Immigrant Workers Prevail in Workplace Justice Campaign
at Brooklyn Hummus Producer
Brandworkers
Posted by dsalaborblogmoderator
Talking Union
Democratic Socialists of America Blog
May 19, 2012
http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2012/05/19/immigrant-workers-prevail-in-workplace-justice-campaign-at-brooklyn-hummus-producer/

Large settlement and code of conduct represent biggest
victory yet in Focus on the Food Chain campaign to
improve New York City's food processing and
distribution sector

New York, NY- After enduring a withering worker-led
campaign, Flaum Appetizing, a prominent producer and
distributor of hummus and other kosher food products,
has accepted a global settlement which will return
$577,000 in unpaid wages and other compensation to
workers and subject the Brooklyn-based factory to a
binding code of conduct protecting workplace rights.

The victory comes after the workers' group, Focus on
the Food Chain, in partnership with Orthodox social
justice organization, Uri L'Tzedek, persuaded over 120
grocery store locations in New York City to stop
selling Flaum products, including its Sonny & Joe's
hummus, until workers' rights were respected. The win
is the biggest yet for Focus on the Food Chain, a joint
effort of Brandworkers and the NYC Industrial Workers
of the World, dedicated to creating good jobs and a
sustainable food system in New York City's food
processing and distribution sector.

"More than anything, I want fellow workers in the food
factories and warehouses to know that there is real
power in coming together and struggling together," said
Maria Corona, a Focus on the Food Chain member and
Flaum worker who had been illegally fired. "We won the
respect we deserve and you can too."

Flaum Appetizing entered 2012 hobbled by the labor
dispute. In addition to getting Flaum products off
grocery store shelves, workers organized rabbinical
delegations and an international day of action to
persuade Tnuva, the world's largest kosher cheese
brand, to discontinue its relationship with Flaum.
Tnuva, owned by private equity giant Apax Partners, was
distributed to New York supermarkets by Flaum and
constituted a significant portion of Flaum's revenues.

In January, the National Labor Relations Board in
Washington, D.C. ruled against Flaum's attempt to make
discriminatory immigration status allegations against
the workers who are from Latin America. The decision
set an important precedent for immigrant workers
nationwide by erecting procedural safeguards in cases
involving the landmark anti-immigrant Supreme Court
case, Hoffman Plastic.

"New York City's food processing and distribution
sector could help lift the economy with good jobs and
provide healthy, local food with a smaller ecological
footprint," said Daniel Gross, a workers' rights'
attorney and the executive director of Brandworkers.

"Instead, the business model in this critical part of
the food supply chain increasingly relies on cutting
corners and exploiting immigrant workers of color. With
their exemplary victory, the Flaum workers have shown
that abusive workplaces in this sector can be
transformed through organizing, grassroots advocacy,
and litigation."

Flaum maintained deplorable working conditions for over
a decade. Workers were subjected to massive wage theft
including a failure to pay overtime and at times the
minimum wage, for grueling work weeks as long as eighty
hours. Workers faced discrimination and abuse including
anti-immigrant insults from senior management. When
workers demanded payment in accordance with the law,
seventeen were illegally fired. Though Flaum lost an
NLRB trial over the firings, it had resisted compliance
with cynical and unfounded allegations about immigration
status. This global settlement resolves both the NLRB
retaliation litigation and a large federal lawsuit over
unpaid minimum wage and overtime.

"We are grateful to the grocery stores and Tnuva for
standing up for the rule of law and supplier
responsibility," said Rabbi Ari Hart, co-founder of Uri
L'Tzedek. "The Torah calls on us to fight for justice.
Many rabbis and community members stood with the
workers of Flaum and will continue to energetically
support an ethical food system. We are pleased that
Flaum has done the right thing and are heartened that
it has emerged as a better company."

New York grocery stores and restaurants are
increasingly dependent on an industrial corridor of
food processing factories and distribution warehouses
that hold down wages and safety standards through
pervasive legal violations. Wage theft, discrimination,
and health & safety hazards are common in the sector
which employs 35,000 workers, most of whom are recent
immigrants of color.

Focus on the Food Chain challenges these unlawful
conditions with grassroots organizing, worker-led
campaigns, and legal actions. The campaign is working
towards a food processing and distribution sector that
provides good jobs and contributes to a sustainable
local food system.

Brandworkers is a New York-based non-profit
organization protecting and advancing the rights of
retail and food employees. By training workers in
social change tools and facilitating member-led
workplace justice campaigns, Brandworkers promotes
employer compliance with the law and challenges
corporate misconduct in the community.

Founded in 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World is
a grassroots labor union dedicated to member-led
organizing and workplace democracy.

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