allies took the lead and marched from the Inner Harbor to the Federal Courthouse singing, “Oh Lord, I got, to. They took away our dignity, who will stand and fight with me?! You can’t remove us from your sight until you give us human rights!”

Sports writer, Dave Zirin, weighs in on ESPN Zone workers class action lawsuit against Disney on the Nation’s blog.

http://www.thenation.com/blog

ESPN’s mother-ship, the Walt Disney Company, made the decision to engage in some creative destruction and the ESPN Zones were just part of the fat that was trimmed. This included the very popular locale in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. But there was one problem with this hard-nosed business decision: the 150 workers in Baltimore, shocked that their high-traffic restaurant closed, were told with less than a week’s notice.

It would be comforting to think that the Winston Gupton story is his and his alone: a man who became collateral damage in this particular instance of cold corporate number crunching. But it’s a story being told across the country. It is particularly common in the neighborhood where his former place of business rusts: Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The Inner Harbor is a collection of high brand, national restaurant-chains like the Cheesecake Factory and Phillips Seafood, built to capitalize on tourist dollars and close proximity to the publicly funded Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the home of the Baltimore Ravens, MB&T Bank stadium.

To read the complete story, go to http://www.thenation.com/blog

To checkout Dave Zirin’s weekly sports column and his latest book “Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love,” which dedicates a chapter to someone we know all too well, Peter Angelos, go to http://www.edgeofsports.com/.

(Baltimore Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam / October 25, 2010)

By Gus G. Sentementes

Five former ESPN Zone employees filed a class action lawsuit Monday against the company, alleging it had violated federal standards for notifying and paying workers who lost their jobs when the Inner Harbor location closed in June.

The federal lawsuit claims that ESPN Zone, owned by Walt Disney Co., did not provide laid-off workers the mandated 60 days’ notice of termination under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act.

“We are sending a message,” said Leonard Gray, a former cook at the restaurant and one of the five plaintiffs. “We are not disposable. We are human beings.”

Gray was part of a group of about 40 people, many former employees, who protested Monday morning outside the former ESPN Zone in downtown Baltimore. The group then marched to the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, where the case had been filed earlier that morning.

To read the entire article, go to http://www.baltimoresun.com

Today workers from across the Inner Harbor staged a “Human Rights Hunt” action to draw attention to the filing of a class action lawsuit against Disney for failing to give workers adequate notice before shutting down in June, in violation of a federal law. This is just a sampling of what viewers across Baltimore saw today when they turned on the news.

WJZ CBS 13: “Human Rights Violations Protest Held By ESPN Zone” – Derek Valcourt

http://wjz.com/local/

WBFF Fox 45: “Former ESPN Zone Workers File Class-Action Lawsuit” – Joy Lepola

http://www.foxbaltimore.com/newsroom

This video from independent photographer and ally, Bill Hughes, documents the beginning of today’s “Human Rights Hunt” action to bring visibility to the problem of Poverty-zone Development and the filing of the class action lawsuit against Disney.

Emmanuel McCray Raising the Workers’ Spirit with a Tune! from William Hughes on Vimeo.

Emmanuel McCray, harbor worker, leading the group in a chant that he and Leadership Organizer, Veronica Dorsey, developed for the “Human Rights Hunt.”

Also check out this incredible Flickr photoset!

Tomorrow’s “Human Rights Hunt” action to highlight the human rights abuses at the harbor and the filing of the class action lawsuit against Disney’s ESPN Zone has already received media attention. Check out the video below from ABC Channel 2.

To read what CBS Channel 13 and Fox 45 are saying about tomorrow’s action, click the links below.

http://wjz.com/local/ESPN

http://foxbaltimore.com

As Debra Harris, a former ESPN cook, says, “We are sending a message to Disney, ESPN Zone and Inner Harbor developers that private gain should not take precedence over human life. Corporate executives think that they can break the law and get away with it, because harbor developers do not enforce any human rights standards, but we are human beings and we have the right to dignity and respect.” And the message is clearly getting out there. So take part in raising the voices of low-wage workers at the harbor!

Join us at the ESPN Zone at 11 AM where we will follow the trail of workers abuses hearing from workers from the Cheesecake Factory, Hooters and more and end at the Garmatz Federal Courthouse at 12:30, where we will demand justice and respect from Disney. Hope to see you there!

Listen to our latest segment of “End Poverty Radio” to get a feel for tomorrow’s action and hear from harbor workers talk about why we’re staging this “Human Rights Hunt” and what the Fight for Fair Development means to us.

Take part in an investigation of the human rights abuses at the harbor being conducted by Sherlock Holmes this Monday, October 25th. After hearing of the recent shut-down of ESPN Zone, Sherlock Holmes has decided to look into the matter. Join harbor workers in being witnesses to the human cost of Poverty-zone Development and directing Holmes along the trail of human rights violations. This “Human Rights Hunt” will take us from one end of the harbor starting at the shuttered doors of the ESPN Zone to the other end to Phillips Seafood as we investigate the disrespectful working conditions throughout the harbor.

With the investigation complete, harbor workers will march in solidarity to the court house where ESPN workers will file a class-action lawsuit against the Disney owned company for treating workers as disposable and shutting down without notice, a violation of the WARN Act. So join us on this Monday before Halloween in uncovering the frightening reality that lies behind the heart of our city!

“Human Rights Hunt”

When: Monday, October 25th, 11 AM- 1 PM

Where: Gather at Inner Harbor at E. Pratt St. and Market Pl.

For more information, email info@unitedworkers.org or call 410-230-1998.

By Veronica Dorsey, Leadership Organizer

We gathered early at our office on the morning of October 9th. There were ten of us: harbor workers, Leadership Council members, staff, family and allies who made up the New York Poverty-zone Reality Tour. We packed the van, said a prayer, and took a picture before heading to the “Big Apple”.  You see this was the second in a series of National tours planned for this year. It is a chance for Inner Harbor members, core members, and allies to participate in different educational, solidarity, and networking experiences.

We went in solidarity with the Living Wages NYC Campaign that the Micah Institute and many other organizations are a part of to get a Living Wage Act passed, ensuring that development projects receiving public money pay workers a Living Wage. Yet another community calling for “Fair Development!” On Sunday, October 10th, over 60 churches in New York preached sermons on Living Wages. Raquel Rojas, a former Cheesecake Factory worker and Poverty Scholar, and I spoke of our experiences making poverty wages and the importance of standing with low-wage workers to ensure Fair Development standards everywhere.

On the first day, the Poverty Initiative gave us a “Poverty Scholar’s Self-Guided Tour of Wall Street”. The Poverty Initiative based out of Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan is kinda like our New York headquarters. John Wessel-McCoy of the Poverty Initiative led the tour of Wall Street, bringing to light amazing history of some of what was at the site before Wall Street, including slave auctioning blocks.

Then we went to South Street Seaport where they built another “Inner Harbor”, owned by GGP. We prayed, we sang, we testified and we fliered the public to educate them about Poverty-zone Development.

At the end of the day, we sat down with other organizations to share a meal together and talk about the barriers to organizing and how to break through these barriers with different solutions. We learned so much from connecting with fellow grassroots groups and movement leaders from the Poverty Initiative, the Micah Institute, the ROC-NY, NESRI, Lemuel Hayes Congregational Church, St. Mary’s Church, Manhattan Mennonnite Church, students from Ithaca College, Drew and Union Theological Seminaries. So stay tuned for updates from the next Poverty-zone Reality Tour.

Come hear sports writer Dave Zirin talk about his new book Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love. In his latest book, Zirin talks about Peter Angelos, billionaire owner of the Oriole, and how the United Workers won a historic living wage victory at Camden Yards. We’ll be there to talk about our first human rights victory and how we are continuing the fight for Fair Development at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. So join us at Red Emma’s tonight to take part in what is sure to be an interesting conversation.

Dave Zirin book talk: Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love
Tuesday Oct 12, 7PM @ Red Emma’s
800 St. Paul St., Baltimore, MD 21202

To read more about the book talk, go to www.redemmas.org

Also, check out the article Zirin wrote for the Nation after the Living Wages Victory at Camden Yards, Cleaning up After the Orioles (PDF)

This weekend, a delegation of United Workers members and allies will be in New York City for the second in our series of Poverty-zone Reality Tours to ramp up the pressure on GGP and Cordish and connect the Campaign for Fair Development with struggles for economic justice across the country. Check out this latest article about the campaign from Kari Lydersen from “In These Times” highlighting our National tours.

On Saturday, our friends and allies with The Poverty Initiative, an organization dedicated to raising up generations of faith leaders committed to building a movement to end poverty, will lead us in a walking Wall Street Reality Tour focusing on the people’s history of this financial and banking epicenter. Just blocks from Wall Street, the tour will end at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor! Well not exactly, it is actually called “South Street Seaport”, but guess who it is owned by? That’s right, GGP. There we’ll be joined by Domestic Workers United, ROC-NY, the Micah Institute, students from Ithaca College and others to educate consumers about the human cost of Poverty-zone development.

We are also very excited to time our tour to New York with the Living Wages NYC Campaign’s “Living Wages Weekend”, where over 60 house of worship throughout New York will preach on issues of economic justice and the need for the City Council to pass the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. This Act would require that workers human right to a living wages would be respected in all publicly subsidized developments in the city. That Sunday, we testify at two of the congregations to share our past and present struggles for Living Wages and worker dignity and the need for all of us to be involved in requiring Fair Development standards.

Well, we can’t wait. Below is a schedule of events. Feel free to join us at any point along our Poverty-zone Reality Tour NY 2010. If you would like more information or to be a part of future tours, email info@unitedworkers.org.

Saturday, October 9th

12 PM– Wall Street Tour
Meet at at Battery Park near “The Sphere” monument to 9/11

3 PM— Consumer Action at South Street Seaport
Fulton & South Streets, Pier 17

6 PM— Dinner and Fair Development Roundtable at Union Theological Seminary

Sunday, October 10th

11 AM— Living Wages Testimony at Lemuel Haynes Congregational Church UCC

5 PM— Living Wages Testimony at Manhattan Mennonite Church

By Kari Lydersen from Working In These Times

BALTIMORE—The hundreds of workers who staff crab shacks, souvenir shops, night clubs and ice cream stands in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor are accustomed to serving visitors from around the country who flock to the historic brick and cobblestone waterfront. But now these workers are visiting cities nationwide to share their demand for an Economic Human Rights Zone in the tourist-friendly area marketed as the “crown jewel of Baltimore.”

On Oct. 10 Inner Harbor workers and supporters will visit a GGP waterfront mall in lower Manhattan known as South Street Seaport, to coincide with a faith-based day of action for human rights and labor rights sponsored by The Micah Institute.

Earlier this month, United Workers members were in Chicago – joined by the local Arise Chicago Workers Center — delivering a letter to GGP’s corporate headquarters and demanding a meeting with company officials. No one from GGP met with them in Chicago and the company so far has not responded, according to Hufnagel. In coming months they plan to visit GGP malls and meet with groups involved in similar struggles in Washington D.C., Philadelphia and other cities, along with making return visits to Chicago and New York.

“It’s not just about the Inner Harbor,” said Gray. “Workers should get a living wage everywhere. We deserve it.”

Read more