Tom Cat Bakery

NYC Restaurants Forced to Get Political in Wake of ICE Immigration Firings | Eater NY

"Started in Queens in the ’80s and now owned by Yamazaki, Tom Cat Bakery was the focus of a Department of Homeland Security I-9 audit last spring that led ICE to identify 21 immigrant employees who needed to verify their legal ability to work, prompting the bakery to fire those employees and sparking a contentious, months-long standoff over protection rights and adequate severance. I found the dispute full of competing claims: Brandworkers and Rise and Resist say the workers are fighting for better severance and for Tom Cat to adopt National Employment Law Project guidelines to protect employees during audits and ICE visits, while Tom Cat and its union say the company provided severance — including one week of pay per year of employment, 90 days of health care, full payout of unused sick, personal, and vacation days — negotiated by the union and accepted by 13 of the 21 affected employees. Tom Cat says it has continued business as usual and argues activists should target those who can change immigration law rather than the bakery itself, while Brandworkers insists Tom Cat 'should be a leader in this effort.'" - Stefanie Tuder