Members of the Student Labor Action Coalition delivered a letter and a pizza spelling “No Justice, No Pizza!” to Chancellor David Ward Monday to protest alleged poor working conditions at Palermo’s Pizza factories.
According to SLAC member Rachel Gerry, the workers’ struggle should concern University of Wisconsin-Madison students because Palermo’s pizza is sold at sporting events and in Madison grocery stores including Fresh Madison Market.
Workers for Palermo’s have been on strike for four months, protesting unsafe working conditions. Employees from the Milwaukee area factory were also allegedly fired after attempting to unionize to improve their job environment.
SLAC members used the protest to inform Ward of the issue and encourage him to take action against the pizza company, according to Gerry.
“[The protest] was pretty much just to get [Ward’s] attention in the hopes that he will be willing to talk to us, so we can go further with this issue to cut ties with Palermo’s until the workers’ demands are met,” Gerry said.
Additionally, Palermo’s pizza sold at Fresh Madison Market is packaged with a Bucky Badger logo on the wrapper, which represents the university negatively, according to SLAC member Emily Baer.
“Roundy’s, which produces Palermo’s, has the licensing permission to put Bucky Badger on their things and we want that to end if they don’t make fair labor practices,” Baer said.
