Pastis Drops Wild Edibles, in response to IWW lockout

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20071011045816563

By Stephanie Basile

October 08, 2007

Pastis, a trendy restaurant in Manhattan's West Village, recently signed an agreement with Brandworkers International to no longer use Wild Edibles as a seafood distributor. Brandworkers, a nonprofit that promotes workers' rights, had been putting pressure on Pastis to drop Wild Edibles.

In August, five workers from Wild Edibles joined the Industrial Workers of the World to demand better working conditions. With the help of Brandworkers, the workers brought a lawsuit against Wild Edibles for wage and overtime violations. Shortly after, Wild Edibles owner Richard Martin fired the five workers.

The IWW was gearing up to hit Pastis with weekly flyerings, but when Pastis caught wind of the planned actions they decided to go forth with the agreement in order to avoid the wrath of the union.

The agreement applies not only to Pastis but to five additional restaurants owned by Pastis - Balthazar, Schiller’s, Morandi, Pravda, and Lucky Strike. Together these reataurants account for about 10% of Wild Edibles' business. The restaurants will no longer use products from Wild Edibles until the dispute is resolved.

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