Lively IWW Pickets at Metro Lighting

The San Francisco Bay Area Branch was out in full force this Saturday on the picket line in solidarity with striking workers at Metro Lighting, Berkeley's now infamously "green" lighting business.

Highlights included songs, chants, lots of honking and the owner, Lawrence Grown, posting a profile of a sociopath in the window. (We assume that he was warning customers of his presence!!!) Many customers chose not to cross the picket line and were directed to other Berkeley lighting businesses, but those that dared to cross the picket line were loudly booed and resorted to leaving shamefully out the back door.

Workers at Metro Lighting are striking over the unfair labor practices of the owners, Lawrence and Christa Grown, who last month fired one of their workers for labor organizing and whistle blowing over unsafe working conditions. They are demanding that all union workers be rehired with back wages and a pay raise for the retail workers who make almost half as much as their co-workers in the assembly shop in the back.

Please come out this Saturday in support of our fellow workers at Metro Lighting from noon to five. The business is located at 2121 San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley just south of University. For those who cannot attend, please make sure to call them at 1-888-METRO20 or email them at info [at] metrolighting.com and let them know that you will be taking your business elsewhere.

In case it is of any interest, we found a link to the profile of a sociopath that Lawrence Grown posted. Here it is. We'll let you decide who the sociopath is. http://www.hss.caltech.edu/~mcafee/Bin/sb.html)
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Week day pickets rotate from day to day. There will be ongoing community pickets on Saturdays from 12-5. For more info, email: bayarea [at] iww.org.