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Solidarity with the Blackbird Pizzeria Staff

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This gofundme has been organized by the Blackbird workers. All funds will go to support the workers through this transitional period as we look for new jobs, they'll be evenly distributed among the staff members that lost their jobs through this process. Thank you all so much for your support! 

Here is our story:

This week things have imploded at Blackbird Pizzeria, a beloved vegan spot known by both locals and vegans from all over the country. This past Tuesday, the 10th of November, owner Mark Mebus decided he was going to start sifting through video footage of the restaurant which included audio, something the staff was unaware of and did not consent to. When playing back the audio he heard a crude comment made by a member of the staff in response to finding out Mark’s long time girlfriend Lauren wanted Mark to fire one of our coworkers for reasons that related to a personal conflict. In response to this Mark held a meeting with the GM of the restaurant and told him he must fire the employee who made the crude comment immediately. 

 This incident was a complete blow to the staff at Blackbird. The employee in question is a core member of this crew and the community surrounding it. She is a reliable coworker and has always shown dedication to going above and beyond what is asked of her at work. We do not condone crude comments made behind someone’s back, however we feel betrayed by Mark’s decision to record our conversations and use his findings as grounds for firing. Mark has never met us, he doesn’t speak to us, and he hasn’t stepped foot in Blackbird more than 5 times in the last year and never for more than 5 minutes at a time, neglecting to even say hello to the staff. The situation left us feeling vulnerable and disposable.

An emergency meeting was called in which the staff vocally and unanimously voiced its concerns to the general manager. We asked that Mark come and meet with the staff to discuss how his actions affected staff morale and that the audio from the cameras would be immediately disabled. Mark told the general manager to pass on the message that he has no interest in meeting with the staff any time soon and that he refuses to disable the audio capabilities of his security cameras. This put us in a tough situation where we ultimately decided to not show up to work on Thursday the 12th. Our decision has cost us our jobs as Mark has decided to clear house and fire all staff who refused to show up to work. We all feel incredibly torn, but stand by our choice to put our morals and sense of solidarity with one another before the company that we’ve devoted our time and labor towards over the years.

This is an incredibly scary time for all of us. Mark has drawn a line in the sand that none of us can morally cross. We’ll all be scrambling for jobs at this time which is an especially scary feat in the midst of a global pandemic. We are asking that you please consider standing with the workers and helping support the staff through this difficult time by boycotting Blackbird Pizzeria, we also have put this gofundme together to hopefully allow the staff to hobble their way through until we can find other jobs. All funds collected will be distributed evenly among the staff. We can’t allow the financial stranglehold our bosses have on us to dictate the way we stand in solidarity together. We’ve seen too much this year to allow ourselves to be manipulated by an inflexible owner with an ego problem.

Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $10 
    • 3 yrs
  • Richard Hwang
    • $40 
    • 3 yrs
  • Bradley James Schiro
    • $10 
    • 3 yrs
  • Dennis Dougherty
    • $30 
    • 3 yrs
  • john krajewski
    • $145 
    • 3 yrs

Organizer

Jacob Darling
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA

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