NEWS BREWING SUPPORT
TAZZA D'ORO WORKERS STAND UNITED TO ENSURE FAIR CONDITIONS DURING COVID AND AFTER BY CHARLIE DEITCH - PITTSBURGH CURRENT EDITOR CHARLIE@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM
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ike a lot of businesses in March, coffeeshop Enrico’s Tazza D’oro shut down in an effort to slow down the spread of the COVID-19 virus. That left its employees, like others across the country, without a job for an unknown period of time. Then in May, employees received a message from the managesr of the Highland Park and CMU locations asking who was ready to return to work. That gave employees some mixed emotions. Sure it was a positive step that the business was talking about reopening. But what would a reopened venue look like? What precautions would be put in place to protect workers from COVID-19. “We hadn’t heard anything the entire time we were off and then all of a sudden, we hear that we are opening. It was all very abrupt,” says Jesse Shussett, one of the Tazza organizers. “There were a lot of questions that weren’t addressed at all. And there were other issues that existed before the pandemic like getting raises and employee healthcare.” So, before they would even consider going back to work, Tazza’s baristas started meeting and developed a list of requests that they wanted action on. Last month, Shussett was involved in a video conference held by Stacey Abrams that highlighted the conditions service workers deal with both before and after the pandemic. “We can't afford to get sick. We can't afford to wait for politicians to debate over what we need to survive. A demand we’ve raised for years, even more critical as service workers are crushed by the pandemic and recession, is a living wage: $15/ hour, at least, plus tips. We've seen organized service workers fight for and win this in other parts of the country, like Seattle - we need to take the fight everywhere else and demand more,” Shussett said at the time. “Essential workers in the coffee and fast food industry are being paid the same low wages that 6 | JULY 7, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
