Boycott

BOYCOTT SAIGON GRILL!
We Urge You to Continue to Support Until Saigon Grill Reinstates All Delivery Workers

On February 14^, 2008 the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision ordering Saigon Grill Restaurant to 1) restore its delivery service at its two locations in the UWS and in Union Square, 2) reinstate all 28 delivery workers, and 3) pay workers their lost earnings.

The delivery workers were fired in early March 2007, and have been picketing the restaurant every week for the past year to demand reinstatement. In the past year, their example has inspired countless other workers to stand with them on the picket line and organize workers at other restaurants, including Ollies’ Noodle Shop and Grille, Republic Restaurant, among others. At Flor de Mayo Restaurant on the UWS, Latino delivery workers are uniting with Chinese delivery workers in this united effort to end sweatshop conditions in NYC restaurants. Workers are now calling for a boycott of Flor de Mayo’s two locations. But when workers started to take their fight to the courts, bosses resorted to retaliatory tactics, including firings and blacklisting. This decision is an important step in the restaurant workers’ movement, and sends a message to all bosses that we will not allow them to use firing and business closing as tactics to stamp out worker organizing.

However, Saigon Grill owners Simon and Michelle Nget act as if they are above U.S. labor laws and tax laws. They continue to snub the workers, the community, and elected officials who have given many opportunities for the restaurant to resolve this labor dispute. The owners continue to cheat the workers of their wages and their tax withholding. They continue to cheat the workers and the public. Furthermore, they undermine law-abiding businesses.

We need you now more than ever!

We urge you to continue to honor the boycott of Saigon Grill until owners Simon and Michelle Nget right their wrongs and reinstate all workers.

We also urge you to continue to boycott Flor de Mayo restaurant owner Philip Chu until he pays all stolen wages.

Even at this time when conditions are worsening for working people in this country this movement amongst delivery workers is encouraging workers from different communities to come together to fight for more control over their lives. We urge you to join now to help build this movement.

To support please call 212.334.2333 or 212.358.0295 for more information.

Justice Will Be Served! (JWBS) is a campaign that unites restaurant, hotel, deli, and other service workers in different communities across New York to fight against long hours, second-class wages, stolen tips and other sweatshop conditions.

JWBS! is composed of a coalition of organizations: 318 Restaurant Workers Union,

Chinese Staff & Workers' Association, National Mobilization Against Sweatshops

Endorsed by: (list on formation) Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Senator Thomas K. Duane, Senator Liz Krueger, Senator Eric Schneiderman, Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, Councilmember Gale Brewer, Councilmember Diana Reyna, Comnunity Free Democrats, Park River Independent Democrats, Three Parks Independent Democrats, NYC Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, UAW Region 9A CAP Council, Council, Tenants and Neighbors, the Graduate Student Organizing Comittee, Union of Clerical Administrative and Technical Staff at NYU, Industrial Workers of the World.

c/o CSWA P.O. Box 130401 , New York, NY 10013-0995 ; tel: 212-334-2333; fax: 212-334-1974

NLRB Issues Complaint Against Saigon Grill!

Last Friday, September 28th, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against Saigon Grill Restaurant for violating labor laws. The complaint states that the restaurant, at both of its location, "has been interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees," who engaged in union activities and/ or protected concerted activities. Specifically, the NLRB charges that the owners and management:

1) "interrogated" workers, 2) "threatened" to close delivery department and fire all delivery workers in retaliation for organizing, 3) offered a raise in wages if workers gave up their rights to organize, 4) told workers it was useless to organize, 5) fired all delivery workers and 6) has engaged in "surveillance" of workers protesting in front of the restaurant.

The NLRB is seeking an order requiring the restaurant to rehire all of the workers; pay the workers what they are owed for the time they have been illegally barred from employment, plus interest; provide additional relief to the workers for its unfair labor practices.

The 22 workers were fired in early March, and have been picketing the restaurant 10 times a week, for the past 7 months to demand reinstatement. Owners Simon, Michelle, Richard, Leana Nget and Tony Truong have refused to negotiate with the workers and have yet to provide an explanation for the labor law violations. Instead of resolving the matter, the owners have resorted to racist slander and lies. They called all workers from the Changle village of Fujian, China, where many of the Chinese delivery workers are from originally, criminals, "thugs and gangsters." They issued flyers encouraging customers to report protesters to the police. In addition to cheating their workers of fair wages, they have also cheated the workers and the government on tax payments.

Workers call on renewed support from the NYC community to honor the boycott against Saigon Grill and to support the Saigon Grill delivery workers in demanding reinstatement.

10/4/07 NY Times Article

Victory for "Our Place" Restaurant Workers!!

Workers have settled with Our Place Restaurant!

Our Place delivery workers were the first to stand up against the industry's abusive conditions, and the inspiration for Saigon Grill workers' organizing earlier this year.

Our Place Restaurant is now the first delivery workers' victory. The details of the settlement are confidential, but workers have won back their owed backwages from working years at $1.75 an hour.

This victory is only one of many to come. Across the city, alarmed restaurant bosses continue to raise wages and shorten working hours for their delivery workers.

In the coming weeks, we must intensify the pressure and force Saigon Grill boss Simon Nget to rehire and settle with his delivery workers as well.

Read Jennifer Gonnerman's extensive article in this week's New York Magazine.

Why have so many people identified and taken up the JWBS campaign?

When you drop by the Saigon Grill picket line, you'll notice that it is not just the Saigon Grill workers picketing. Workers from other restaurants and other trades have also taken up the Justice Will Be Served (JWBS) campaign, along with youth; both have joined the Saigon Grill workers on the picket line. The JWBS campaign brings together workers across the service industry to fight similar problems. Workers from delis, nail salons, groceries have seen the limitations of uniting by trade and profession alone, and have instead chosen to unite across differences to solve common problems.

Many of these workers are paid low and illegal wages, and as a result, are forced to work long hours. Service industry workers also work under poor and hazardous conditions. For example, workers for Nail Plaza in the upper west side are forced to work without breaks, inhaling the noxious fumes from nail products.* The Nail Salon employers, Dong Park and Mou San Rim are just like Simon Nget and his lackies. Both show now regard for the workers health; both are intent on exploiting them for profit.

And it is through these similar working conditions that workers have decided to come together across race and economic demands to change their situations. In fact, the fight at Saigon Grill has inspired Latino workers from Flor De Mayo, a trendy upper west side restaurant, to come out and file a lawsuit against bosses Jose and Dennis Chu. These workers were being paid $1.25 an hour while working as both a delivery worker and a porter. This is the first time in NYC history that Latino delivery workers have sued a restaurant for labor violations. These workers were inspired to fight back after passinb gy a Saigon Grill picket line.

Workers in the JWBS campaign have seen that their commonalities overshadow their differences. While they acknowledge their differences, they see that only by coming together and uniting as workers can they overcome and eradicate racism, sexism and other forms of exploitation.

* http://bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/nyfoil-l_insaf.net/2006q4/000904.html
**http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=8&aid=71969

Party for Justice

Come party for justice! Help raise funds in support of the Justice Will Be Served! Campaign--in the presence of great music, food, and people! JWBS! is a campaign that unites restaurant, hotel, deli, and other service workers in the tri-state area to fight against long hours, low wages, and other sweatshop conditions.This is an excellent opportunity to join alongside other students and workers who are organizing to end the sweatshop system.

Recently, Saigon Grill workers were locked out of their jobs for organizing to improve working conditions at their restaurant. They have inspired hundreds of other delivery and service workers- nail salon workers, food baggers, and other restaurant workers- across the tri-state area to join them because they see how this struggle has and will impact the industry as a whole. Funds raised during this event will go directly to the JWBS Strike Fund! to support not only the present workers, but also future workers that will come out to ensure these changes are lasting.

Location: NMASS Brooklyn Workers' Center
93 Third Avenue, Brooklyn (corner of Bergen St.) N/W/R or 4/5 or 2/3 train to Alantic/Pacific Ave.

Why Do We Picket Saigon Grill?

Hello. We've decided to answer some frequently asked questions that we get on the picket line regarding Saigon Grill. This first installment addresses the burning question in everyone's mind.

Why Do We Picket Saigon Grill?

Saigon Grill’s delivery workers have been working under sub- standard conditions for more than ten years. Bosses Simon and Michelle Nget paid the delivery workers as little as 1.60 an hour while his restaurant was pulling in at least two million dollars a month. This pittance of a wage drove the workers to work over 70 hours a week. And in the delivery business, every minute on the street puts your life in constant danger. One Saigon Grill delivery worker was injured on the job, and Nget demanded that he return to work three days after the accident.

If the Saigon Grill workers were hurt on the job, medical expenses came out of their pocket. Simon and Michelle Nget also stole tips from the delivery workers, in form of ridiculous fines. Closing the door too loud would cost the worker 50 dollars, and if a customer called to complain and rush the order the worker would be fined 200 dollars.

Even if the workers found another job, the conditions would still be the same. In the delivery business, workers are often paid under the minimum wage. A woman approached us on the picket line related to us that her daughter, who is also a delivery worker, was paid 1.60 as well. Furthermore all delivery workers also face the same dangerous conditions of New York City. Earlier this year, Shi Yi Yan, a delivery worker from Hollis, Queens was shot while on the job; Ming Kuan Chen, a delivery worker from another restaurant, was trapped in an elevator for three days in 2005.

Consigned to the bottom of the ladder, 36 Saigon Grill delivery workers organized themselves and collectively demanded minimum wage and better working conditions. Simon Nget then attempted to coerce them into signing a piece of paper that said they were paid minimum wage. The workers refused, and Nget fired all of them. Instead of looking for another job, the workers decided to fight back and get their jobs back.

With the help of Chinese Staff and Workers Association, and the Justice Will Be Served campaign, the workers have filed a wage complaint against Saigon Grill. However, we cannot rely on just the law to fight for us. The workers have decided to take the struggle into their own hands, and picket Saigon Grill. The picket line, while hopefully discouraging conscious consumers from eating at Saigon Grill, also serves to share the workers’ fight with the public, something that can’t be found in a courtroom.

Saigon Grill Student Sit-In Video produced by NMASS & CSWA's Video Projects

Check out the video work in progress...

http://blip.tv/file/250049

May 4th, 2007 -- More than 200 students from eight different colleges
in New York City held a sit in and shut down the Saigon Grill
restaurant for an hour in response to its deplorable working
conditions. (11 minutes, produced by NMASS & CSWA's Video Projects)

New Sit-In Video

shot and edited by Calvin Sun from Columbia

We Need Signs

Our signs have been getting pretty beat up from the daily pickets, esp after Saturday's picket in the rain. Come to the:

Saigon Grill Sign-Making Party
Thursday 5/24 5pm @ CSWA

Join us for colored markers, card-board, glue & music!

Call (212)334-2333 for directions.

Sit-In Coverage by German Press

Shout-outs to Christina and all the students who pulled this together!

Yu Guan Ke

Interview with Yu Guan Ke, Saigon Grill delivery worker and campaign leader

Ken Kimmerling

Interview with Ken Kimmerling, AALDEF lawyer representing the Saigon Grill workers, by the German magazane Diezuender