Boycott Amy's Kitchen

In response to unionization activities, Amy's Kitchen has engaged in a vociferous anti-union campaign, which has culminated in their shuttering their San Jose factory in response to workers unionizing.

Organic frozen food company Amy’s Kitchen dealt workers another blow in an ongoing series of retaliatory actions in response to workers’ demands for safer conditions, fair pay, and a union. Last month, Amy’s Kitchen announced the abrupt and unexpected closure of its San Jose, California, facility, whose workers have been organizing with Unite Here, a union representing approximately 300,000 workers in Canada and the U.S. Workers at Amy’s Kitchen have been organizing since the start of the year and say that the company has shown a pattern of retaliation, including firing a worker after he spoke to management about his concerns, a lack of bathroom breaks, and penalties for sick days. Now, the company has escalated their union-busting and shut down an entire facility, resulting in over 300 workers losing their jobs.

………

Employees at the manufacturing headquarters in Santa Rosa have also experienced safety concerns. Over the last decade, the Department of Labor’s Office of Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined the company more than $100,000 to settle federal health and safety violations at the California location, with additional incidents at the Oregon and Idaho locations. Complaints have detailed workers getting their fingers or pieces of their fingers amputated by machinery, and others describe an employee fracturing their hip while tripping over a forklift. Most recently, workers filed a safety complaint that was opened by Cal/OSHA on Jan. 26 of this year saying they have not been given access to the bathroom or drinking water during shifts. After multiple requests to their managers for better working conditions went unheeded, they filed the complaint.

Workers have been keen to point out the incongruity between Amy’s Kitchen’s public image as a socially responsible brand that uses organic ingredients and the inhumane treatment of their workers. Grocers and co-ops have been showing solidarity with the workers and are boycotting Amy’s Kitchen products. Rosa, likewise, said she hopes Amy’s consumers will boycott the products in support of the worker’s unionizing efforts.

According to Tho Do, Northern California Organizing Director at Unite Here, the company performed union-busting activities including requiring workers to attend anti-union meetings, disciplining employees for participation in labor activities, and firing two employees for supporting the union. Unite Here is seeking a temporary injunction to stop the alleged practices.

There is a special place in hell for hypocrites who claim to be making the world a better place, and sh%$ can it all when it becomes inconvenient.

F%$# them.