If the second installment of New Seasons workers and supporters protesting the firing of long time employee Ryan Gaughan says anything about the groups’ involvement, it’s persistence. A melting pot of 40 or so New Seasons employees, union members, local activists, friends, and family of Gaughan took to the sidewalk outside the store’s SE Division location today, waving bright signs and cheering exuberantly through the gray drizzle.
A follow-up to the Valentine’s Day protest, the group aimed to expand public awareness of Gaughan’s dilemma and the group’s demands. Gaughan was fired from the Seven Corners New Seasons store in early February, after allegedly stealing two scoops of tofu and a scoop of rice from the store’s deli. However, Gaughan and his supporters (dubbed New Seasons Market Workers’ Voice) see the firing as a move to silence Gaughan and co.’s advocacy for better working conditions at the branch.
“It’s not about tofu, it’s not about rice, it’s about workers and their rights!” cheered a cluster of raincoated ralliers toting large sticks with cardboard tofu skewered at the end.
The group also delivered a petition signed by 700 supporters to the store’s management this afternoon. The petition’s two requests:
1. Reinstate Ryan immediately; same job, same hours, and payment for lost wages since his termination on February 7.
2. Collaborate with workers to establish a peer-review system regarding disciplinary actions and terminations. Workers are entitled to have a peer witness present during disciplinary meetings, and the ability to directly contest disciplinary actions made by management. A meeting in the Seven Corners conference room to begin implementing these rights should take place no later than 60 days after this notice.
The groups’ support is not limited to employees alone. Earlier this week, Jobs With Justice, a local workers’ rights organization, publicly endorsed New Seasons Market Workers’ Voice, a move that JWJ’s Chris Ferlazzo called “extremely easy.” Gaughan says that the group has met with a handful of other supportive local civil rights organizations around town to spread the word.
Customer Samir Said brought his family to the rally after receiving a flier at his local Sellwood branch. “I think it’s ridiculous that a store that hands out free samples like it’s nothing would crack down on a few pieces of tofu,” said Said. “It’s got to be something bigger than that.”
While the management did not publicly interact with the group, New Seasons operations employees stood by the two entrances to keep an eye on the scene and make sure that customers could get in. They also handed out fliers explaining their take on the situation. “The protesters here are asking that a former New Seasons Market staff member be reinstated,” reads the handout. “We can say the process was fair and the decision was appropriate and consistent with our long-standing employee policies.”
Aside from their printed response, Gaughan says that management has been silent since the first rally. But he shows no signs of letting down. “We’re in for it for the long haul,” says Gaughan. “It’s time to bring this issue to the table.”
There has never been a more cushy, coddling environment to work that at New Seasons. This is ridiculous. We are officially out of problems.
I will add, this is the type of butthurt over-reaction drama that has created our litigious society and forces company’s to adopt fickle layers of HR bureaucracy.
Awww – isn’t the list of demands cute?
Here’s to New Seasons doing the right thing and rehiring Ryan! Don’t get angry, get organized!
I wonder if Mr. Gaughn harasses his ex-girlfriends in the same manner
Crap like this is the reason Portland is the laughingstock of the nation. Poor drizzly hipster paradise!!!! Our grocery store doesnt share our values!!! Whaaaaaa!
Hmmm….you gotta wonder if the commentators above are from Portland or Lake Oswego’s upper-crust. They certainly seem to have a disdain for people who work for a living in this country.
I doubt he was fired over just that. And hell, even if he was, why the hell is he entitled to a job there after STEALING from them. I would never, ever put up with stealing from my employees.
And as a sidenote, New Season’s is one of the most easy going, tolerant companies I have ever worked for or seen. They don’t even cut people’s hours, let alone fire anyone, even when they have a staff overage. They consistently give raises and have higher wages and benefits than what most other ‘unskilled’ jobs offer, have a lot of perks, and after all that I think it’s pretty ridiculous at the ungratefulness and entitlement of some people.
Here’s how I look at it from my dark corner. If you are a worker you enjoy benefits because people like Ryan G. fought hard to get them. Our government made laws and one of them was the National Labor Relations Act. That was enacted around 1935 because corporations were abusing their workers with long hours, child labor, low wages, no progressive discipline etc. The list goes on. Corporations today are trying to over turn watch dog government groups like the NLRB because government groups were formed to protect the people. We are the people. Because corporations have shipped many jobs off shore we are now a service society and those we serve expect us to just be grateful to have a job. We earn our living and we are grateful, but those who control the corporations have got to face reality, that we all deserve a working wage, benefits and more control over our working conditions. As the customer Mr. Said replied when asked why he was there with his family from another part of town, “It’s got to be something bigger than that”. If you are a worker and are trying to divide workers, shame on you. If you are management and playing your same old games of divide and conquer, it will not fly this time. There are people in this country and this town that have had enough and we are standing together. We are standing together and we are fighting back!
Yes yes, embezzlers of the working world unite. Stand up for your right to steal from your employer and run your motormouth with fellow employees while customers wait. The only thing that the management has really changed is now they expect their workers to stop acting like the place is a social club when they are on the clock. I know at least a dozen people that work at NSM (mostly concordia) and this is what they tell me (hearsay, i know).
Unless you are self-employed, every job sucks. All of them. When I was a kid the only people that worked at supermarkets were housewife part-timers, old people, and children. Its not a place to make a career if you have no desire to become a manager. If you feel like you deserve more than what you are being offered, then it is up to you to find an actual career. People in other countries are committing suicide over their respective working conditions. Mr. Gaughn may have even found new employment by now if he was not wasting his time trying to get his old job back. You know, the one where he has been deemed untrustworthy. Free speach is nice but I don’t think it’s going to feed his daughter.
Thanks so much to all of our fellow co-workers, community supporters, and allies who cam out today for the solidarity rally. Our numbers are growing, and workers from the company are (cautiously) stepping forward. Why? Because organizing for democracy and protection of our working benefits and conditions is our legal and ethical right!
To find out more about our campaign, upcoming actions, and how you can get involved, please visit our website at: newseasonsmarketworkersvoice.org
way to go new seasons workers! i just KNEW all that “friendliest store in town” crap was a marketing ploy. just like new season’s green washing is a marketing ploy. i’m glad the workers are standing up for one another instead of letting management bully them, and/or slipping into a coma of too-comfortable-to-care.
what a fucking drama queen.
right on! too few workers have the courage to step forward and stand up for a better work place. i’m glad to see some who are willing to risk something to improve their work place.
(“I think it’s ridiculous that a store that hands out free samples like it’s nothing would crack down on a few pieces of tofu,” said Said. “It’s got to be something bigger than that.”)
Uh, no, not quite. Samples are distributed to promote products. If a customer buys $6 block of Gouda, after sampling $0.03 to $0.05 worth, New Seasons sees a return on their investment. On the flip side, no matter what was stolen, the fact that he stole from his employer speaks to his character and New Seasons’ ability to trust him.
What, no tumblr yet?
Imagine if Ryan had put this kind of effort into college or curing cancer, rather than justifying his thievery.
I guess you either stand with working people, or have this delusional idea that you will someday be a millionaire , and there for you spend your time trolling blogs to defend rich parasites, and to victimize victims. I guess if kissing the ass of authority for the whole of your life, while getting your own clocked cleaned by authority for that same time, seems like a good time, well then have fun. You should just know you come off as a foolish asshole.
As of last year New Seasons Market is now 69% owned by a private capital investment firm. The original owners have cashed in along with the ‘locally operated’ mantra and the new CEO worked for the internationally corporate Whole Foods. The Rehire Ryan movement is trying to prevent a Wal-Mart like intimidation of workers and create some semblance of increased democracy in the workplace. I hope New Seasons does the right thing and rehires him.
Or you know, actually doing the job his employer paid him to do.
It’s not a matter of standing with working people vs standing with authoritah. It’s a matter of standing with common sense: thieves aren’t good for the employers or the employees. It means less money to pay employees. It means reducing privileges for employees in order to prevent loss or make up for loss. It means employers having to treat every employee like a potential thief rather than just getting rid of the bad apples and trusting the rest of the bunch. Etc.
#17 – I’m not sure how justifying theft is “standing with the working people.” I’m as working class as it gets, and the working people I know deserve their jobs because they’re honest enough not to steal from their employers. The issue is integrity, NOT social class.
First off, there are like NO JOBS to be had, so saying that he may have found another job by now, or that losing his “cushy” job is no big deal, is totally off-base.
Secondly, Ryan G. was not charged for the tofu at the check-out…of whose decision? The cashier’s. Because there was no protocol for charging for this .25 of tofu, and therefore no conditions were in place to do so. Ryan wasn’t deceiving anyone by doing this; he is not to blame.
He was being targeted and fired after 9.5 dedicated years of work, for a weak reason at that. NSM doesn’t like if you have worked there a long time and refuse to take a management position, because they can just hire someone else for less…how is that ethical? Punishing someone for their dedication and loyalty? Futhermore, he was very active in supporting his fellow workers and pushing for better conditions–if NSM was as democratic and friendly as they say, why not treat their workers like they want to be treated, fair and square?
…Why just say that all jobs suck and leave it at that? We have the power to change anything if we stand up like these folks at NSM and their community. Maybe you think working at NSM is just so much a priviledge, but all change has to start somewhere..if not here, where? How can we tackle the larger corporations and greater injustices if we don’t start right here in our own neighborhood?
And by the way, NSM is becoming more and more corporate, so yes, making a stand now is crucial before they become a juggernaut like Wal-Mart, etc.
The lack of understanding by readers of this blog is extremely disheartening, but I imagine these are people who don’t see how they are also being exploited by wage labor and capitalism.
His firing was illegal, thats why its a big deal. Its illegal (by federal labor law, according to the NRLA) to selectively enforce rules against organizers. its that simple. If he gets fired for ‘stealing’, that means over half the employees deserve the same fate of standing in the unemployment line. you morons who go on and on about awesome New Sleazeons is are clueless. you dont understand the issue your just firing off with little to no information (#internettolls). Also a lot of these posts are from management of NSM.
Ryan worked for over 9 years with no disciplinary actions taken against him and he was not even late ONCE during his employment. NSM broke FEDERAL LABOR LAW. They are the criminals! besides Ryan offered to pay the cashier (during the ‘incident’ which got him fired) and the cashier refused to take his money. Get some facts before you start firing off about how Ryan is a baby. Hes a hard working member of the working class, and if thats a crime, im guilty as well. If these kinds of actions cont. NSM is just going to be another wally-world. If they are the friendliest store in town, they should really live up to that creed or get out of our community!
Oregon is a right to work state. They didn’t need a reason to fire him. They could have let him go without cause.
Wow! I’m so impressed with the strength, courage and resilience of Ryan G. , his fellow workers and community members who have come back again and again to vocalize the injustice of New Season’s unfair firing of Ryan. It’s also disappointing to read the ridiculous comments of so many supporting this business that is obviously just a Whole Foods in the waiting. Whatever happened to critical thinking and support for those who are not in positions of power? Instead we are willing to take the voice of power, the voice with political clout, rather than the voice of truth and justice! Democracy is a wonderful thing and unfortunately most of us in the USA have no experience with.Voting for corrupt government bodies doesn’t count! Ryan and his co-workers are suggesting a great example of direct democracy: A peer review system. This would directly challenge a hierarchical system of management and business owners power to unfairly fire and or punish workers for a subjective reasons that they’ve decided upon. If we have a voice in the work place we are not entirely powerless. It is when we leave it up to the management and business owners to decide the fate of our livelihood that we are doomed to experience illegal firings and silence of workers voices. Keep up the good work Ryan and supporters! “Democracy is a messy process but it’s sure better than the alternative”.
I hear he has secret stashes of tofu hidden all over the city!
Ryan took the lead to advocate for improved working conditions in regularly scheduled meetings with managers. He was then targeted for surveillance and a dossier was compiled with the intention of eventually finding any reason to fire him, and thus remove one source of opposition to corporate dominance over the workers.
The charge of theft is an insult and is patently a smokescreen. That a handful of commentators here are eager to swallow that line shows all too clearly their own brainwashed allegiance to our corporate overlords.
Frankly I would rather shop at a worker owned co-op than to tolerate this kind of pretend friendliness that is out to smother you with slick bourgeois sugarfree-coated manipulation.
Can wait to see this episode on Portlandia, they won’t have to change a thing.
@27 What type of abhorrent proletariat conditions are you referring too exactly? New Season’s is not Google or Pixar. If anyone their thinks they have it bad they should log a couple hours at Winco or Safeway.
I used to work at New Seasons for 6 years. I don’t think the conditions there were what the IWW had in mind during the 20’s.
By the way, perhaps the staff at New Seasons singled Ryan out unfairly, or maybe he was legitimately stealing. I don’t know. If his current actions are any indication of his attitude at work, I don’t blame management for wanting rid of him.
Oh my god, it will be such a good episode of Portlandia. First we see Fred Armisen in a crazy wig trying to improve things at his workplace not just for himself, but for everyone. (How precious.) Then we see the (hilariously) hypocritical managers fire him for a reason they could fire any one of their employees for, including themselves. Then we get to see him thrown into a job market with 9% unemployment rate and try to find a way to continue to support his family. And then, of course, there will be the part where he and his friends and supporters devote their time and energy to try to get his job back and make the discipline process at NSM more fair because they know that if a “defining” institution of a city as ostensibly progressive as Portland can get away with union busting tactics that are as aggressive and slimy as that of any Wal Mart, then that is deeply troubling for everyone. Disastronaut, why waste your cleverness commenting on Mercury articles when you could be throwing around your amazingly original ideas in a writers’ room somewhere?
The issue is not New Seasons; the issue is emasculation of the work force. The issue is employee empowerment, not tofu or freebies. If you don’t know your history, try and refrain for blurting out inanities.
Check out @24: “Right to work” means one’s employer can take away one’s job for any or no reason, i.e. an employee has no right to work. The very definition of Orwellian doublespeak.
Here are a few facts that I dare Ryan Gaughan to dispute:
1. He was terminated for consuming and not paying for $1.00 worth of rice and a scoop or two of tofu ($6.99/lb) every day for at least a few weeks (months, maybe years actually).
2. Such quantities would never be defined as a sample by any reasonable human being or for-profit company.
3. Ryan was one of the least friendly employees at New Seasons Seven Corners. If the purpose of the rally was to restore friendliness there, then rehiring Ryan would go against the cause.
4. If Ryan actually cared about others, he wouldn’t allow his ex-co-workers and “friends” to fight for him based on a boldfaced lie (see #1).
5. Ryan enjoys irony — asking people to “support the employees of New Seasons” by harassing the customers that pay those employees paychecks and chanting through the store while they are trying to enjoy their very cushy jobs of selling groceries and increasing their profit share checks.
Thank you, Ryan, for caring so much about the employees that you would hold onto the lie and make two hours of their day potentially suck just so that you may justify your theft from the company that was so good to you. Hindsight sucks, huh?
I agree with Spindles. Also I like Disastronaughts idea…It would be kinda funny. I worked for fred Meyer for 6 years at a union store. We were frequently verbally abused by management and in one instant I was threatened with physical violence( I regret not going outside and beating the shit out of him, I took the high road), the union did not one thing to improve that, nor did it get people reinstated who had been fired for virtually no reason other than they weren’t the managers favorites. You are naive as fuck if you think it would change anything in this situation, but I am glad you took those Poly Sci classes
Hey Ryan who?
#1 is patently false. Why on earth would you assume to know that?
#2 What?
#3 If he was unfriendly to you it is because you are probably (definitely) an asshole.
#4 This cannot be a fact, as you say, because it is a conditional statement.
#5 Please look up irony.
#6 Thanks for your contribution, but maybe you should save your energy for increasing your profit sharing check, and leave the “facts” to people who know how to think.
Everyone has the right to be treated fairly at work. This may or may not have been the case for Mr. Gaughan. No one, be they employees or commenters on this blog, is probably in a position to know that.
But what anyone who has actually worked anywhere outside of Portland can tell you with some level of assurance that theses requests are borderline absurd. The rhetoric, which paints conditions at New Seasons to those described in The Jungle is an insult, a legitimate insult, to people in this country, hell, in this state, who toil in horrific conditions but lack the voice afforded to the lily white entitled living out some kind of protest fantasy. You make a good wage, you have health benefits and time off. You live the kind of lives people trying to cross borders looking for any kind of work have literally died trying to attain. Do those things cross your minds while you’re printing clever signs up from the warmth and comfort of your home?
And yes, just because others have it worse doesn’t mean you’re not entitled to complain, but jesus, this is what you choose to fight over? This is a blatant attention grab trying to taking advantage of Elaine Brady running for mayor. Hell, I’m surprised Hales and Smith weren’t out there on the picket line.
These are the reasons employers treat their employees like shit: there’s literally no reason not to. You treat them relatively well, they still want more.
I’m going to go throw up, then cut a check to PCUN.
And by the way, while these folks were smiling and carrying signs and feeling every so happy about their good fight, the Coast Guard discontinued searching for four fishermen from Warrington, all presumed dead, whose ship sank off the Washington coast. If only they had had a peer-review system for discipline. Sleep tight.
Ryan has worked at New Seasons for nine years. He has an exemplary work record in terms of the store’s own evaluations. A friend of mine who is a regular shopper where Ryan works has a lot of praise for him as cheerful, oriented to serving customers, and quickly responsive, something he says is not always true of staffers with whom he interacts. He also is someone who has spoken up to raise concerns about issues affecting work at the store, and encouraged other workers to speak up. The idea that anyone who promotes better quality workplaces by raising issues with management is somehow a whiner just goes to show how stupidly authoritarian American corporate culture has become.
It appears that there has been a change at NS in this regard. I don’t think Ryan has been doing anything recently that he wasn’t doing before. But management has gotten stupider and rather than taking advantage of the opportunity that being open offers to identify and find resolutions to problems, apparently wants them to fester in the dark and harm morale, for reasons best known to themselves. Having taken that idiotic position, they then sought a pretext to fire Ryan.
Being fired is a serious harm, even if it’s a retail job. People who try to imply otherwise are arrogant elitists.
Ah yes, the mindless, submissive compliant worker. That is just what employers want. Working for an employer is not the military where you lose your rights. It is not a privilege either. As workers we trade our skills, knowledge and expertise to attract those who would purchase our products or want to use our services. Mr. Gaughan says he didn’t take any food or break company policy, yet there are those here who seem to take the side of the company. The company says it has an outside company to review such matters and Mr. Gaughan chose not to participate in that process, instead choosing a more impartial process through the NLRB. That is an attempt to make Mr. Gaughan the bad guy by implying that if he had nothing to hide, he would use the company process. That is a crock. The company process is flawed and by choosing the NLRB over the company process one wants a truly unbiased judgement. A peer review committee would have all the facts and sounds like a good idea. Your peers know what kind of worker you are, what kind of practices your employer uses and how and if they play favoritism with employee’s. If more workers stood up for fair working conditions we wouldn’t be this society of sheep who has been drinking the corporate Kool-Aide and telling us to just get another job. All workers whatever our career choices should be treated equally.
it appeared to me, to look like around 100 supporters, were at this action / rally
Very depressing that so many people here think workers should shut up and be happy and take whatever – until very recently there was virtually no pro-labor movement in this country whatsoever, and I fail to see how we’re all better off for it. Seems some people think any form of protest whatsoever demonstrates a lack of moral character.
I don’t know if this guy “stole” a couple of pieces of tofu and some rice or not. But workers should have the right to organize and improve their working conditions, even if some employers are far worse than their current one. The overly coddled, whiny people are the ones arguing against those who stand up and attempt to assert more control over their life.
New Seasons has been very hostile toward the idea of their employees organizing with outside labor unions. Makes me happy to see so many take a stand anyway, without much outside support. Keep it up guys, and I wish the employees at other grocery stores, working in other conditions (Winco, WalMart etc), the best of luck in improving their lives on the job as well.
@41, In my view, it’s not that workers should shut up. There are plenty of issues and rights worker’s shoudl actively be fighting for. However, that’s not the case here. The “workers” in this instance are painting a picture of New Seasons that I know not to be true. The entire protest is plainly farcical.
1) If Ryan has a case, he needs to get a lawyer and take it to court. The odds of him being voluntarily rehired by NS are now 0%. So if he has a case, he needs to pursue it. If not, he’s just wasting his time and apparently the time of many others at this point.
2) People should feel empowered to respectfully make suggestions to management. But when management says “no”, it’s tough luck and the employee should get back to work. If the problem is so huge it can’t be ignored, the employee should start looking around for a better job.
3) Work is not a democracy in any way. Someone is paying you to be at their business, doing specific tasks for them. If you aren’t doing those tasks to their satisfaction, they should fire you. You don’t have the right to hang out around someone else’s business, bending it to your ideal, and have them pay you for the privilege. It’s their business, not yours.
4) If I may hazard a guess at what happened here: Ryan worked at NS for 9 years, and had accomplished about as much as he could there. Having arrived at a workplace ceiling, he was chaffing under the lack of opportunity and stagnant pay, and this was making him act out in different ways. Hitting the ceiling happens in all types of workplaces in all types of industries. It’s generally a sign that the employee needs to move on and take the next step in their career.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 12, 2012
New Seasons Market Workers’ Voice
CONTACT: info@newseasonsmarketworkersvoice.org 971-258-1653
Rally to Restore Values at New Seasons Market
PORTLAND, OR — On Saturday, March 10, a group of over 100 community members, labor activists and New Seasons Market workers gathered in front of the Seven Corner’s store to participate in the second rally held in support of Ryan Gaughan. After working for the company for 9 and a half years, Gaughan was wrongfully terminated from New Seasons in February. Gaughan is a vocal advocate for his co-workers’ rights. Along with multiple workers from the NSM Workers’ Voice campaign, he advocated for safer working conditions, inclusive health care, and stood up for other New Seasons workers who have been unfairly fired.
The rally, organized by New Seasons Market Workers’ Voice, began with a lively conga line of supporters and customers who danced through the aisles while signing their praise for the workers in the store. The dance finished with a supporter announcing their appreciation of the workers: “We’re here because we love you and the work that you do.” A round of applause for the workers at the Seven Corner’s store concluded the dance as participants exited to join the growing rally outside.
A delegation of supporters from the Portland chapter of Jobs with Justice delivered a community petition to management. The petition contains over 700 signatures, and calls for the immediate reinstatement of Gaughan’s job. This petition also demands that management at New Seasons begin meeting with workers in the company to begin negotiations seeking to reform the company’s disciplinary practices.
“Portland Jobs with Justice is committed to workers’ rights to collective action, democracy in the workplace, and due process. We have endorsed the campaign of New Seasons Market Workers’ Voice and call for the immediate reinstatement of Ryan Gaughan, who we believe was unjustly fired because of his efforts to promote workplace democracy. We encourage others to do likewise.”
Yard signs reading, “Restore Values at New Seasons Market” were distributed and will find their way to lawns throughout Portland.
Ryan Gaughan and members of the NSM Workers’ Voice campaign are participating in an Unfair Labor Practice investigation against the company, which is currently being conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Management has taken pains to highlight that Gaughan refused to participate in the company’s pre-termination review process. This process is far from being impartial. New Seasons Market pays an unspecified agency to conduct these reviews. Employees who elect to participate do not have any identifying information regarding the name of the agency responsible for the review, nor the name of the person(s) who examine evidence. Any testimony that an employee supplies in their defense must be forwarded through the company’s Human Resources department, and the employee is never interviewed or directly questioned by the agency.
Members of the New Seasons Market Workers’ Voice campaign feel that the NLRB investigatory process is the truly impartial venue for the dispute to be heard. In the meantime, the campaign intends to continue with it’s effort to bring democratic reforms to the company’s disciplinary procedures. Specifically, workers want to work towards developing two initiatives; 1) Establishing the right for workers to have a peer witness present during disciplinary meetings, and, 2) Collaborating with management to develop a peer-review panel, where employees have the opportunity to directly appeal disciplinary actions by presenting their case to a forum of their co-workers.
New Seasons Market first opened its doors in Portland in 2000, with the Seven Corners store opening four years later. In January, the company announced plans for its thirteenth store in the Portland metropolitan area. Endeavour Capital, an investment capital firm, became a major investor in New Seasons in 2009 and according to a February 2012 email to staff, now claims 69% of the company. Amidst this rapid expansion, the question arises as to whether New Seasons’ focus on expansion has compromised their stated value of a “progressive workplace”.
New Seasons Market Workers’ Voice is a coalition of workers, family members, customers, and organizations dedicated to promoting improved conditions and workplace democracy at New Seasons Market.
For more info: http://www.NewSeasonsMarketWorkersVoice.org
I’m glad that New Seasons workers are standing up, and I support Ryan 110%!
Fruit Cup, I am awfully sorry that you have not got a friend in this world and you have to defend a company like it is your bestie. But NSM is not your friend either. It is a company whose job is to screw its customers and employees alike. I don’t know what advice to give you about your sad situation. Maybe you should join a club or something? There’s not much we can do about the fact that you are dumb as dirt, but maybe if you started exhibiting empathy for human beings instead of Endeavor Capital and their toadies, people wouldn’t have such a strong urge to spit on you.
And Blabby, you are a person after my own heart. Please tell me who you are so I can have your babies. A girl spends her life thinking that she would have to travel back in time to fascist Europe or right into an Ayn Rand novel to find someone like you, and yet here you are. Wow.
Yeah, screw New Seasons. I’ll go to Fred Meyer instead where the checkout clerks have been replaced by machines.
Hey June, tonight when I drop cash at NS, I’ll think about you spitting on an effigy of me and smile. Good luck with that.
Watch it #46, Fruit Cup and Blabby are two of the best people on Blogtown. Your name-calling is as lame and immature as your protest.
I have 2 questions
1. Has Mr. Gaughn hired a labor lawyer? If not, then why?
2. With all the so-called support from current employees Mr. Gaughn is getting, why have they not unionized? It is quite easy. My guess is that it has’nt been done because you all want the benefits of a union without having to pay the dues. Mr. Gaughn, I implore you to find a new job and put your family ahead of your attention-seeking antics. Those of us that make up the actual working class in this city are bored with this bullshit.
Actually June, I’m what’s called a “moderate pragmatist”. But I recognize that relative to about 75% of people in the Portland bubble, that makes me an old-timey European fascist.
Out of curiosity, can anyone here describe what it was Ryan was asking for from management before he was fired, and how he went about it?
@Blabby: I will now call you “old-timey European fascist….” Has a nice ring to it….
I would like to second the fascist’s request. Someone – anyone – please list the abhorrent working conditions at New Seasons that need to be corrected, or how organizing will help my experience as a NS shopper. And, please, leave off the list “making it harder to fire someone for stealing.” In my opinion, that would not be a benefit resulting from this process.
Fruit Cup, meet you at the check out. I’m feeling hungry.
Ryan G. is a LOSER. I feel bad for his daughter. He needs to man up!
I am also curious as to the horrible working condition Ryan “Seriously, I’m just like César Chávez!” Gaughan was attempting to liberate the downtrodden worker masses of New Seasons Market from. I would hazard a guess that most people in the grocery/retail business wish they had it half as “bad”.
Mr. Gaughn’s new job is “demanding change” at the freeway exit
Shoplifters of the World, unite and take over / Shoplifters of the World, hand it over, hand it over.
from previous mercury article: “Ryan Gaughan and members of the NSM Workers’ Voice campaign are participating in an Unfair Labor Practice investigation against the company, which is currently being conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).”
Reading story like this makes me feel embarrassed to be a portlander… Portland is becoming the cesspool of carbon douche bags. I don’t see how stealing from your employer could be an honorable act. IMHO, the other employees that went and tried to glorify this turd should all be fired as well. NSM won’t have trouble filling their positions. I don’t know where Mr. Gaughan received his (crappy) education but he needs to go work at safeway or walmart for a couple weeks (but who’ll hire a thief?), and then enlighten us again on how NSM had done him wrong.
Yes, you know what would make Portland great would be if we had more people willing to put themselves on the line by posting anonymous, slanderous comments about something they know nothing about. I think it is also important that in a world with increasing corporate control, we automatically side with the corporation in every possible situation and don’t give a human being willing to put himself in a very vulnerable situation in order to prove a point the benefit of the doubt. You professional blog commentator weirdos, why do you ask questions if you clearly just want to listen to yourselves? If you want to know the background on the story, why don’t you go to the man’s website?
Would this be the website that TELLS YOU WHAT TO SAY when calling in to “support” Mr. Gaughn? This attention whore is never getting his job back. Plus, his future prospects look pretty dim when you consider 9 years of his resume are from working at a place where he was fired for thievery.
Iceprez, you realize you are calling someone you don’t know a thief without using your real name. What kind of person are you?
Also it is standard TO HAVE A SCRIPT FOR PHONE BANKING.
I don’t think this is an issue of “standing with the working class” as some above suggest. The fact is, most people who “work for a living” would be privileged to work somewhere like New Seasons that allowed for some kind of individuality and had some passing respect for the community. They could work for Wal Mart, where the manager locks them in at night. I think these people are spoiled and not the people above who are making fun of their pretentious lunacy.
Anyone who has been paying attention would realize that all employers are becoming more and more like Wal Mart and the idea is to stop that. The workers at NSM realize that they have been relatively lucky (“privileged”? give me a fucking break) to work there and don’t want to see conditions degrade further. If you were familiar with the changes that had occurred with that company recently and didn’t just buy what is a large part of the NSM (we treat our workers like we treat our customers) image you would realize that their grievances are legitimate, and it is never appropriate to shut up and be thankful for what you have just because most service jobs in the country are so terrible. If you just thought about it for one second you would see that that does not make a bit of sense.
#60 I called him a thief because even Mr. Gaughn admits to it. You do not seem to understand that we are not “pro-new seasons,” we are “anti- self absorbed asshole that refuses to take responsibility for their actions.” Who admits to stealing and then goes on a public smear campaign against the very people he stole from? This public spectacle pretty much ensures that he will have an even harder time finding a job in this town.
iceprez, what is your name?
Why? Is knowing my name the key to getting Mr. Gaughn his job back? That is what this is all about, right?. You called Fruit Cup “dumb as dirt” and Blabby a “fascist” for doing no more than disagreeing with your position. Your immaturity is indicative of this entire movement. Here is some free advice- Spend your energy on bringing a union to NSM so the workers get what they feel they deserve. All it takes is for 2 people to sign a union card. Easy.
Ok, you are officially not worth arguing with. Cowardly enough to call someone a self-absorbed asshole and a thief without giving your own name, ignorant enough to say it is easy to form a union. Have fun in your pathetic bloggy world.
Knowing or not knowing someone’s god given name has nothing to do with the validity of their argument. Demanding to know the identity someone you don’t like or disagree with is akin to when the cops demand your ID when you start making them look bad. Very fascist, indeed.
@24: No Oregon is not a “right to work” state. And, that is not what right to work means. Right to work is a euphemism for outlawing clauses in a collective bargaining agreement that require a person pay a union dues (a union shop) or even representational costs incurred by a union (agency fee payer shop) as a term and condition of employment. It is still double speak, as the Union cannot discriminate against people who chose not to pay dues. What you mean, it “at will.” Get your facts straight before you condescend.
Call me what you want Mrs. Valois, just make sure you add “Gainfully Employed and Well Paid” to the title of coward. You shouldnt have started arguing in the first place if its not worth it. Do you not realize that now any of Mr Gaughn’s possible future employers that google him will read about this protest, see that he was fired for theft, and automatically dismiss him from consideration? Ultimately you have hurt him more than helped. I will ask one last time- Where are all the labor lawyers that should be lining up to take this case pro-bono on behalf of Portland’s downtrodden bagboys? Probably nowhere because this kid has no case. Try to also keep in mind that all the judgements levied against Mr. Gaughn are based on facts provided by this movement to re-instate his job
Disatronaut, you need to come out of the closet…why don’t you just admit you’re a NSM employee with a cushy managerial-like position? How many asses have you kissed to get there? Why are you so threatened by democracy in the workplace, and how is it that you can devote so much of your time to commenting on mercury blog posts? Seems like maybe you’re just a wee bit of an attention whore yourself. At the very least, you’re a major douchebag.
I work in the same store Ryan Gaughan was fired from. I am a hourly employee and this is my perspective:
Ryan. If you insist, here’s a “PEER REVIEW”.
You refused to let a third party review the details. Even though it is the same third party that led to some of your peers being re-hired in the past. To the majority of your peers that is suspicious to say the least. You claim “The third party is payed for by New Seasons, so their perspective must be skewed”. Are you suggesting that it’s a bad thing that New Seasons pays a third party for their services? Should they work for free? Would you rather pay this bill out of your own pocket? If so, wouldn’t the results be then skewed in your favor? Also to suggest that a person is always skewed by the people who are paying them is naive. By that logic, government officials are always skewed towards the views of the U.S. Citizens because their salary is cut from U.S. Citizens tax dollars. Did you ever consider that the third party reviewer just wants to look at the documentation from both parties without knowing names, and/or being harassed from either side. Only then, they can make an unbiased decision. This sounds like a truly democratic system to me.
At first you told your peers, “It was just 3 pieces of tofu”. Now it’s “Tofu and rice”. Only you can tell us what it is that you stole. For your argument that “A scoop of rice and a few pieces of tofu is just like a free sample, so it’s gotta be about more than that.” Let me clarify. We are given the right from our employer to sample anything we’d like. The common courtesy throughout the store is if you take something from another department, you should be offered, ask, or at least tell someone in that department about it, for the sake of that departments inventory. I guarantee if you would have asked for a sample, you would have gotten it.
Since New Seasons Market will never divulge the details of any terminated employee because of their strong ethics and legal rights of privacy. At this point, This entire matter is a one sided argument at best. So from the side of only you and your “organizers”, lets do the math. If all you stole was”tofu and rice,” and even your closest of peers claim you’ve always eaten the same thing nearly every day. “Tofu, brown rice, and kale salad.” So even if you stole “just the 3 pieces of tofu”I asked a deli clerk to weigh it out ($1.29) “and brown rice” ($1.00), you only stole $2.29. with employee discount, 20%, bringing the total theft to $1.83.
So how many times did you steal this? At the furthest extreme, as your peer I could assume it could have taken you about 6 months to figure out this scam, before you decided to manipulate the system on a daily basis with a few well chosen spacey cashiers. So for the rest of the 9 years you worked here, subtracting days off (assuming you didn’t do the same thing on your days off) for a full time hourly employee like yourself, you could have potentially stolen. $4,298.67.
I do this only to prove a point. I admit that is the most extreme opposition, but whats your argument against this opposition. You only got away with it half the time? I have rung up several customers and employees who’ve spoken up and reminded me to charge them for an item, it’s called having a conscience. If you simply forgot, and were “wrongfully terminated” when interrogated you should;
1.Truly and gracefully apologize,
2.Pay for it,
3.Then registered your plea with a third party, HR, and the National Labor Relations Board.
In order to give you perspective it looks to your peers like you just started to act out immediately. You expect us to believe in you right to take your case to the masses meanwhile, you won’t exhaust all of your options for rehire. So you only stole $1.83 or maybe $4,298.67. No one will truly know the details because of how you handled it. It maybe the case that you simply forgot about a purchase that totaled $1.83, but without a third party review no one but you and the people in the room during your termination will know the truth. No matter what you have advocated for in the past. The fact that you are admitting to theft, is all the reason for your termination.
Until you allow the third party to look at your statement and the evidence. Your peer review for rehire is denied.
Ryan, be careful what you ask for. Did you ever consider that your peers might not always share your opinion? When given the chance to review your case, they may not be required to hold back as much as Human Resources or Management.
Your requesting a “Peer Review System”. How would that work? You expect one of your peers to be in the room every time a “Corrective Action” is given? Who would choose this person? Is it you? If so, do you really expect to take 3 people off the floor, stressing out your fellow employees? Meanwhile, you and a friend of yours are trying to debate with management over the “facts only format”, used in H.R. approved Corrective Actions. Your peers may find that most staff CA’s are far too private to have them announced “through the grapevine” in this overly gossipy, friends just having fun environment. Remember a peer doesn’t necessarily have to keep CA’s private, confidential information is for both parties privacy. You were not forced to keep quiet about how you were written up or fired, you’ve made that clear.
So, your vague “Peer Review System Idea” was respectfully denied by the CEO’s and Management. But instead of taking no for an answer. You decided to try to turn “Coffee Talk” into your “Peers Review System”. Many of your peers feel that when you did this you left the majority of them silenced, in the room and on the floor, during this unannounced, uncomfortable, unorganized attempt at gaining attention. For those who don’t know “Coffee Talk”, is where the CEO’s come and hang out in the break room sip coffee and open up discussions to all employees no matter what your title is. This was a progressive and open conversation, where any employee could share their ideas. In the past these casual “Coffee Talk” chats derived many changes in the New Seasons operations and practices. Coffee Talk was simply not a medium for your complaints about how you are treated. There are several mediums for this, one is Human Resources.
Last year New Seasons created a whole new position, an “In House Staff Coordinator”. A direct source to HR, You probably wouldn’t consider this person your peer, just like you didn’t consider the HR representative that sat in during your termination a peer. To assume that Human Resources don’t care about “the workers and their rights” is disrespectful to what some of your peers consider a diverse team, who stand up proudly for them every day.
Have you even thought about the matter of who’s right after your peer review, “the Peer Reviewer” or “Management,” I’m sure you would suggest then we add another bureaucratic layer to review both sides and make a decision, perhaps a council where New Seasons staff members debate about uncomfortable personnel matters instead of trying to sell grocery’s. After all that who decides what complaints are too trivial, unorganized, and naive.
How do you know you were targeted by management? Maybe you were targeted by a frustrated part time cashier or clerk. Maybe they decided to blow the whistle on what they felt was your constant manipulation of the payment system. Put yourself in the perspective of your peers that just moved from a Right To Work State, who may have actually been wrongfully terminated. This may be why you are seeing a “culture change” at New Seasons Market. What would you like to do about this? Perhaps we should scrutinize the hiring process further to only allow in only friends of yours. Exactly like only Facebook friends of yours were included in your “organizing” at “Coffee Talk”. As for the “script” on your website that you expect people to read when complaining to New Seasons, Your peers may find it is hard to find empathy for your hypocritical views on fascism.
Also for the argument that New Seasons Market is opening stores out of “Corporate Greed”, most of your peers know it couldn’t be further from the truth. They open stores because of their customers constant request to have stores closer to them. Fishers Landing was opened because a long time customer wanted a store in Vancouver so bad, that she took it upon herself to find the building.
If your suggesting that your peers start paying union dues. I am confident to my fullest extent that New Season Markets Benefits that I have right now, are much greater than the small fraction I would receive from the UFCW. I know I have worked in several stores under their so called “Organization” before. I’ve seen many of my peers fired for simple “Insubordination” to be ignored by the UFCW and never heard from again.
Ryan, most of your peers think you need to stop trying to drive an uncomfortable wedge between the employees over a simple matter of theft, and to quote your peers and the Big Lebowski “Get a job, sir”. I fear that you may be lost. A victim in the hipster tunnel vision that is Portland, Oregon. Constantly searching for someone or something to complain about. It looks to many like you are viewing this case with blinders on, never answering the hard questions meanwhile searching for arguments that only support your side. If you want to be” reinstated” by your peers you need to engage the opposition from there perspective.
I am requesting Ryan G. to do the following:
1. Stop protesting the company that I proudly work for every day and put your efforts into finding a new job.
2. Realize that you may need to work out the details, not just suggest something vague like a “Peer Review System”. Which sounds to many like nothing less than a layer of bureaucratic hipster fantasy, which would violate the staff’s right to privacy.
Whoa Frogger Blogger, I hope that you are either Lisa Sedlar herself or you wrote that on the clock, otherwise you are not just completely wrong but also super creepy.
#71- Diastronaut did’nt call Mr Gaughn an attention whore, I did. Plus, i’m not an employee of NSM. I have an actual career that I earned through hard work and finishing college.
Lots of unregistered users have resorted to lame attempts at character assassination against anybody that disagrees with this fiasco. It should be duly noted that most judgements against Mr Gaughn have been based on the info that he himself provided and admits to, i.e. the charges of theft. His termination is a real world consequence of his bad decisions. Once you turn 21 participation trophies do not mean shit.
@ Froggy Blogger. Thank you for your contribution to this otherwise completely one-sided hyperbole/exaggeration fest.
My husband works for New Season and I’m a very loyal customer. To those who compared New Seasons to Wall-Mart, it just goes to show the level of ignorance in the opposing side. First off, I would like to stress how much New Season’s takes care of their employees. I have health insurance through them because of my husband, does Wall-mart do that? No, not even close. I personally have volunteered my time with other NS employees to help the community, not because I was asked, but because NS arranged the whole thing for OUR community and said anyone interested in helping, here’s where we’ll be. I’ve seen New Seasons take personal interest in local farms about to go under, they’ve rebuilt barns and preformed countless other acts to help these small companies stay a float. I’ve seen NS employees picking up litter in the community and so much more. To EVER compare New Seasons to Wall-Mart, is a slap in the face for the entire North West. All of those people who are along side Ryan, I have a question for you, have any of you ever lived outside of Oregon? I have. And let me tell you, “the real world” doesn’t care. The fact that Ryan is parading around announcing to the world that he was fired for stealing is laughable. How many times did he get away with this before he finally got caught? And to the person who said it was the cashiers fault, we all know how dignified and honorable it is to look the other way and not speak up, Ryan’s a hero… (I’m hope my sarcasm came across there). I didn’t think I would, but I take this very personally. New Seasons Market is one of the best companies to work for I’ve ever seen, they’re conscious of the environment, their employees and their community. I’m sorry you got fired for stealing, Ryan, but there are hundreds of people who would love to work for New Season, and wouldn’t take advantage of the company. You got what you deserved, now suck it up and be a man.
Speaking of hyberbole, disastro, nice icon. Freak.
Wake up workers of America! Your are either a worker or an owner. It is a pretty sad observation that workers in America are detached from their workers rights roots.