NYC Bakery Workers Plan Citywide 'Day Without Bread' To Protest Immigrant Firings
NYC Bakery Workers Plan Citywide 'Day Without Bread' To Protest Immigrant Firings
Can you imagine an entire day in New York City without bread?
By Simone Wilson (Patch Staff) - April 19, 2017 2:07 pm ET
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LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS We've endured a day without immigrants, a day without women and even a day without bodegas in the name of standing up to President Trump and his policies. But can we endure a day without bread?
Workers at New York's oldest artisanal bakery who say they're facing immediate termination due to their immigration status are urging all "restaurants and consumers across the city to refrain from selling or eating bread" this Friday for what would be the city's first-ever "Day Without Bread."
https://cdn20.patch.com/users/228595...23747-6985.jpgImage via DayWithoutBread.org
Tom Cat Bakery's management previously told workers at the Queens factory that the company was being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, the protesters claim.
Now, "thirty-one workers, many of whom have been at the bakery for a decade or more, have been told they will be fired April 21 if they do not provide new employment documents," according to a statement issued by Brandworkers, a nonprofit that is representing the workers.
Tom Cat Bakery and DHS did not immediately return requests for comment.
A handful of other NYC restaurants have already pledged their support.
Colors Restaurant on Manhattan's Lower East Side won't be serving bread Friday (although that won't be too difficult as the restaurant is already gluten-free). And two Brooklyn fooderies Harvest & Revel, a catering company in Crown Heights, and Samesa, a Middle Eastern restaurant in Williamsburg will donate a portion of any bread sales they make Friday to the Tom Cat workers' relief fund. A GoFundMe campaign has raised almost $30,000 so far toward "essential expenses, like rent and food" for the affected workers, many of whom have families to support.
"There's no one available [to speak] on that issue," a woman who answered the phone at Tom Cat Bakery told Patch.
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Tom Cat has no storefront but provides baked goods to big chains like Citarella, the Darden restaurant group (which owns Olive Garden) and the Grand Hyatt hotels. The bakery is an arm of Yamazaki Baking the world's largest bread-baking corporation, based in Japan.
Bakery workers and their supporters held a hundreds-strong rally earlier this month outside Trump Tower demanding "the Trump Administration halt an ongoing clampdown by the Department of Homeland Security that threatens to tear apart families and communities."
They've since picked up an impressive list of allies: NYC Public Advocate Tish James; Comptroller Scott Stringer; Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer; City Councilman Brad Lander; the New York Immigration Coalition; the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union; Restaurant Opportunities Center-United; the Food Chain Workers Alliance; Make the Road; New York Fight for $15; and ACLU People Power, to name a few.
You can add your name to the list by signing this petition, showing up to the workers' rally Friday at their factory in Long Island City or for the city's bravest staying away from bread all day.
There's also a nationwide general strike coming up on May 1, during which workers across various industries will protest the reported spike in non-criminal deportations under Trump and the federal crackdown on America's immigrant labor force.
Our fight will not stop when we walk out of Tom Cat for the last time on April 21, Elias Rojas, a worker at Tom Cat Bakery, said in a statement. We are joining thousands of other immigrant workers across the country in a General Strike on May 1 to intensify our fight against America's cruel immigration system. Were not backing down.
https://patch.com/new-york/queens/ny...igrant-firings
