EZ Supply workers in Queens NY vote to unionize with the IWW
Submitted on Thu, 02/09/2006 - 1:30pm
The Industrial Workers of the World chalked up another victory in an NLRB election on Thursday, the ninth of February, at E-Z Supply Corp., a wholesale distributor of restaurant supplies and foodstuffs, located in Queens, New York.
The nominal vote was close, with sixteen votes for the union and fifteen against, but the "no" votes included six office workers whom management inappropriately tried to include in the bargaining unit. Among the warehouse workers, fork-lift operators, truck drivers, and helpers who make up the unit petitioned for by the union, the vote was sixteen to nine. The votes of the office workers were challenged by the union, but given its clear victory, the union will most likely forgo those challenges and welcome the office employees into the organization as Fellow Workers.
Union members in the shop demonstrated admirable self-discipline and solidarity, and were jubilant at the success of their organizing efforts. The New York City General Membership Branch is grateful to all the members of the I. W. W. at large, Se Hace Camino al Andar/Make the Road By Walking, and of the New York community, who have donated money, time, and talent to this campaign. This is the second shop in New York's foodstuffs industry to line up with the I. W. W., and there are many more to come.