https://twitter.com/LUIS_GOMEZ_/status/597200541937184768

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/21/immigrant-bronx-workers-fair-wage-battle

                                             APRIL 16, 2015

                                              APRIL 15, 2015

http://www.norwoodnews.org/id=17641&story=underpaid-restaurant-workers-stage-protest-outside-place-of-employment/

Channel 12-Bronx-Liberato Campaign 

http://bronx.news12.com/news/former-workers-protest-at-liberato-restaurant-over-unjust-labor-conditions-unfair-pay-1.8406837

Kenny Bakery Campaign

Inwood Bakery Worker Was Paid Pittance for Grueling Shifts, Lawsuit ClaimsInwood Bakery Worker Was Paid Pittance for Grueling Shifts, Lawsuit Claimsox >>

Popular Democracy: Paid Sick Days in Newark, and the city council vote

"Hot and Crusty Workers Land Their Own ‘Occupy Bakery’ Documentary”: New York Observer

"Immigrant workers at a bakery on the Upper East Side who successfully challenged their employers over unfair work conditions will have their story documented in an upcoming film."

July 16, 2013

“Hot and Crusty Film Featured in the New York Times”: Waging Non-Violence

"As the debate over immigration reform continues in Washington, the victory of one group of mostly unauthorized workers is now in the national spotlight — demonstrating a direct-action path that unauthorized workers across the country could adopt to win rights both at work and in broader society."

July 16, 2013

"Occupy Bakery": New York Times

"Today, when the fastest growing job sectors are retail and food preparation, the struggles of low-income workers and their families matter more than ever. Turning these jobs into living-wage jobs while fixing our broken immigration system would lift millions out of poverty and benefit our entire economy by increasing consumption and tax revenue. Mr. López’s story is part of a growing wave of low-wage and immigrant workers organizing across New York City and around the country that has the potential to spark this kind of change."

July 15, 2013

“Dirty Dishes: The Laundry Workers Center Aims to Make Another Workplace Cleaner”: In These Times

Dishes workers reach out to The Laundry Workers Center to create a workplace justice campaign to better conditions at the 45th street location.  "Dishes employees, part of a committee organizing with the Laundry Workers' Center...call for their colleagues’ reinstatement and a fair settlement for what they say are years of owed overtime pay."

Reposted in The Bell

June 7, 2013

“NYS Minimum Wage Coalition Praises Path to Raise for Tipped Workers, Condemns ‘Walmart Tax Break’ ”: Press Release put out by the NYS Minimum Wage Coalition

“Labor, business, community, religious and policy groups from around the state reacted to the agreement by the legislature and Governor Cuomo to increase New York’s minimum wage over the next three years, as part of the state budget being voted on this week.”

March 28, 2013

“New York State Minimum Wage Coalition Welcomes Reported Agreement to Raise New York’s Minimum Wage”: Raise the Minimum Wage

 March 18, 2013 

“A New Face of the New Labor Movement”: Waging Non-Violence

"Last month, Lopez and his co-workers at the Hot and Crusty on 63rd St. won a suspenseful and highly atypical 11-month labor campaign. The battle pitted 23 foreign-born restaurant workers, supported by a volunteer organizing center and members of Occupy Wall Street, against a corporate restaurant chain backed by a multimillion dollar private equity investment firm. The campaign itself was filled with enough twists, betrayals and finally triumphs to be the subject of an upcoming documentary, Cafe Wars. Yet the story of Mahoma Lopez’s own year-long evolution from an employee to an organizer exemplifies the new, dynamic direction of the U.S. labor movement that appears to be on the brink of resurgence."

December 1, 2012

"Ex-Hot and Crusty Workers Win Battle Uptown, but Still Fighting Downtown": The Local East Village in collaboration with the New York Times

The new owners of a former Hot and Crusty on 63rd Street have agreed to rehire employees who picketed the store this summer. But the battle isn’t over at a former Hot and Crusty on 14th Street, where at least one worker claims management continues to threaten employees.

November 30, 2012

“Hot and Crusty Bakery Workers Seal the Deal on Unionization”: Yes!

"After 55 days on the picket line, the workers of the Manhattan restaurant and bakery Hot and Crusty celebrated a precedent-making collective bargaining agreement at a rally and press conference Friday, November 16."

November 26, 2012

"Hot and Crusty Workers Return to Work With a Union and 3 Year Contract": NB Media Co-op

“After a two-month campaign to protest the August 31 closing of the Hot and Crusty restaurant/bakery on 63rd Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan, workers announced that they have come to an agreement with the new ownership of the store, following several weeks of negotiations with investors Anthony Illuzzi and David Kaye.” 

November 21, 2012

"Historic Victory for Immigrant Workers”: Workers World

"The slogan “Dare to struggle, dare to win” was validated Oct. 26 when the courageous immigrant workers in the Hot and Crusty Workers Association (HACWA) won a hard-fought, 11-month struggle for a collective bargaining agreement. After a 55-day strike at the H&C store on East 63rd Street, the workers won a precedent-setting three-year contract that includes a wage increase, paid vacation and sick time, union hiring hall, and seniority, grievance and arbitration procedures."

November 2, 2012

“NYC Unions Back Hot and Crusty Workers at Labor/Immigrant Rights Solidarity Rally”: The Internationalist

"On Thursday, October 18, one hundred union, immigrant rights, student and community activists came out to the “Labor/Immigrant Rights Rally in Solidarity with the Hot and Crusty Workers.” Midtown Manhattan’s rush hour was the backdrop to a boisterous outpouring of support to the immigrant restaurant workers who have been on the picket line for 50 days after the old owner closed the 63rd Street restaurant on August 31st in reprisal for the workers organizing their union, the Hot and Crusty Workers Association.

October 19, 2012

“Victory at Hot and Crusty: New York's low-wage workers continue to organize”: The New York City Independent Media Center "This is a historic victory for low-wage and immigrant workers and would not have been possible without the grassroots organizing of the Laundry Workers Center and a broad coalition of support, including Occupy Wall Street, various labor unions, workers centers and community-based organizations."

September 12, 2012

“Hot And Crusty Bakery Employees Go From Lockout To Victory In One Week”: The Village Voice Blogs about Labor

"In one of the most remarkable underdog stories in recent labor history, 23 low-wage restaurant workers at a Hot and Crusty Bakery location on the Upper East Side have won a surprising victory. The bakery's owners closed it August 31 after the workers successfully formed a union, but the workers fought back, briefly taking over the bakery on its last day and maintaining a 24-hour picket and street cafe through the following week. Saturday, it was announced that new owners had taken over the bakery, and had signed binding promises to repoen the bakery within 15 days, rehire its workers, recognize their union, and institute a hiring hall, giving the workers control over the hire of new employees."

September 10, 2012

“ ‘Hot and Crusty’ Workers Show the Way”: The Internationalist

"A groundbreaking and potentially historic step forward has been taken by immigrant workers in NYC’s food industry with today’s announcement by the Hot and Crusty Workers Association (HCWA) that bakery workers on Manhattan’s Upper East Side have prevailed against an employer lockout aimed at stopping their unionization drive."

September 8, 2012

“Restaurant Union Workers Win Historic Victory in New York City”: AlterNet

"The restaurant workers who were fired and locked out of their store for organizing a union have won after a week of escalating protests outside the Manhattan cafe.  Saturday afternoon, the owner declared that he had bowed to the workers demands to repoen the store, rehire all the workers and recognize their newly formed union, an insppiring labor victory at a time when many are attacking the power of unions."

September 8, 2012

“Bakery Workers Occupy Hot & Crusty When Owner Closes It Down Rather Than Allow Union”:  The Village Voice Blogs about Labor

"Friday was the last day that the Hot & Crusty bakery on 63rd and 2nd Avenue was scheduled to be open. Instead, employees and their supporters took the store over briefly Friday afternoon before police moved in, emptying the shop and arresting six people. The owners had announced their intention to close the shop two weeks ago, shortly after a supermajority of the 23 employees, working with the Laundry Workers Center, voted to form an independent association and filed with the National Labor Relations Board."

September 1, 2012

"Occupying a Union-Buster": Labor Notes

"Protesters occupied a Hot & Crusty restaurant in midtown Manhattan on Friday, August 31, to prevent the owners from busting the newly formed Hot and Crusty Workers Association by shutting down the store...Last May, workers voted to form the Hot and Crusty Workers Association after months of organizing with the Laundry Workers Center to try to win the most basic improvements in pay, benefits, and working conditions."

August 31, 2012

"New York Bakery Workers Fight Closure, Occupy Store": Labor Notes

"Workers at the New York City bakery Hot and Crusty...storm[ed] one of the chain’s Manhattan locations this afternoon—and refus[ed] to leave. The occupation came 11 days after owners announced they were closing the 63rd Street store. Workers condemned the closure as retaliation for union organizing...The mostly immigrant workforce was joined by dozens of activists from Occupy Wall Street and the recently formed Laundry Workers Center, occupying the Upper East Side store for two hours before police ejected the occupiers."

August 31, 2012 

“A Building ‘Lost in Translation’ ”: Translated to Voices of NY; originally printed in El Diario La Prensa

"A language barrier may be partly to blame for dangerous and unpleasant conditions at an Inwood apartment building, El Diario La Prensa reported. The Cantonese-speaking landlord has racked up 421 housing code violations, and tenants complain about leaking water, cracks in ceilings and windows, and a cut off gas supply. City officials say the landlord’s very limited English may account for her confusion about city regulations."

June 7, 2012

“Workers Win Historic Election for Union Representation at New York Restaurant Chain Hot and Crusty”: Infoshop News 

"Workers at the 63rd street location of Hot and Crusty restaurant voted yesterday to certify an independent union, the Hot and Crusty Workers Association, with 20 of 22 eligible employees submitting their vote at the National Labor Relations Board."

May 29, 2012

“Workers Win Union Representation Election at New York Restaurant Chain 'Hot and Crusty' ”: Fight Back! News

"Workers at the 63rd Street location of Hot and Crusty restaurant voted May 23 to certify an independent union, the Hot and Crusty Workers Association, with 20 of 22 eligible employees submitting their vote at the National Labor Relations Board.”

May 24, 2012

“A Disaster Waiting to Happen: HPD’s Proactive Preservation Program Saves Derelict Buildings One at a Time”: The New York Observer

"It’s been six weeks since the apartment building at 2 Thayer Street in Washington Heights had gas or hot water—ConEd shut it off as a safety precaution because of leaks in the pipes. The walls are cracked, pieces of plaster crumble from the ceilings and as of a week ago, the 47-unit building had 94 open violations with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development...'The building is dirty all the time, we don’t have gas, many times we don’t have water, we can’t cook,' said Rosanna Aran-Rodriguez, who lives in the building with her husband Virgilio Oscar Aran and 10-month old son. Mr. Aran is the founder of the labor organizing group the Laundry Workers Center, which has taken up 2 Thayer as a cause."

August 31, 2012

“Residents of Run-Down Thayer Street Building Demand Relief”: Manhattan Times

“No electricity, no heat, and walls that fall apart. These are the conditions the tenants at 2 Thayer Street are living in. Con Edison has cut off the light and electricity to the building ‘for their own safety,’ as reads a sign placed by the management in the lobby...The building is scheduled to undergo a thorough HPD inspection and evaluation in the coming weeks, according to Mustaciuolo, but this visit was one of the first steps in getting the building back on track. 'It's a little soon to know until we've done our inspections, and in two weeks we will know exactly what we can do with the building,' said Mustaciuolo. 'This is step one of the push by HPD to correct all violations.' "

May 2, 2012

“With Eyes On May Day, OWS Allies Escalate Against Jefes”: Raising Non-Violence

"[Workers from Hot and Crusty] launched a successful organizing campaign with the help of the Laundry Workers Center. Now, as they continued to push for negotiations, the team was expanding to other restaurants to put pressure on the owners."

April 19, 2012

Entrevista con Laundry Workers Center: Movimiento Independiente de Trabajadores llevó

An interview with Mahoma Lopez regarding Hot and Crusty and the Laundry Workers Center.

April 3, 2012

The Next Recruiting Campaign!

The Organizing Task Force is conducting 500 surveys to understand the working conditions of laundry workers in Newark and New York City.. For information on how you can help, call (646) 801-8592!