Pizza Delivery Drivers Form Union

Fledgling Organization Composed Of Florida Domino's Drivers

(AP)  Domino's Pizza delivery driver Jim Pohle could have quit when he saw a competitor offering an extra 25 cents an hour in wages and his bosses wouldn't match it. Instead, he decided to stand up and form the nation's only pizza drivers union to successfully organize workers.

Pohle now represents 11 drivers as president of the American Union of Pizza Delivery Drivers Inc. at the franchise where he has worked off and on for more than a dozen years. Experts say he has created a model for fast food workers who want to organize in other locations.

"When they declared us tipped employees and refused to pay us the Florida minimum wage of $6.40, I was kind of angry. I came home that night and I told my buddy, I said 'We are forming a union,"' he said.

Pohle said his friend, a fellow ex-Marine, "thought I was venting steam." But the 37-year-old, who delivers pizzas because he likes to sleep late, smoke on the job and listen to the radio, got on the Internet and found St. Louis labor attorney Mark Potashnick.

Potashnick worked on failed organizing efforts by pizza workers in Ohio, Michigan and St. Louis, including those of The Association of Pizza Delivery Drivers, an earlier, failed attempt to unionize delivery drivers in Ohio and Nebraska. He coached Pohle on submitting a petition to the National Labor Relations Board, which recognized the union this summer.

Rodney Johnson, a regional director for the board, said the case appears to be the first of its kind. He has a petition pending from Pensacola-area pizza makers wanting to join Pohle's union.

Tim McIntyre, a spokesman for Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Domino's Pizza Inc., said that while the Pensacola franchise was independently owned and operated, the company was disappointed by the union vote.

"We do not believe it is necessary in our industry, and are surprised that the individual employees in that store voted to turn over their ability to represent themselves to their supervisor to someone else," he said in a statement.

Pohle's union and the franchise owner haven't agreed on wages and working conditions, he said. Apart from wages, many pizza delivery drivers nationally have discussed forming unions because they are often the victims of robbers and a union might give them more leverage to deal with police, provide training and take other measures.

In the meantime, the franchise owners have raised the pay of some drivers at their six nonunion stores, Pohle said.

Attorney Keith Pyburn, who is representing the franchise owner, said the formation of Pohle's union did not surprise his clients.

"Their company is complying with its legal obligation to bargain with the union and that process is ongoing," said Pyburn, who would not discuss employee pay.

The union could open doors for other fast food workers, said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She pointed to recent organizing efforts by Starbucks employees in New York and Chicago. The Industrial Workers of the World has members at seven Starbucks Corp. stores.

Food service workers are different from the government, auto, steel and blue-collar workers that represented the bedrock of union membership in decades past but whose union numbers are dwindling, she said. "Employers can fight very hard" with food workers because they are easily replaceable, she said.

But Mark Damron, spokesman for Industrial Workers of the World, said that is changing because older workers are taking service-industry jobs that were traditionally held by younger workers.

"As these people move into those jobs, they have higher expectations," he said. "You are going to see more agitation and expectations among middle-aged men who have been downsized and are now working as baristas or short-order cooks."

[shafteriffic]

If the fast food workers all get in a union, there might be many people in dead-end jobs (corporate jobs) that would gladly leave and go work in fast food. It is easy to be recognized as an outstanding employee and very easy to move threw the ranks to the top. This is a great thing, as long as the owners eat the added cost, which is easy to do since they make such huge profits anyway.

[nynative1340]

Yep! Unions are the major reason for the down-fall of the American automobile. Plus the difference in American and foreign (e.g. Japanese and German) work ethics in the automotive industry is appalling. The difference in quality definitely shows.

What will happen to the price of pizza and other fast food if the workers go 'union?' Who knows, but I really don't care. We don't buy a lot of fast food, and if they become union and the price goes up significantly, we won't buy any at all. The best way to fight price increases is to not buy the products or service.

[crosbystills]

I forgot to mention that a "unionized" pizza place will have to charge you $64.95 for a large pepperoni and anchovie pizza, to pay their wages!

[crosbystills]

I use to think unions were the answer for the American worker. I got fired from a job for backing the union. That was back when I was young and foolish! Now that i'm older and wiser, I started to realize that a Ford employee isn't worth $64.95 per hour. They "raised" themselves right out of a job! I think the decline of the economy can be laid squarely in the lap of the unions. It's a shame we can't trust our Government to protect the workers rights. We have to turn to unions to do that! Tis' a vicious circle! Whatever happened to an honest days pay for an honest days work? $64.95/hr to clean a toilet? Come on... My Dr. makes less!

[sharncedar]

"because if a company goes bankrupt due to increasing labor costs "

IF the union is consistent across the industry, the relative cost between companies doesn't change, it is the relative cost compared with other industries. For example, grocery union would put a few cents into every grocery shopping trip at every store, thus no one would go bankrupt. But then groceries are slightly more expensive compared with say gasoline or other low-labor commodities. I think we as a nation can afford more relatively for labor, and we save money on the oter end, for health care, retirement, welfare, education, because workers have more money.

It's all relative, the money just moves around, no one goes bankrupt, that is a corporate union-busting lie.

[newsjeff-2009]

I support what Jim Pohle has started, but in response to a comment made on this: In order for a union in the workplace to work effectively all workers must be united together. I do not agree with Bush and the entire GOP on some issues, but I do not think it is the GOP party alone that has messed up a lot of worker unions for workers in other types of jobs. Unions must understand that when politicans campaign and are looking for votes democrats and republicans will try to win votes from all workers unions large and small. I am not saying that a union worker should necessarily be a democrat or a republican but the union cannot let political parties divide them, plus unions must make reasonable demands. When a company like Ford Motor company is in trouble union workers and the company must work together and find middle ground either in the form of small wage and benefit cuts to make the company profitable again, because if a company goes bankrupt due to increasing labor costs year after year and closes it doors that means total job losses for everyone in the company and no product or services for the customers either.

[sharncedar]

Ho ho ho ... hispanics are not the freedom-loving people Bush bargained for. they are ... surprise ... generally speaking socialists and even communists in Latin America.


What a terrible idiot Bush is. He said (his quote not mine so don't call me racist) "brown people can love democracy too" or some such nonsense. Well, sorry, they maybe love socialism more.

What a dufus. Of all the people in the world to allow to openly immigrate, he chooses the last socialists and communists on earth. What a fool.