Pizza Time Strike Update

author : Drew Hendricks topic : labor

by Drew Hendricks

The strike was not over, but Pizza Time's employees were absent from the picket line over the weekend of February 18th. Pizza Time at Old Towne's owner, Richard J Kelley, arrived downtown Friday at 9pm to find that his partner Shane Bloking had locked the doors at 6pm and disappeared. When Mr Kelley arrived, the "open" sign was still brightly lit and phone calls were being answered by a message that the phone line's mailbox was not properly configured. The doors to the store were locked.

The store remained closed for the weekend and Monday the 21st, so the striking employees decided to suspend the picket line as long as the door remained locked. Negotiations were ongoing as of press time.

"If they open the place and we're not in there, we'll be out picketing," said Joe, one of the striking delivery drivers.

The strikers have a scheduled hearing before the National Labor Relations Board on March 1st.

"What happens with that will probably set the tone for what happens with this. If negotiations (with Mr Kelley and Mr Bloking) continue, maybe we'll be back in there as workers" said Joe, who added that the workers "would definitely do a cooperative" if negotiations broke down again.

The strike began Saturday, February 12th as Shane Bloking broke off negotiations with the statement "What I should have done, is I should have fired everyone..." Bloking had also refused to hire back one of the two workers he fired without reasonable cause, and refused to fire his brother Jeff. Striking employees complained that Shane's erratic management and Jeff's incompetence on the job forced them to take action to protect their jobs.