Break Assignment

Social Change: Social Issues in My Community
The GB Restaurant is the second largest restaurant in Chinatown. Its only competitor is the JF restaurant next door. Both restaurants are dim sum restaurants. Instead of serving cover rice and noodle soups, they serve Hong Kong style dim sum. Many Chinese families like to enjoy breakfast in these dim sum restaurants. They get pot of tea, and order dim sum served in little baskets, and talk.
The GB restaurant opened about a year ago. There was a lot of publicity surrounding the event. AM 1480, the most popular Chinese radio station in the northeast, broadcasted the opening ceremony. Twelve lion heads danced in front of the restaurant.
Everyone in the community is excited about the event. Ever since SP restaurant closed a year ago, everyone was forced to go to JF. Since JF has no competitor, quality of the restaurant's service slowly declines. Food started tasting bad; prices are going up. There are many smaller dim sum restaurants in Chinatown, but seniors who wake up at 6am always clog them up. Many young people arrive at around 9am. By then, there are usually no more seats.
JF has over 100 tables and has a larger selection of food. Not only do Chinese people eat there, so do many tourists visiting Chinatown.
So when GB opened, many people are excited about the idea of having another dim sum restaurant. Ever since its opening, GB's business is growing. Right now, GB's popularity surpassed JF's
However, every weekend, in front of GB, there will be a small group of protesters with handmade signs in both English and Chinese. These demonstrators are telling people to boycott GB. They said this restaurant discriminates against union workers.
These union workers are from the 318 Restaurant Workers Union. They used to be waiters at the SP restaurant, located at the same plot of land as GB. SP is one of the oldest dim sum restaurants in Chinatown. It closed down one and a half years ago. The union workers told me about the reason they closed. I talked with one of them. He would tell me his name because he doesn't want any publicity. He worked at SP for more than 7 years. He said, "The job was good before the management became corrupt. We waiters and busboys get our salary from the tips we collect. When we clean up the tables, we put the tips money into the tips drawer; after the restaurant closes at night, the tips in the drawer are counted and then distributed among the workers." The trouble started when some managers decided to keep a portion of the tips for themselves. "At first, we noticed that our tips pot is smaller than before. We suspect something's up. But we didn't say anything because we wanted to keep our jobs. We are pretty old, and not much people will hire old people. So we kept silent. But as weeks go buy, our tips pot continued to get even smaller. Back then, each waiter's share of the tips is about $150 a day. Now it is only $60. We have to pay rent and eat." So the workers decided to talk to our union leader about this.
When the workers confronted management about this, their pleads were ignored. "We talked to them about it, but they act like they don't know what we are talking about."
The union then decided to take legal action against SP. But the restaurant closed few weeks later. All the workers were laid off. "I didn't know what to do. My families depended on my job. I am old and don't speak much English. It's hard to find a job in Chinatown with disabilities like this. I joined the union for job security."
What the workers didn't expect was that the closing of the restaurant was just a maneuver to get rid of the union workers. The same management reopened the restaurant again. "We thought they closed it for good. But once we saw the name of the new restaurant, we felt humiliated. Do they think we are stupid?" The name of the new restaurant is New SP Restaurant.
So the union organized the workers and started to protest in front of the restaurant. At first, no one noticed them. But they then thought of an excellent idea. When the restaurant host events like birthday parties and weddings, the restaurant usually decorates the front door. The union workers watch for this signal, then they bring a cardboard coffin and an altar. They set up in front of the door and make it look like a funeral. When people are walking in to the parties, it seems like they are walking to a funeral instead. To Chinese culture, this is bad luck. Parties like these are what keep the restaurant in business. So when people want to host parties, they don't want to host it at New SP because of the bad luck outside. New SP filed bankruptcy a few months later.
Now, the same management opened up the restaurant again. This time it is called GB. On the day of job interviewing, many of the 318 RWU workers went to apply for a job. But they were screened and denied access. Now, the workers continue to protest in front of the restaurant, regularly setting up the mock funeral.
This is the situation right now between the workers and the restaurant. This has been going on for more than a year. This campaign is called Justice Will Be Served! (JWBS). It is sponsored by the 318 RWU, the Restaurant Workers Committee of the Chinese Staff & Workers Association (CSWA), and the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops.
The workers are implementing a very effective method in trying to get the restaurant to comply with the worker's demands. They are using the dilemma demonstrations to get their message out. If the restaurant owners try get rid of the workers, they are violating the rights of the workers since the US law values the rights of people. The sidewalk is public space, and the worker's right to protest is protected by the Constitution. Yet if the restaurant doesn't get rid the workers, customers will avoid the restaurant because sit in a place where people are protesting outside (except W). The union recently filed a lawsuit against the former company that runs SP. They recovered $500,000, and won the right for every individual worker to sue the company and the employer. They are still fighting for more compensation.
A very effective method to get people to hear your message is to broadcast it through a celebrity or politician's mouth. The difficult part is to first convince those influential figures to be on your side. In March of 2006, Ma Ying Jeou, the chairman of the Taiwan Kuo Min Tang political party, visited NYC. The organization responsible for taking care of Ma while he is here decided to host a party at GB. The 318 RWU sent a letter to Ma, informing him of the situation, and tell him to not go to that party. But the party went on anyway. Even though the workers were protesting, lions danced and welcomed the political figure into the restaurant.
Even though they failed with Ma, another figure is Hu Jin Tao, the president of China. He is visiting the US right now, and is a very influential. The union can get in contact with him and ask him to speak for them.
Violence can get you in the news pretty easily, but you will be labeled as a bad person. The union workers can try and burn the front doors of the restaurant. They can vandalize the property by spraying messages on the walls. A few audacious workers can walk in to the restaurant as a customer and start trouble, like spitting in the dim sum carts. This can make people avoid going to the restaurant.

Excerpts translated from Chinese.
Why are you here today?
We are protesting against the unlawful practices of the GB restaurant. We have been picketing for over 6 months, telling people to boycott the restaurant. Wu is breaking NY labor laws. We are here to fight for our rights.

What did GB do?
Philip Wu, owner of GB, discriminates against union workers. We weren't allowed to apply for jobs there. They called the union an illegal organization. They called the workers an evil group of people. One time, they even hired people to threaten some of our workers.

Do you think your actions are successful?
We think we are doing all we can do. We have the right to picket here. We are telling people about how this restaurant is breaking the law. GB collaborates with the East Bank to exploit workers. All they care about is profit. They don't care about the workers.

Did you work at SP? What happened?
I used to be a waiter there. It was a good job, and I am protected by the union. But then the management starts stealing our tips. At first, I didn't want to speak up because I want to keep my job. But as time goes on, I couldn't stand seeing my earned money get stolen. So I talked to my union leader about it. But they lay off all of my fellow union workers. Now, they opened up the restaurant again, but refused to hire any union workers. This is their attempt to exploit workers more easily.

How are you supporting your family right now?
I get unemployment insurance from the government, but that's barely enough for rent, food, and bills. I get some money from the union. Right now, I try to save as much as possible. I tried looking for another job. But Chinatown these days have a lot more people. Many of them are younger than me and they speak English. Chinatown is a tourist place, and speaking English is beneficial. But I don't speak English. Plus being so old, I can't find a job anywhere. Employer don't want an old guy who don't speak English.