Striking workers peacefully picketing at Insomnia Cookies, Harvard Square, MA, have been attacked and arrested by the local police.

Picketers were asked to stop using a PA system, which they did, but were then attacked for no apparent reason. IWW member, Jason Freedman, was ‘punched and bloodied before being ‘thrown onto the trunk of a car’. The strike action started in mid-August when the entire nightshift decided to walk out until their demands for job stability, healthcare provision, adequate breaks, and union recognition, were met. At least two of the strikers have been dismissed after the union-busting bosses discovered they are members of the IWW.

Jason Freedman was subsequently charged with disorderly conduct, assaulting a police officer, and resisting arrest. The police operation was in response to false claims by the store bosses that the pickets had been causing an obstruction.

The following is some background to the dispute via Boston IWW:



“The public struggle at Insomnia Cookies in Harvard Square began at

midnight on August 18, when the entire four-person night shift voted to

initiate a strike for higher wages, healthcare, and freedom to form a

union. Peña, Mendes, and co-workers Chris Helali and Luke Robinson—whom

since moved out of state—closed the shop, contacted the IWW, and began

holding pickets and building connections with Harvard and BU student

organizations. Pickets have since spread to the new Boston University

store.

Workers claim Insomnia has a bad track record when it comes to following

labor laws and fairly compensating their employers. According to the

demand letter, “for months prior to the strike, workers employed as

‘drivers,’ had not received minimum wage. Also, employees often did not

receive the 30 minute meal break for shifts longer than 6 hours, to which

they are entitled by MA State Law.” Drivers, who deliver cookies by

bicycle until 3 A.M., and rely on tips to pad their $5 and hour wage,

complain the company has unrealistic expectations of delivery times, and

pressure from management causes unsafe riding and accidents. What’s worse,

according to the union, “Insomnia does not give paid time off when drivers

get hurt on the job, and instead blame them for the accidents.” The

company doesn’t offer health benefits to the workers either.

Before the strike, the average turnover rate for a local Insomnia employee

was only three weeks. The droves of Boston-area Insomnia workers who have

recently quit the job, as well as the firing of the company’s regional

manager—in part due to his inability to keep his stores staffed and

functioning—attest to the aptly-named Insomnia work environment. Insomnia,

which has 33 locations on college campuses across the US, sustains itself

only by exploiting students two-fold: as employees, where they are

underpaid, barely trained, and overworked, and also as consumers, where

they are sold frozen cookies at unjustifiably high prices. In order to

hold Insomnia accountable and to end the company’s reprehensible labor

practices, IWW members are encouraging workers nationally to join the

union, and if they are planning to quit already, to go on strike.” Quote:

NO JUSTICE NO COOKIES!!!!

Should you wish to contact Henrietta Davis, Mayor of Cambridge to tell her what you think about the police, then feel free – mayor@cambridgema.gov

To read much more about the dispute and to keep updated - http://iwwboston.org/