At Tudor's Biscuit World in West Virginia, workers are seeking comfort from more than food. Some of the roughly two dozen workers at one of the chain's franchises will vote Tuesday on whether to become the state's first unionized fast-food restaurant.
“We’re tired of being treated as badly as we’re being treated,” Nicholson said. “The workers are treated with no dignity, no respect, like they’re just a number.”
In one sense, the Elkview franchise, surrounded by hills and parked next to a Dairy Queen, is far removed from the West Virginia coal mines where men and women once stood in the vanguard of the American labor movement. In another, the connection is visceral.Workers here feel connected to the state’s labor history in their bones, bonded by blood to men and women who saw the value of organizing for safer conditions and better pay in their own lives.
A century ago, concerns over safety and quality of life drew workers to Blair Mountain, where armed miners were subdued by government officials and at least 16 men died. It was a setback for the labor movement at the time, but union membership in the state reached a peak in the decades following the battle. In the 1940s and 1950s, roughly half of West Virginia workers were employed in heavy industries such as coal, steel and glass, and the majority of those workers belonged to a union.U.S.
“The belittling that goes on astonished me,” she said, adding that in her previous job as a dental assistant, “You weren’t allowed to act like that.” But soon the temperature changed. Employees started worrying that they could lose their jobs or have their hours cut. Nicholson said she was written up for small things, something that hadn’t happened before.
Her decision had consequences: In the months that followed, she said, she was suspended multiple times even though she had never been disciplined previously and had even been promoted. Her bosses then took away her security clearance to work cashiers. Last week, she was fired.
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