A year after 116 workers were fired from Palermo’s Pizza for trying to form a union, eight were officially re-hired this week and given thousands of dollars in back pay after the National Labor Relations Board found that the dismissals were illegal.

It’s a small victory in an ongoing dispute that carries added significance for hundreds of low-wage workers participating in walkouts at fast food restaurants nationwide this week. The striking workers are calling for wages of $15 per hour and the right to form a union without intimidation.

For over a year, Palermo’s workers’ calling card has been “No Justice, No Pizza!” Now that a handful of workers have been rehired, the employees are well on their way to a vote that would determine whether the workforce officially becomes unionized.

Palermo’s management now says they support the vote “120 percent” and will respect the decision of the NLRB, as well as the final outcome of the employee vote.

“We have called for a vote for nearly a year. It’s not new to say, ‘Let the voices of the workers be heard.’ We have said that for nearly a year. When the NLRB sets an election, whatever the workers decide we will respect,” said Evan Zeppos, a spokesperson for Palermo’s Pizza, to Mint Press News.

The origins of the struggle

The controversy began when 100 workers walked off the job June 1, 2012, after 89 undocumented Palermo’s workers were fired for lacking the proper paperwork. Ensuing demonstrations called for the right to form a union, a demand that workers say has been repeatedly denied.

“As we have said before, Palermo’s Pizza repeatedly violated our rights to join a union. This agreement confirms that Palermo used threats, intimidation, surveillance, discrimination, and retaliation to deny the freedom to choose a union voice,” said Raul de la Torre, organizing committee member of the Palermo Workers Union.

After the firings and subsequent worker protests, some advocacy groups declared their support for the striking workers, urging consumers to boycott the company until the dispute is resolved. It’s an action with national significance, since Palermo’s produces frozen pizzas that can be found at supermarkets across the U.S.

The Overpass Light Brigade and Voces de la Frontera, an immigrants right group, supported and picketed with the strikers over the past year. Petitions were even launched urging consumers and chains like Costco to sever ties with the company until the labor dispute is resolved.

“We’re asking Costco to stop carrying Palermo’s, which is basically made on the backs of workers who have been abused for a long time. Many of the workers have been working at the company for up to 10 years. They receive very low wages in many cases. They work with heavy machinery that has led to severe injuries. They can’t afford health insurance in many cases,” said Joe Shansky, a representative for Voces de la Frontera, during a demonstration last year.

It took over a year, but the NLRB finally ruled that Palermo’s unlawfully fired eight workers, including two temporary workers, in retaliation for engaging in or supporting the strike and union activity.

“The company announced yesterday that eight of 116 former workers will be rehired, actually one had already rejoined the company late last year. We are currently working with officials at the NLRB to calculate official backpay,” Zeppos said.

“To the issue of why rehire the eight. As it says in the agreement in the settlement with the NLRB, we don’t agree with the facts presented. If we took the case to court, the facts would be on our side. However, rather than drawing out the process, we decided to allow the workers to decide whether to form a union,” Zeppos added.

Something doesn’t quite add up. If 89 of the 116 were undocumented and didn’t meet federal qualifications for employment and eight were rehired, that still leaves 19 workers unaccounted for.

“I’m not going to do the math. The workers who were rehired were those who had proper documentation. The ones who won’t be rehired are those who did not qualify for reinstatement, the majority lacking proper documentation,” Zeppos said. “Many of the former workers who lack the proper documentation were important, valued employees and we regret not being able to keep them. They did a great job and we’re sorry that they had to be separated from the company. Because of the law relating to immigration status, we were really left with no other choice.”

Details of the timing and format of the election will be determined by the NLRB.

“We support this 120 percent and they [NLRB] will be ones to determine whether it is a free and fair election,” Zeppos said.

Union representatives who have backed the strikes expressed doubt as to whether a fair election is even possible at Palermo’s, alleging that union-busters within the company have created an atmosphere of fear among the workforce.

“It took much too long to get even this small bit of justice for these workers. And unfortunately, they will be going back to jobs where union busters have created such an atmosphere of fear and intimidation that a democratic election is not possible,” said Mike Bolton, director of United Steel Workers District 2, one of the unions supporting the action. “So for Palermo’s to claim they want a union election is a travesty of justice – they know that 75 percent of employees already expressed support for a union when they signed a petition calling for union representation over than a year ago, and that most of those workers – more than 100 former employees – will never get to vote because they were fired for speaking out.”

Low-wage battles carry on

The struggle at Palermo’s Pizza occurs as a record number of low-wage workers walk off the job this week, making similar demands for a fair wage and the right to form a union without fear of being fired. The action is unprecedented in the history of fast food. It is described by Josh Eidelson of The Nation as “the biggest walkout yet.” He adds in a recent article that the action could have “far reaching implications for labor.”

Salon reports that workers from 80 restaurant chain sites in Detroit and Flint, Mich., walked off the job Wednesday, bolstering strikes by workers in New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Kansas City.

“I know you’re tired of suffering,” KFC employee Naquasia LeGrand told workers a rally last Wednesday. “I don’t want to see the next generation suffering and suffering. I don’t want my kids suffering. I want to make sure they have a better future than I do.”