It Could Happen Here - Union Busting at the Doughnut Shop

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

Mia talks with Lydia and Ben from Doughnut Workers United about Blue Star Doughnut's campaign of fear, intimidation, and retaliation against union organizers. https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-blue-star-employees-fight-union-busting Follow @DWU_BlueStar See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Gracias Come Again,

a podcast by Honey German, where we get real and dive straight into todo lo actual y viral. We're talking música, los premios, el chisme, and all things trending in my cultura. I'm bringing you all the latest happening in our entertainment world and some fun and impactful interviews with your favorite Latin artists, comedians, actors, and influencers. Each week, we get deep and raw life stories, combos on the issues that matter to us,

and it's all packed with gems, fun, straight-up comedia, and that's a song that only nuestra gente can sprinkle. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the all packed with gems, fun, straight up comedia. And that's a song that only nuestra gente can sprinkle. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. CallZone Media apart and this is a putting it back together again episode yeah and i'm i'm here with two workers from donut workers united uh specifically at blue star donuts lydia and ben to talk about unionization efforts and some really terrible union busting stuff so lydia ben welcome to the show thank you thank you for having us super Yeah, I'm really excited to have you two here. So, alright, so Blue Star Donuts is a donut place in Portland for people who are not in Portland, question mark, which is probably a lot of you.

I don't know. I don't know where you are right now. So, I guess the place I wanted to start with talking about this is how did you two get involved with this campaign? You know, it's actually for me, it was right before Halloween. I went to a co-worker's house and, you know, we had some drinks and hung out. And she just sort of, you know, the conversation just sort of organically led to work and talking about work. And, you know, this is messed up at work. This is frustrating us. And then she was like, Hey, like, what's your opinion on, you know, union stuff? And I actually had, when I worked at Starbucks in Texas, I had tried to unionize my

location and it didn't, uh, no one was interested, but I, you know, they, she asked us if we wanted to sign a union card or a union authorization card and I was all for it you know um I'm very into it so that's that's how it started for me yeah so bouncing off of that it was I would say a couple of days before that Halloween party for me I'm pretty close friends with the woman who started all of this and so i was visiting her and she just kind of briefly mentioned she's like hey do you know what's going on with blue star and kind of open-ended question and you know this company almost every day something happens so i was like like, I mean, maybe, maybe not. What's going on? And she's like, well, like, are you good with unions? And I'm like,

oh, girl, of course I am. I was actually involved with a union and a previous job that was more higher end, like government board specific instead of an individual and i was like yeah it hit me what's going on and she's like okay cool we have a couple of people interested trying to unionize blue star and i was like oh sign me up like let's do this and then at that halloween party when we were all kind of gathered there, we briefly talked about it and how messed up things were, swapped stories. And it just kind of clicked that leads in my brain of like, okay, yeah, let's do this. So that was, that was my end. Yeah, it seems like it was a really a pretty quick campaign i know

you all had an election um oh god how many weeks ago was that like two we're gonna have two weeks ago yeah yeah i guess it'll be like three when this goes out yeah so that that's that's a very very quick campaign um how many people like people-ish are at the shop? Depends on if you're adding all the satellites versus the regular flagship store. I think we have 30-something at flagship, which is the location on Jefferson. And then I think there's maybe 51 employees total. Yeah, we're pretty scattered around all of Portland with one shop in Lake Oswego.

But majority of us are in headquarters at flagship. Yeah, and that's something I think is pretty interesting about this campaign and about a lot of the independent campaigns is that, yeah, it's shops that are pretty small. It's shops that are spread around and it's shops that are it's shops that are pretty small it's shops that are spread around and it shops that like you know it's shops with high turnover and i was wondering well actually i don't know i don't know i'm assuming it's high turnover because there is a lot of turnover in the satellite shops for sure i mean i would even say that there was a fair amount of turnover at flagship. You know, we had a time where in our kitchen, which is the wholesale kitchen, which makes the donut bites,

we refer to it as red kitchen. We had four people quit in four days. Jesus. Of course they didn't. Yeah. They didn't replace those people um they expected us to continue working then producing the same amount with four less people yeah but uh there were you know a lot of like poached worker like temporary workers that were coming and going while i was there and uh yeah some some pretty serious turnover that kind of happened with me last year i was working at blue star for like about eight months. Oh, it's the new year, I guess two years ago. And then I quit, I left. And then unfortunately, last year, I hit a little unemployment zone. And I'm like, I need a job. So I came back to Blue

Star for about three months. And this is when everything was going on but long story short sorry last time i was there we kind of had a little bit of turnover as well a lot of people were not great and we had a lot of meetings and got some people fired granted like ben saying, is that no one replaced them. And so it's very much of like, we have to cover them and a lot more quantity. Yeah. So has the sort of speed ups from that, was it, was that one of the main things that was driving the unionization or like what, what other kinds of things were like driving people into this there were a few things a few main things pay and inconsistency of pay was a real big issue

for instance there was a person in our kitchen who me and her started around the same time we had very similar uh previous experience none neither of us were cross-trained. We did the same exact job. She was making $3 an hour more than I was. And so that kind of thing happens a lot at Blue Star. And there's one of the biggest things for me, honestly, was the point system, what they call the point system, the disciplinary system at Blue Star, basically you get a certain amount of points that you're allowed to hit. If you go over that amount of points, you're done, you're fired. And you can get, I don't remember the numbers exactly, but it's like one point for calling out of a shift, half a point for being 10 minutes late. There's all these things that you can earn. Yeah. there's all these things that you can earn yeah

there's all these things that you can earn points for and it you know if you reach that number eight it doesn't really matter how good of an employee you are you're fired yeah and on top of that with the point system and it's incredibly unfair because you get points due to things you can't control like the weather it's very ableist yeah and uh the main issue was traffic and crashes if like a car crash happens and you're stuck in that you and you're like late to work because of it even when you like let your managers know and let your team know you still get punished for it and you get points. And that counts to the eight point total. So that was a main part of the point system that really, really had us upset and very unfair, honestly.

Well, and it's, it's very, it's a very ableist system. I mean, there were multiple people in our kitchen alone that had chronic illness issues, myself included. And mean, there were multiple people in our kitchen alone that had chronic illness issues, myself included. And there were two nights in the three-ish months that I was working there, two days where I had not slept at all the night before. And I was literally not seeing straight, like I was seeing double. I couldn't walk in a straight line. I was not okay. And there's some heavy machinery and some really hot oil in the kitchen. And I was like, I really don't think I'm safe to come to work. And they're like, that's fine. Stay home, get some rest.

But you are getting a point. What the fuck? Yeah. So a very ableist system. Yeah. And going off of that as well, the whole sick time and PTO was a mess. And when we get like paid time off, it won't even cover a whole shift. We'll be lucky to get four hours.

Yeah. Jeez. No, it's insane, really. And so I'll never forget, like, just recently, our special Christmas prize thing. Our grand prize on the 12th day was two hours PTO. Two hours. Yeah, that was their big, like, congratulations. Oh, my God. And sick time too

and they were proud of that yeah they were super proud of that we worked so hard for this you deserve this blah blah blah and with sick time it will barely cover a day and on top of that if you're sincerely sick

I got bronchitis on my birthday and I no i had to leave work for like a week and around the like second or third day my manager is like okay well for you to be excused properly you have to go back and get a doctor's note from them and to prove that you are not able to come into work and you know i could ramble on like they they don't handle covid well they're like if you can stand up you can slap on a mask and come into work and covid specifically spread so quickly there because people were so scared of not coming to work that they would get punished and get points this than the other that sick people will come into work and get other

people sick it happened yeah all the time i mean i can think of specifically we had a co-worker who you know kind of young um this was you know she was kind of getting her feet wet in the working world. And she had had some issues with illness and she came to work with strep throat because she was so afraid of getting, I mean, she literally was like in tears, like having a breakdown to the managers because she was like, I, I can't get fired. Like I, I need to keep this job. And I'm afraid that if I don't come in, I'm going to get fired. And it's, that's, that's the kind of culture they create there with that disciplinary system. Yeah. It's, it's really rough because majority of these workers rely on this job. Like this job is their income and they can't really do anything else and it's

so incredibly toxic there where they're just so afraid to not come into work because they will be punished over it it kind of goes without saying. Which means you should say it. Which is like. It is unbelievably disgusting. To literally put people's lives in danger. Because you don't want to let someone. Take like a few days off. Because they have fucking strep.

Like that's unbelievable. Yeah. Over like peace and love to Bluestar. But over donuts. Like donut bites. Yeah. We're not saying like like i i don't i don't i don't think i don't think it's okay to make like nurses go in when they're sick but like donuts like this is oh my god like oh you know as you

know who cares if we're suffering as long as they make their bottom line you know yeah it's really one of those things it's like yes like they will survive if slightly less donuts are produced like they will be fine however comma all of you are getting terribly sick because of all the shit that is that is terrible um yeah no like i laugh all the time about it and i you know my roommate and i are like best friends i come home almost every day from those shifts being like you'll never guess what happened over like the most craziest hilarious things i'm like i can't believe this is real like i'm experiencing this yeah and we are we are going to talk more about the absolutely wild stuff that happened here

uh unfortunately after we come back from this ad break that pays some of the bills question mark Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories from people, you know, follow and admire, join me every week for post run high.

It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to post run high on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into how tech's elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel winning economists to leading journalists in the field and I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong though, I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building

things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough. So join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. Hola mi gente, it's Honey German and I'm bringing you Gracias, Come Again. betteroffline.com We're talking real conversations with our Latin stars, from actors and artists to musicians and creators sharing their stories, struggles, and successes. You know it's going to be filled with chisme laughs and all the vibes that you love. Each week, we'll explore everything from music and pop culture to deeper topics like identity, community, and breaking down barriers in all sorts of industries.

Don't miss out on the fun, el té caliente, and life stories. all sorts of industries. Don't miss out on the fun, El Te Caliente and life stories. Join me for Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German, where we get into todo lo actual y viral. Listen to Gracias Come Again

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We are back. So, yeah yeah i wanted to ask about some of the other stuff that's been happening at this shop because everything that i've ever heard about it is just like i don't know just deeply weird and it's well i i guess i guess one place we can sort of start is like it seems like it's one of these places where they i don't know it has this very sort of like progressive even year around it and then when it comes time to like you know like like even sort of live up to those ideals you just get this everyone's forced to come home with COVID. Yeah. And it's, it's so funny because you walk in and, you know, there's, there's pride flags there, you know, all of the workers are,

you know, queer and cool and progressive and, you know, they're supporting the Portland Teachers Union. And yet, you know, and this story is just disgusting. We had a worker in our kitchen, actually, in Lydia and I's kitchen, who sexually assaulted two of our coworkers. Jesus Christ. Yes. These women brought it forward to management. Management victim blamed. They thanked them for keeping it quiet and not letting it interfere with their work yeah um it was not handled well that was uh specifically the the manager of red kitchen

britney bergner a lot of just really like callous and inappropriate mishandling of that situation yeah and it was really disgusting yeah it was disgusting and i was so so grateful that i wasn't there when this happened because i would literally tore this man apart but the thing with that manager is that him and her got along really well and what i've heard i wasn't there. I heard that there was some favoritism towards him. And so when these allegations came up, that's when she got, she mishandled it a lot. And it was not dealt with properly at all. And it seemed very much swept under rug, kind very much so yeah he did nobody talked about it yeah he did get fired eventually but eventually that's the main thing yeah it wasn't handled right

away and the you know the effect it had on these women that came forward that this happened to i mean i i hung out with them outside of work where they would talk about, you know, what happened and how it was handled. And like, you know, they were sobbing. They were, you know, their lives were torn apart over this. I mean, it's a very serious thing as you know, all we all know to be sexually assaulted and then, you know, to have it treated this way by someone who's in a position of authority over you it's you know i i can't help but keep using that word disgusting it's just it's inhumane and honestly like that's blue star yeah especially by a company that reaches how open and awesome and close family we

are and then behind the scenes they're actually mistreating their workers literally every single day so it's it is it is disgusting i have no other word to describe it yeah i mean that's like someone sexually assaulting you and then them not being fired means you can fucking run into them at your job which is like the fucking just absolute nightmare shit that is like the worst fucking shit that can happen we all worked in the same kitchen we all worked in the same kitchen so we were guaranteed

to see each other for most of the day every day and it's like you know you expect these women to go to work and stare at this guy and you know talk and laugh with this guy who assaulted them like that's crazy yeah that's absolutely fucking terrible and i hope i hope like i hope fucking like some shit happens to these people because like god oh yeah don't worry we got him banned from some bars because his classic thing is drugging drinks. Jesus Christ.

So we read the word and got flyers and I'm pretty sure he's banned. I know for sure two bars, but I think others as well. I'm not sure. Yeah. Yeah. Don't get me wrong. I will definitely go out of my way to destroy a man's life yeah and so i i guess like you know with with just like the absolute fucking horrifying shit going on and also with youtube

like you know people doing organizing outside of the workplace to go after these people uh it makes it makes a lot of sense that you know the unionization campaign has been going um and i wanted to ask i wanted well i guess i wanted to talk about sort of the vote and the stuff leading up to the vote and the things that happened to youtube because oh my god yep yeah um you know we we had our vote on january 17th there were seven votes that were left unopened that were challenged by Blue Star management. Three of them because the employees were no longer active employees and four of them for

honestly just like completely bullshit reasons. They had to get a new envelope. They were there before the vote, but like seven minutes after the cutoff that, you know, that Blue Star wanted, one person had to get a new ballot. And, you know, it's like, these are technicalities that really should not prevent someone from having their vote counted. And so we, as DWU Blue Star, objected to six of those challenges. The four that were very ticky tacky for obvious reasons and obviously that was the weekend that was the week of the big snow uh snowstorm as well we should talk for people who weren't in portland for this okay so the city of portland this is the thing i have heard

i am a chicagoan so like i grew up in snowstorms right but the city of portland like this is i get this this is this is this is the this is the the Mia rants about the city of Portland for about five minutes thing, because, oh my fucking god, the city of Portland does not actually substantively do any kind of, like, street clearing. They don't do salt, they don't really, I think they might have, like, two snow plows,

and this means that, you know, when it, for example, snows, and then the temperature goes back up above freezing, then it goes back down below freezing. The entire city is covered in a sheet of ice, and this lasts for days and days and days and days. It is terrible. I came

into Portland, like, in the middle of this, like, you walk three steps, and you're just going flying on this ice. It is terrible. It is dangerous to drive. It is dangerous to walk. It is dangerous to scoot on your dangerous to walk it is it is dangerous to scoot on your butt like terrible i i don't know like if you did this in chicago if if the city of chicago failed to clear the streets sufficiently that this was happening the government would be

would fucking collapse in a week uh portlanders you deserve better i personally would have preferred snow like six feet of snow over yeah a half inch of ice the ice is insane the whole entire city shuts down and it's it is incredibly dangerous for sure and the city does not prepare for it the city like landscape itself is not prepared for it and yeah it's awful i tripped and fell like three times within a week and my roommate and i were literally locked into our house for days like four maybe five days we could not leave and on top of that we had to turn our water off like it was a whole nightmare so many so many people lost power um so many people's like yeah and the nlrb building itself was shut down for i don't remember how long but it was shut down and so it was it was shut down for most of that

week leading up to the vote our vote vote was on a Thursday and I think Thursday was the first day that the actual office was open. There might've been some people there on Wednesday, but the office itself was closed. The, you know, Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So that it was closed, closed. But, you know, I tried to take, you know, I, in my little hatchback with two, two wheel drive hatchback, tried to, to drive across Portland to take people to the office to turn in their, their ballots. And, uh, cause we were doing a mail-in ballot, but some people had left it at the last minute, you know, as human beings do. And, um, we, we get, you know, we, we drive across this ice and snow, we get to the NLRB office,

there are security guards in the lobby, and they say, we can't go up there, it's closed. I'm like, okay, what about tomorrow? They're like, we don't know. We'll be here, but we can't guarantee that the NLRB office will be here. I call up our rep at the NLRB, Michael Moles, and I say, hey, what's the deal? When can we drop these off?

And he goes, well, actually, you can drop them off when we're not there. You can slide them under the door. As long as it's the person, as long as the person whose ballot is being turned in is turning in the ballot. You can't send someone else to do it for you. So we go back up on Wednesday and get some turned in.

And at this point, the people who wanted to turned in. And, you know, at this point, the people who wanted to turn in on Tuesday, they've got, you know, they've got work, they've got other things going on. They have to find a time to get in. So we're going like Thursday morning, Thursday afternoon, right before the vote. And that's why all of these votes were, you know, missing things or, you know, a little bit late is because the whole city was shut down for half a week almost a week and things got you know messed up yeah like the the fact that the city of portland doesn't does not like refuses to buy snow plows and doesn't know that you can use beet juice as an anti-ice thing like the fact that the the fact the fact that the fact that the city leadership

is utterly incompetent like should not should not be a reason why your union vote doesn't your votes don't get counted that is absolutely absurd it's also like you know i mean like okay like i i get like it the the responsible thing to do during this storm was to close and a lot of places were fucking open and that is a disaster but the fact that the nlrb is closed and all the freaking workers are still having to go to work is like just oh god oh well and i i emailed or i called um michael moles again our rep at the nlrb and i was like hey like this is kind of unprecedented like can we push the vote out like a week um just to make sure that everyone can safely get their ballots in and he told me in no uncertain terms that we would not be doing that

um he gave me this you know long speech about how hard it is how how difficult it is, how, you know, we have to get all these permissions. And I, you know, I'm fairly new to all the legal avenues and legal parts of union stuff. And so I didn't really have a counter argument. So I was just like, you know, throw my hands up. Okay, whatever. We'll do our best. Well, at the time, people are literally risking their lives. Yeah. And to drive cars, they're risking their cars, they're risking their lives. Yeah. To vote. And people drive cars. They're risking their cars. They're risking their lives trying to get these votes in. So that's why this appeal to these challenges are so important that it's not fair if we don't count in a full ice storm and the actual building being shut down. You have to account for it. So like all these things matter and should count.

And that's why we're really pushing that these votes be counted. Well, and two of the votes were people who had quit. And one of those was Lydia. And she was straight up intimidated into quitting. And Lydia, if you want to talk about it. Oh my gosh. Okay. So I use this word pretty

loosely but the more i talk about the more it's true um they forced me to quit point blank period yeah um they pulled me into this meeting where um at blue star they have these every 30 day check-ins and meetings to talk about like how you're doing and how's the work etc so on our 90 day check-in we are promised a raise after working here for 90 days and but first we have to go through a whole meeting and this whole spectrum one through five, they rate you on different topics. So I come in and not only is my manager there, but HR and our head chef is there. And last time I did a 90 day that didn't happen it was just my manager so immediately I'm like what is going on this is weird and um we went through the normal stuff until chef interrupted and brought up my schedule so at the time time, I was working two jobs, Blue Star and another bakery.

And before any of this, I checked in with my managers and chef to make sure that this was possible and okay to put me from full-time to part-time at Blue Star. And they're, they were thrilled. They're like, Oh, that's so great for you. Congratulations. Yes, we can totally work with you. This is not a problem at all. I'm like, okay, great. Awesome. And so they brought up my schedule. And they're like, so we're going to change some things with Red Kitchen. And we're going to change some things with red kitchen and we're going to change production times and we're going to bump everything up a couple hours totally fine okay i get it and i said i'm like okay well you know i work until 1 p.m so um you know i'm not available to be here until like two. And apparently that was an issue because my schedule, my availability is no longer working for them,

which doesn't make sense because a closing shift still exists. And I'm, I told them like, you can use me. I am part time. You can use me for like four hours closing. Like I am okay with that. And they shut me down.

Chef kind of clicked her teeth and was like, you know, that's not really worth it for us. And what are you doing over the holidays? Because this is right before our Christmas break. And I was kind of confused. I was like, oh, nothing. I'm just at home. what are you doing over the holidays? Because this is right before our Christmas break. And I was kind of confused. I was like, oh, nothing. I'm just at home. And she's like, okay, well,

you should really take this time to think about your future here with us. And like, kind of looked at me, like stared at me. And I'm like, what? Like, I, what do you mean and she's like you know we're changing some things around here and we don't want to get rid of you we don't want to fire you but you should really think about your future here and really leaned in and emphasized that and kind of like everyone was kind of like looking at me as if like hey we want you to quit but we're not allowed to like say anything like that and I asked my manager I

was like it kind of sounds like you're not giving me any options here what am I supposed to just leave and they looked at each other and they look back at me like you know we can't really say one thing or the other so you know we need your decision by the first and I'm like what I it was very it was very tense it was very weird and awkward and I was very confused because I never thought my job was on the line. I never thought it was going to be jeopardized. And I kept offering them different options. I was like, put me in front of house. You know, last year I was trained, I was actually supposed to be a manager in our other kitchen, but they kind of screwed me over on that that's a

whole different story um like i know how to handle purple kitchen put me there like i'm okay going from one job immediately into here to save time and with every single option i was giving them they shut me down and would not work with me at all and so and then on top of that they extended my 90-day period and from doing that i was no longer allowed to get a raise and yeah like you have to finish 90 days and you get a raise. And I'm like, period. That's the policy. Everybody knows that. But because my 90 days was extended, like probation period, I was no longer allowed to get a raise. And what's funny is they extended my 90 days as well.

I can talk about that more later. But it's just odd because Red Kitchen, our kitchen, which at that point was made up of, I think, six people, all local union supporters wore buttons every day. Yep. We were the most vocal people about it. We wore union buttons every day. We like, everybody knows that like, we were firm believers standing up for this union. we were firm believers standing up for this union. And that kind of segues into the furlough situation where they all shut down our kitchen. Our whole entire team, our six people, vocal union supporters, suddenly no job. It's incredibly messed up.

And we're going to come back for more unbelievably messed up stuff after this ad break. Hey, guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast Post Run High is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens.

So if you love hearing real inspiring stories from the people, you know, follow and admire, join me every week for post run high. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy and very fun. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, better offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel winning economists to the leading journalists in the field and I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting

worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough. So join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. the game. If you love hearing real conversations with your favorite Latin celebrities, artists, and culture shifters, this is the podcast for you. We're talking real conversations with our Latin stars, from actors and artists to musicians and creators, sharing their stories, struggles,

and successes. You know it's going to be filled with chisme laughs and all the vibes that you love. Each week, we'll explore everything from music and pop culture to deeper topics like identity, community, and breaking down barriers in all sorts of industries. Don't miss out on the fun, el té caliente, and life stories. Join me for Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German, where we get into todo lo actual y viral. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And we're back. Going back to the votes that were challenged, the other person who quit was one of the main organizers. She was the, her and one other person were the people who kicked off all of the organizing at Blue Star. Basically, they changed around her schedule so much to force her into quitting. She was very stressed with school. Just the way that they kept messing with her

made her quit. Basically, she was afraid that she was going to be fired, so she went ahead and quit. And so that was that other challenged vote. But yeah, the furlough situation is wild. And I also got my probation extended. I actually filed an unfair labor practice because of that. Because the reason they gave me for extending my probation was that i was bringing the their words on paper bringing the vibe down by complaining about working conditions bringing the vibe down by complaining about working conditions conditions this is how ridiculous this company is like the most absurd reasons where i'm like this must be the truman show like this is not real where are the cameras well and first of all

complaining about working conditions is a federally protected act yeah i can do that and i cannot be punished for that it is against the law, which is why I filed the ULP. Second of all, the reason I was complaining is because they had taken us down from three to four people opening shifts to two. And the way two people work, yeah, the way two people operates for opening shift in Red Kitchen is one person is mixing the dough and loading it into the fryer. And that is a constant thing. You mix batches for four hours, back to back to back to back to back. And the other person has to stand at the end of the conveyor belt and take the glazed bites off of the conveyor belt and put them onto trays.

This is a nonstop job. You cannot even walk away for a few seconds. And when, you know, typically like the best practice that was done the entire time I was there up to this was that you did not do that position for more than an hour because it was physically difficult to stand in one place like that and do that and do those repetitive motions. And two, it's like fucking psychological torture because you're in the corner of this room. You're not speaking to anybody. You're literally just staring at your own hands. I mean, it's, it's not like nobody likes to, they call it catching. Nobody likes to catch.

nobody likes to catch. And I was doing this for up to three hours a day, uninterrupted. And I have sciatic nerve issues with my leg. And I, you know, I made them aware of this multiple, multiple times. I cannot catch for more than an hour at a time. And you know what I was doing? Catching for three hours every day. They're just trying to injure you. That's what I was. Yes. And that's what I was complaining about. I was doing? Catching for three hours every day. So they're just trying to injure you. That's what I was. Yes. And that's what I was complaining about. I was saying I'm in pain. I'm literally having to go on muscle relaxers every single day because of the effect that this is having on me physically.

Like I, I can't sleep at night because my leg is so tense and it's in so much pain from fucking catching these donuts and putting them on trays. It's insane. And so, you know, they're yet they're panel, penalizing me for having the gall to voice the fact that what they're doing is literally ruining my quality of life.

Really? And going off that every single issue we bring up to management, they have the tone of like well that sucks that's a bummer deal with it and literally yeah literally just like okay and we're like okay fix it because we are human beings with nerves and bones and we cannot stand on our feet for this long. Like it's wild. It is. And, you know, that kind of also segues into the furlough thing that we were all very vocal on union support.

You know, I had filed at this point two ULPs because of the extended probation and because they suspended me for three days for something that was absurd. And I had filed two ULPs and this came like right on the heels of that second ULP. We had Christmas Day off and I had taken the next day, the Tuesday off. So I was visiting family in Dallas

and I believe everyone else had that Tuesday off as well. And we come back on that Wednesday and we're working a regular shift, but halfway through the shift, they say, okay, we're having a red kitchen meeting. Everyone come into the office, which that had never happened before. We'd never had an all kitchen meeting like that. They pull us in and we're all looking at each other on the way in like, oh fuck, what are they going to do? Are they going to reduce our hours? Are they going to fire one of us? What's happening? And we get in there and head chef Stephanie Thornton says, okay, so we've had

an issue happen. What's happened is our distributors have told us that they are returning a bunch of our product. Some of it's expired, but most of it is just fine, but it's nearing its expiration date, so they're returning it. I'm saying that, okay, sounds fake, but okay. And then they say, unfortunately, because of this, because we don't have space in our freezer to continue to put product in the freezer, to continue to make product and put it in the freezer, we are having to put you guys on indefinite furlough. We don't have a return to work date. We don't have a plan for bringing you back. We asked, those of us who are cross-trained, can we work in other areas? Can you cross-train those of us who aren't so that we can work up front or work at a satellite

store? They are literally hiring for satellite stores, but they furloughed us and we were asking, can we do these other things? And they said, no, point blank, no. So all of a sudden, and they said no. Point blank, no. So all of a sudden, six people who had jobs a minute or two ago, all of a sudden we're facing, for me personally, I'm facing homelessness. That's the reality. And our two shift leads, they are a couple and they live together and that is their entire income.

Yeah. And it's just, on a kind of more personal note, it's wild. And maybe this is me being a little bit naive, but it's wild to have spent months in company with these people and have them pretend to care about me. Yeah. And then have them do something that quite literally puts my life in danger, especially because I had just signed up for healthcare with them. Um, and I have multiple chronic illnesses. I, I have to go to doctors

regularly and all of a sudden I'm like, holy shit, my life has completely changed in 30 seconds. You know, this is the day after Christmas. What the fuck? My life has completely changed in 30 seconds. This is the day after Christmas. What the fuck? Yeah, the day after Christmas, we were given two days notice. Jesus Christ. So they said, in two days, starting on January 1st, you don't have a job and we don't know how long. But we'll let you know if we ever are going to do production again. We can bring you back even just for a little bit,

which they didn't. They started up production again, and we were not told or called in or anything. So I want to touch a little more on our shift leads for a second. Yes, they are a couple. They live together, but much like them, they are basically, they're facing houselessness as well and luckily they do have another roommate who can somewhat cover them but that can't last forever yeah and just the other

day i had to run them groceries they can't afford anything and it's it's a huge fuck over for them because they love they are so passionate about this job and like they rely heavily on it and they got their pay raises and their higher positions and more responsibilities and to be so betrayed like that from a company white literally destroyed them our uh shift lead he had a full breakdown and stormed out and walked out and it affected them so heavily and so emotionally and so mentally and they keep trying to you know find other jobs and you know still in contact just yesterday they sent me a screenshot of them talking to chef and being like hey is there any updates is there you know any way we can come get our job back? Because,

you know, we're still waiting for you to tell us literally anything. And chef said, oh, we don't know. We can't give you an answer right now. And just kind of brushed it off. And one thing that's particularly insulting is that they ended this meeting with us where they were telling us we were losing our jobs by giving us a sheet of paper on how to file for unemployment in Oregon. And the thing with an indefinite furlough, if you don't have a return to work date, then you have to jump through the hoops of applying for jobs in order to get unemployment. So if you have a return to work day and it's within four weeks of the day that you got furloughed, you can get unemployment for that time and you can just hang out and get unemployment. If you don't have a return to work day, you have to treat it as a layoff and you have to be making conscious efforts to job hunt every single week. You have to record those efforts. If you get

an interview, you have to take it. If you get a position offered to you, you have to take it. And it has to be in the field that you got, that you got furloughed from. And there's all these very specific rules and it just makes it incredibly difficult. You know, all these hoops you have to jump through. It's dehumanizing. It's fucked up. Um, and it's insulting.

There was no support other than that. If you call that support, there was no severance package. There was no like short in the meeting. They're like, yeah, sorry guys, this sucks.

But like, it just didn't feel real. Like this whole situation was not empathetic at all and and like obviously you know you can tell their excuses bullshit because like okay like let let's say what they were saying was real that like okay they got a bunch of stuff returned they don't have room in their freezers it's been a month they should now there's no way that they now still do not have room in their freezers. Like, what? Well, and here's the kicker is that we were for maybe a month, maybe over a month,

really since we filed the union petition, since we handed them the petition, we had ramped up production even though we were in the slow season and we were not actually like the the bites that we were making were not ordered by anyone we were just putting we were making extra to put in the freezer not only the freezer but they rented a whole entire warehouse we have a a blue star warehouse. So this is their strategy. Yeah. So they, they did this,

you know, I don't want to say they did this on purpose, but it is suspicious to me that they're, that they're building up these, these, you know, um, bites in the freezer when they didn't need them,

when they didn't have orders for them. And now all of a sudden, Oh, we don't have room in the freezer. We have to let you go. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Oddly convenient. It is. It is. orders for them and now all of a sudden oh we don't have room in the freezer we have to let you go you know oddly convenient it is it is and that

really ramped up when we gave them the union petition November 17th yeah which is just really very blatant retaliation it is yeah and I have filed an unfair labor practice for, it's what they call a lockout for us being furloughed.

And like you said, it really is blatant, especially given that even walking into that meeting, all of us were wearing our union buttons. Why would you lay off an entire department especially when that department is what is keeping your business afloat like that is the money maker for blue star is those wholesale bites and we've been told that all the time it's like these donut bites make the money so make that make sense then why are you shutting down that money maker and the other kitchen and front of house are like are still there still doing production like not touched by this at all

yeah and that's one of these things you get with employers all the time where it's like well okay so employers very very clearly and obviously know where the money is made they know exactly where the money is made literally up know exactly where the money is made. Literally up until the moments that you start asking for more of the money you're making them, at which point suddenly like, oh, who knows where money comes from? Like it's not from workers. Yeah. Yeah. So you have no money, even though the CEO has like at least three Teslas.

Totally. Oh, my God. least three teslas totally oh my god yeah like katie pope can't take a little bit of a pay cut so that you know we can all keep our jobs and you know survive uh it's wild yeah and like and i mean this is one of the other things too is that like businesses you know this is this is the the way capitalism works is that business businesses would rather fucking lose money than have their employees have slightly like not be in debilitating pain not be sick and get slightly more money yeah it is crazy to me because it this whole you know they're they're hiring all these lawyers to to you know you know handle the the union stuff i'm like

you shut down red kitchen you hire these lawyers you're doing all these efforts and i'm like you would have saved so much money if you just recognized our fucking union like that's how easy it is you know and not only that we have what five shops in portland we have a shop in LA as well Los Angeles where prices are extravagant like they have money we know they have money and we are honestly at the point I'm at the point of show me your books show me prove to me that you do not have this money because then that will be a different discussion like it's just it's frustrating it's typical corporate business and i i'm over it and the i'm over it for how they treat me i'm over how they treat my friends my team it's it's ridiculous and they should know better, honestly.

Yeah. Yeah. So is there anything else that you two want to make sure you get in? Maybe just the GoFundMe. Yeah. Yeah. How can, how can people support you and support the union? Yeah. So we have a GoFundMe set up for the six furloughed workers to provide a month's worth of income, two weeks for the employees who quit early.

It's called Help Blue Star Employees Fight Union Busting. Right now, we're at just under $1,000. Our goal for all six of those people's incomes for a month is just under $16,000. comes for a month is 15,000, just, just under 16,000. You know, I, I don't know if we'll ever reach that goal, but you know, the, as much as we can get is great because right now, you know, I'm surviving on cereal. Uh, I know that the shift leads we were talking about earlier, you know, they're getting groceries from Lydia. Um, people are struggling. Yeah. Yeah. I was definitely in my survivor era on rice and beans. It was, it's really tough. And, you know, it is a big goal. Realistically, it is. But, you know, not to sound desperate or anything, but truly every little bit helps. If you can really only afford five or 10 bucks, we'll take it. That is, we're so grateful for anything. And it's people's lives. It's literally people's lives.

Multiple people are facing not being able to have a roof over their head because of this company. So truly, any little bit helps. Yeah, so please go help them out. I don't know. It's just really, brutal too and especially like again like this is also a fucking terrible time like there's there's never a good time to like be at risk of losing your home uh winter is especially fucking bad for that there yeah so there there's so many there are so many sort of terrible compounding things that these union that these union busting companies are sort of relying on to screw over and intimidate and hurt the people who make them all their fucking money so well and that's what

it did it scared a lot of people into unfortunately voting no it scared a lot of people who were really involved you know in the organizing process to step back and and you know not respond to our text messages and not continue to advocate for the union um it you know that us getting furloughed really fucked with our whole union campaign so yeah go go go give go go give these workers your support they They really need it. And one thing, again, that we need to emphasize is that this is illegal. They legally cannot do this. But this is one of the things

that is fucking hard about union organizing is that the law, assuming the law does ever fucking catch up to these people people it takes time and yeah there is one little thing i do want to make sure people know about because we just found this out pretty recently while we were doing shop visits they have jars uh for tips that say tips are shared with the kitchen they're not not. What? Yeah, that's not true. That's not true.

We saw no tips. And there was an instance where we accidentally got tips. And one by one, we were sent to the back to sign a form saying, this was an accident. You are not getting tips. Sign this. And they took our tips away. Oh my God.

It's not, it's not fair. And on top of that, they're lying to the public. They're lying to their customers. That kitchen is game tips when we're not. Yeah. And I will say,

um, in addition to the, the go fund me, we do have, uh, you know, if you're not able to support monetarily, we do have a Twitter and an Instagram,

uh, where we post updates. If you want to follow along with our progress and see how our election goes and everything. It's just on both Twitter and, or excuse me, X and Instagram. It is at DWU underscore Blue Star. Yeah, we'll have links to all of that in the description. Awesome. Word of mouth is really the biggest thing. to all of that in the description awesome word of mouth is really the biggest thing even going off again like if you can't support us financially you can just share the gofundme your friends

family whoever and just spread it out there yeah and so go go go do that um yeah go help any way you can and yeah go go go fight your own bosses because they're screwing you like they're screwing you in very similar ways to what's happening here too yeah and this has been Nickitappinhere you can find us at twitter and instagram at happenherepod and you can find more close-up media shows at

close-up media yeah go go go into the world and make life worse for people who do terrible stuff Go into the world and make life worse for people who do terrible stuff. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, visit our website, coolzonemedia.com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It Could Happen Here updated monthly at coolzonemedia.com slash sources. Thanks for listening. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about.

It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German, where we get real and dive straight into todo lo actual y viral. We're talking música, los premios, el chisme, and all things trending in my cultura. I'm bringing you all the latest happening in our entertainment world and some fun and impactful interviews with your favorite Latin artists, comedians, actors, and influencers. Each week, we get deep and raw life stories, combos on the issues that matter to us, and it's all packed with gems, fun, straight-up comedia, and that's a song that only nuestra

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