If you’re downtown today and hankering for a cheap sandwich—and if you believe in workers’ right to organize and lobby for a $15 minimum wage—you’d do well to avoid Subway. At noon, protesters will be picketing the Subway franchise located at 501 Seneca St in downtown Seattle to raise awareness about the restaurants’ alleged retaliation against a former worker for his role in this summer’s fast food workers’ rights movement.
In case you’re just tuning in, organizers with the pro-labor group Good Jobs Seattle launched rolling picketlines against Subway this week for allegedly retaliating against Carlos Hernandez, an employee who was fired from Subway in early September for giving away a 66-cent cookie to a child. Hernandez also helped lead and participate in two fast food workers’ strikes over the summer, which Good Jobs Seattle argues is the real reason for Hernandez’s termination, and which is now the source of several charges filed in federal court.
The picket lines appear to be going well, according to reports from Good Jobs Seattle and Subway employees. Tuesday’s two-hour picket reduced lunchtime traffic at the Subway on Capitol Hill (at Broadway and Olive Way) from about 100+ sandwiches sold to just three. And as Anna reported two people—Hernandez and a current Subway employee—were trespassed by police from entering the Subway for a full year.
Subway hasn’t returned numerous calls for comment.
Wednesday’s picket at 8th Avenue and Howell Street Subway also reportedly slowed lunch down to a trickle. Protesters are hoping to continue the pickets until Subway gives Hernandez his job back.
