Pizza Delivery Drivers Form a Union

[NVMojo]

(I can't blame them)

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) -

Eleven Domino's employees hoping to make a little more dough and get a bigger slice of the profits have formed the nation's first union of pizza delivery drivers.

The American Union of Pizza Delivery Drivers won recognition from the National Labor Relations Board over the summer as the bargaining agent for drivers at a Pensacola franchise.

The union organizing drive was started by Jim Pohle, a 37-year-old Domino's driver who said he delivers pizzas because he likes to sleep late, smoke on the job and listen to the radio.

"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.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/invest-corp/2006/sep/22/092204732.html

[Mojambo]

1. Good for them! n/t

[truthisfreedom]

2. that's great, but as pizza prices go up, tips might tend to go down, so

be careful what you wish for!

[NVMojo]

5. actually, I disagree. They can afford to pay minimum wage ...crap!

When I lived in Elko, my boys drove for Dominoes and made about $10.00 an hr plus tips and that was around 1997. One was held up at gone point while making a delivery in 2001. The other one was working at the local Dominoes when someone walked in after hours and gunned to death the owner/manager and his assistant manager. That same son was held at gunpoint in Reno about 5 years later during a stickup onsite.

So if a Dominoes could pay $10 an hr plus let the worker keep their tips in Nevada about ten years ago ...what's their excuse down in Florida today?

[truthisfreedom]

6. the problem being, the pizza joint owners may not be willing to give up

profits, so they'll increase prices instead.

[NVMojo]

8. ...agreed!

[Lefty48197]

10. What will they get? $3 per hour raises?

How many pizzas do they deliver in an hour? 5? 10? Big deal. The price of a pizza goes up 30-60 cents. Where I come from, a unionized pizza delivery crew would result in more sales for the franchise, because other unions would encourage their members to shop at the union pizza shop.

[sandnsea]

14. How much is your pizza?

A large Pizza Hut meat lovers, how much is it where you live?

[expatriot]

35. No this is a anti-union myth. Higher labor costs don't equate higher price

Just because labor costs increase does not mean the business will increase prices proportionally.



Pizza pricing must stay competitive with other pizza pricing and substitutes (Chinese takeout, fast food, etc.). Companies set the price of their product where it is hte most cost effective and that is independent of the labor costs.

There is a point, of course, when labor costs become prohibitively high and do force the business to set pricing higher than the optimal price but unions have no interest in driving their employers out of business.

The idea that increased labor costs lower the number of employees that a business want to or is willing to hire is bunk also. A business's optimal number of employees to maximize profit margins will not change if 50% of its revenue is consumed by labor costs or 70% of its revenue is consumed by labor costs. If Business XYZ determines it needs ten employees to maximize its profit margin,that is to say to maximize "the profit margin per employee," that ideal number of employees is not going to change if labor costs increased. While the "profit margin per employee" will be reduced by increased "labor cost" of the employee, the number of employees needed to maximize the exploitation of the market would stay the same.

[GrantDem]

3. As a proud Union member...

I would order my pizzas from them for that reason alone.

Congrats to them. I hope they are able to get a first contract.

[driver8]

7. I'm a union member too, but Dominoes is owned by "right to lifers".

Because of that, we never order from them. My wife would have a stroke if I allowed a Dominoes pizza into the house.

Plus, we have so many great local places to choose from.

[Lefty48197]

13. There are Dominos franchises out there too.

I'm not sure what percentage is corporate owned, maybe 50% or more. Of the franchise owners, I'm sure there are SOME liberals out there!

Tom Monaghan started the company, and he is clearly a right wing Republican. He got very rich, and he sold the company a few years back. They were bought by an investment company, I think from New York. I'm not sure what the corporate culture/political slant is of the investment co. that bought Dominos, but I'm sure the right wing culture still lives in the Ann Arbor office. David Brandon was President of the company for several years. I'm not sure if he still works there, but I know he has been mentioned as a possible Republican candidate for office in Michigan.

[survivor999]

33. Dominoes sucks

IMO, their pizzas suck and they suck... Good luck to the Union though...

[tech3149]

4. I haven't ordered delivered pizza for some time, but

I always went out of my way to tip them well. Only once was I stingy on the tip. I felt so bad I called back to apologize. Bumping the cost up may affect business, but not for long. Pizza feeds more than hunger, it feeds a need that can't be satisfied by anything else(not sure about Dominoes, I like real pizza).

[AlCzervik]

9. Couldn't they join the UFCW?

[CelticWinter]

11. Good for them!!!!!

[brentspeak]

12. Pizza deliverers have to worry about being mugged and killed, too

Not a safe job.

[killbotfactory]

29. One of the most dangerous in the country

[Renew Deal]

31. Depends on where you are.

I did it for a while. It was pretty safe.

[ngant17]

15. union organizing in Fla.

This is Local #1. In Florida, a "right to work (for less)" state. This has serious implications for us, because anytime a union-organizing drive is successful in this state, it will only encourage more activity.

Don't forget how the Coalition of Imokaleee Workers <http://www.ciw-online.org/>

who were successful in forcing Taco Bell to improve work conditions for the tomato pickers in S. Florida.

Anyone who has tried to organize here in Florida, including myself, know that it can be an uphill struggle here and your friends can suddenly abandon you as quick as a Fla. afternoon thunderstorm in the summer.

I sent a message of congrats to the organizer/President James Pohle,
email him at: [e-mail]

visit website at: http://www.aupdd.org/

Of course, it is a long way to go before the rest of the Domino pizza workers can be organized outside of Pensacola, but it is a step in the right direction.

[sarcasmo]

16. Will they shut down and move to Mexico and make our Pizza's cheaper

[Solon]

17. If one good thing can be said about food and service industry...

is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to outsource.

[Doremus]

18. But they can import their workers.

The Golden Corral in our area brought in a whole group of Romanians to staff their location. A friend of mine took a job there and said most of the Romanians work two jobs to save as much money as they can before they go back.

I don't know how they'd save very much at $2.13/hr. plus tips, which can't be very much in a serve-yourself establishment. My friend said she worked 4 hours the other day and made a whopping $16 INCLUDING tips.

Needless to say, that's one restaurant I won't be supporting with my business.

[Solon]

20. There is nothing wrong with working with legal immigrants...

Look, I worked a job, as an ice cream man, where at least half the workforce were from the Ukraine, then again, they have been there for years, most are exchange students or family members, and the job itself was sub-contracting. This means the positive, paid in cash every night, the bad, pay for your own gas. I worked that job all the way up till last year, when I was breaking even between gas and sales, that sucked. Hell, they BEGGED me to come back this year, but I said thanks but no thanks.

I mean, on good years(3+ years ago), I was able to make enough to only have to work part time during the winter, if that. But on bad years, its more like a hobby, where you break even, make absolutely NO money, and that's about it. Though the people there were cool, I mean my "manager" the guy in charge of the trucks(more like vans), is called Igor, how cool is that! :)

Granted, in some cases, companies hire immigrants to take advantage of them, but that's not always the case.

[Doremus]

23. How you can characterize what I said as anything remotely resembling

that I think there's something wrong with working with legal immigrants, I don't have the faintest idea.

What I did say is that there is something HUGELY wrong with importing a work force willing to kill themselves for peanuts while the fatcats line their pockets on the backs of the working poor.

If Golden Corral paid a decent wage they'd have no need to recruit foreign workers. Hell, even at a paltry $2.13/hr., my friend took the job -- but only until something better comes along ... which should take about as long as filling out an app at the local Burger King.

No, I have no problem with Romanians or any other foreign nationals taking jobs offered to them by greedy SOBs. My problem is strictly limited to the SOBs and their lust for profits at any cost.

[DBoon]

24. No they will outsource it to India

and you will have to download your pizzas from the Dominos Web site

[dkofos]

32. Their order taking is already outsourced

[Psephos]

19. It's about time n/t

[LostinVA]

21. I can't get over how have to use their own vehicles

That blows my mind.

[DBoon]

25. I wouldn't be surprised if they had to have extra insurance

at their own cost of course, to prevent Dominos from being liable in the event of an accident

[sandnsea]

27. They do

Or at least they're supposed to. The pizza places only require proof of insurance, they don't ask what kind of policy it is. But if somebody gets in a wreck while using their car for a job like deliveries, insurance can refuse to pay based on not having commercial coverage.

[JI7]

28. many people don't know this, i just found out recently

that they have to use their own vehicles and pay for gas while working.

[Zhade]

22. Word!

NT!

[Stardust]

26. Good on them!!!

[Gman]

30. This is the kind of talk that makes my blood boil!

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.

[Omaha Steve]

34. I wonder if....

they would deliver to me in Omaha?