PRESS RELEASE: Boise DSA to Provide Solidarity Funding to Local Workers Protesting Unjust Treatment
Boise DSA Contact: Alex Rinehart
Phone: (208) 481-4679
Email: alex.rinehart@protonmail.com
Pie Hole Workers Contact: Miles Ranck
Phone: (208) 353- 3022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Boise DSA to Provide Solidarity Funding to Local Workers Protesting Unjust Treatment
Boise, Idaho, June 30, 2020--- Boise DSA, the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, voted unanimously to provide funding in support of protesting workers who were unjustly terminated at Pie Hole on Broadway. As members of the largest socialist organization in the United States, we support workers as they pursue a living wage and democratic controls in the workplace.
On June 24, 2020, the workers of Pie Hole Broadway made an official statement asking the business owners for a $3 essential worker raise and more decision making power. “As the impact of COVID-19 continues to hit our community, it is vital that our essential workers are justly compensated and receive fair treatment in the workplace” Alex Reinhart, Co-Chair of Boise DSA said Tuesday. “That is why we are supporting these workers.”
When the Pie Hole owners received the demands the workers were met with hostility. Instead of meeting to address the demands, the owners ordered the workers to train new hires. After refusing to train their obvious replacements, two-shift leads were fired and asked to leave the property. In a show of solidarity between the workers, the vast majority of Pie Hole employees voluntarily resigned.
We at Boise DSA are outraged at the Pie Hole owner's response. Reinhart explains “Every day, workers sell their time and effort to create the things we need to live and thrive. Now more than ever, it is clear that the blood, sweat, and tears of those who prepare our food are essential to our community and that the value of their work is far higher than what the market-determined.”
After being unjustly fired, Pie Hole workers are now demanding to be rehired and the meeting of original demands to occur with the owners. We at Boise DSA stand firmly with these workers and our unanimous vote to provide solidarity funding to the Pie Hole workers is just one step of many we are willing to take. We support the workers of Pie Hole Broadway as they demand what is due to them as workers and as human beings: economic and social democracy.
We are proud of Boise DSA and Red Republican faction members involved in the organizing process. Socialists will always be at the forefront of the class struggle. We encourage everyone to donate to their solidarity fund: https://donorbox.org/worker-solidarity
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