IWW Burgerville Workers Set to Launch Strike This Saturday

Fast food workers at Burgerville and members of the revolutionary anti-capitalist union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) say that if Burgerville corporate does not agree to their demands, they will launch a strike starting Saturday, October 19th, bringing to a close nearly a year and a half of ongoing contract negotiations and the birth of the first recognized fast-food labor union.

In late September the union wrote:

Over the last 15 months of contract negotiations, Burgerville has cancelled and cut short bargaining sessions. At times, they’ve shown up without a single counterproposal. They’ve brought to the table first very little, and then nothing at all on wages. Meanwhile, we and our coworkers can’t afford to keep waiting, and we’ve been bargaining and working on the contract with this sense of urgency.

Union members and their supporters have continued to put pressure on the company to meet their demands. In late September, “workers delivered a full draft of a union contract to the Burgerville Corporate office in Vancouver, backed by community support.”

In early October, “faith leaders gathered to send the message that the community is watching closely, and prepared to join the picket lines as soon as time runs out.” Then, on Friday October 11th, a picket was held one week before the final contract deadline.

In the lead up to the strike however, Burgerville has attempted to stifle support for the union, by offering workers a one dollar wage increase.

As the union reported:

Today, during contract negotiations, just days before the union-imposed deadline to strike this weekend, Burgerville corporate announced a unilateral change to its wage policy, offering all workers a $1.00 raise beginning on December 30th, 2019. While this might appear on the surface as a concession to the Burgerville Workers Union, which has been fighting for a living wage for over three years- in reality, this move by corporate is a desperate attempt to undermine worker organizing efforts.

This is not a real raise, then, but a marketing ploy. Within minutes of taking a break from today’s negotiating session, Burgerville sent out a company-wide email announcing the new policy as an act of corporate benevolence- the way Burgerville tells it, the union had nothing to do with these changes, neither as the instigator or a collaborator.

Aside from this being a shady attempt to co-opt the union, today’s proposal merely amounts to offering the state-mandated minimum wage increase six months early. After July 1st, 2020, starting wages at Burgerville will revert to only $0.25 above the minimum wage, effectively wiping out any significant pay increase. After July, wages will go back to the status quo — the same status quo the union has been fighting to change for years.

Let us be clear. This is a desperate, last-ditch effort to avoid a strike. Burgerville is trying to pacify workers with an insubstantial raise that will be rendered meaningless in six months. Our message to Burgerville corporate is that we won’t be pacified. We remain prepared to escalate, and we are ready to strike.

As a full on strike looms, the Burgerville Workers Union is calling on supporters to mobilize for a demonstration on Saturday, October 19th. The union wrote in a statement: