Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Belly General Store (A Second Victory??)
Some of you are, undoubtedly, familiar with ASOL's first fight against Belly General Store (http://atlsolidaritynetwork.blogspot.com/2011/04/asol-vs-belly-general-store.html) - many of you were involved in putting pressure on the store. The solidarity network has been contacted about the restaurant twice since then - a testament to the resilience of the ruling class in their war against all that seeks to live peacefully. Essentially, the worker (now a key organizer in the Solidarity Network), was not getting paid what she was owed in a timely fashion. We put pressure on the bosses for just 3 days and they caved. Some 3-ish weeks later and we received another call from an employee at Belly General Store. She expressed that she had not been paid in a month and was prepared to take action. Nothing became of this call, but we hope that the worker has gotten what they wanted! Now, there has been a third complaint against Belly General Store to ASOL. P., a chef, had heard of ASOL from the moment he sought employment at Belly. Upon Google searching the store's number, he found our website and read the story about our fight over the workers missing wages. Immediately filled with anxiety, he was prepared for the worst. After some time of employment (at least 41 hours), no discussion about payment had been satisfactorily discussed. Unwilling to wait to be taken advantage of, Peter began asking management about it - and they gave him sly half-answers. Without further hesitation, Peter called the ASOL phone number and left us a message. The weeks secretary contacted P. who was relieved to relay the good news: he had called DJ (the owner of Belly) and told her that he had contacted ASOL and was prepared to act if they didn't pay him immediately. Acquiescent and respectfully, they paid P. very swiftly!! P. put special emphasis on the fact that they were very respectful and kind to him at this point - illustrating that the specter of another fight with ASOL had had sweeping affects on the way the business was being run. Although some of us are not confident that Belly General Store is going to change for good, and we would love to have been able to fight them again, we are overjoyed to hear that the power of the people has materially benefited a fellow worker. THANKS TO EVERYONE IN ASOL AND CONGRATULATIONS ON PUTTING THE FEAR OF COLLECTIVE DIRECT ACTION IN THE EMPLOYING CLASS OF BELLY GENERAL STORE!!! -ASOL
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tentative Win!
The Atlanta Solidarity Network stepped it up today for what may very well be our last action against Belly General Store. With supporters phone blasting both the shop and the owner’s cell phone and members of ASOL outside flyering, E. received a call from her former boss saying “If I pay you now, will this end.” A clear indicator that ASOL communicated exactly what we intended to. E. has been paid what she was owed in back pay today. We’re very excited about our first win and terribly emboldened to take this project as far as we can. We are calling this a tentative win because E. is owed one final pay check for her last week of work which will be due this Friday. We hope Belly General Store doesn’t make the same mistake twice.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
ASOL vs. Belly General Store DAY 2
Some ASOLers went passing out fliers today outside of Belly General Store again, and also outside of Key Lime Pie Hair Salon - which is owned by the same woman as Belly.
Posters were also posted up and down the street decrying the exploitation of the workers at Belly.
Several people were deterred from entering Belly General Store after reading the fliers - so we returned to the store with tip money for the workers who may have lost out on some.
The manager attempted to kick us off of the sidewalk - which is a laughable misunderstanding of free speech.
Police showed up just as we were leaving.
Clear contempt for free expression.
You are the Atlanta Solidarity Network.
Send us an email to get involved.
Posters were also posted up and down the street decrying the exploitation of the workers at Belly.
Several people were deterred from entering Belly General Store after reading the fliers - so we returned to the store with tip money for the workers who may have lost out on some.
The manager attempted to kick us off of the sidewalk - which is a laughable misunderstanding of free speech.
Police showed up just as we were leaving.
Clear contempt for free expression.
You are the Atlanta Solidarity Network.
Send us an email to get involved.
Monday, April 25, 2011
ASOL vs. Belly General Store DAY 1
Belly General Store has not met our demands - that E. be paid what she is owed within 48 hours as well as explanation on the money missing from the lackluster paycheck she did receive.
Today, Monday, April 25, we begin our mobilizing campaign.
For starters, we went out to Belly during the lunch rush and passed out fliers to everyone who walked by. A few people stopped and talked to us about it and even more people walked away closely examining the harrowing facts on the sheet.
At one point, an employee came out to yell at us on behalf of her bosses' interests: she told us that we could not pass out fliers to people walking by and that she was going to call the cops if we didn't leave. Naturally, we laughed - encouraged now, if not a bit confused.
If E. is not paid by the end of the day, we will continue mobilization tomorrow with further escalation.
We would love for you to help.
Today, Monday, April 25, we begin our mobilizing campaign.
For starters, we went out to Belly during the lunch rush and passed out fliers to everyone who walked by. A few people stopped and talked to us about it and even more people walked away closely examining the harrowing facts on the sheet.
At one point, an employee came out to yell at us on behalf of her bosses' interests: she told us that we could not pass out fliers to people walking by and that she was going to call the cops if we didn't leave. Naturally, we laughed - encouraged now, if not a bit confused.
If E. is not paid by the end of the day, we will continue mobilization tomorrow with further escalation.
We would love for you to help.
ASOL Delivers Demand Letter to Belly General Store
http://atlanta.indymedia.org/local/atlanta-solidarity-network-makes-their-first-demands
http://www.archive.org/details/AtlantaSolidarityNetworkMakesTheirFirstDemands
On Friday, at roughly 7:30pm, E. and 9 other ASOLers went to Key Lime Pie Hair Salon to deliver a demand letter to the manager of Belly General Store.
The letter delivery went smooth and was, we feel, crucially effective at getting the attention of the bosses.
The letter describes the dissatisfaction E. feels with the mistreatment from management and demands that she be paid all she is owed within 48 hours, as well as an explanation about the mysterious "-$98" that appeared on the only paycheck she did receive (which was $563 short) - she hasn't filled out tax forms, so where did this money go?
9 people show up in less than 30 minutes notice to help someone fight their boss? Very inspiring.
http://www.archive.org/details/AtlantaSolidarityNetworkMakesTheirFirstDemands
On Friday, at roughly 7:30pm, E. and 9 other ASOLers went to Key Lime Pie Hair Salon to deliver a demand letter to the manager of Belly General Store.
The letter delivery went smooth and was, we feel, crucially effective at getting the attention of the bosses.
The letter describes the dissatisfaction E. feels with the mistreatment from management and demands that she be paid all she is owed within 48 hours, as well as an explanation about the mysterious "-$98" that appeared on the only paycheck she did receive (which was $563 short) - she hasn't filled out tax forms, so where did this money go?
9 people show up in less than 30 minutes notice to help someone fight their boss? Very inspiring.
ASOL vs. Belly General Store!!!
The Atlanta Solidarity Network has decided to take on our first fight!
E., a cook at Belly General Store, came to ASOL because she had not been paid in her whole first month of employment.
After weeks of complaints and attempts to resolve the issue in person, email, and phone E. was finally paid....but only for her first week of employment!
They did not pay her for the first pay period, and nobody at the store got paid at the end of the second pay period until 4 days late.
The paycheck E. did receive had a strange"-$98" at the bottom of it - ostensibly for taxes, but the store hasn't even had E. file tax information yet! Where is that money going?
Belly General Store does not provide employees with a schedule; everyone is expected to be on-call 7 days a week.
We are prepared to fight this mistreatment and we would love for you to help!
E., a cook at Belly General Store, came to ASOL because she had not been paid in her whole first month of employment.
After weeks of complaints and attempts to resolve the issue in person, email, and phone E. was finally paid....but only for her first week of employment!
They did not pay her for the first pay period, and nobody at the store got paid at the end of the second pay period until 4 days late.
The paycheck E. did receive had a strange"-$98" at the bottom of it - ostensibly for taxes, but the store hasn't even had E. file tax information yet! Where is that money going?
Belly General Store does not provide employees with a schedule; everyone is expected to be on-call 7 days a week.
We are prepared to fight this mistreatment and we would love for you to help!
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