Workers at a Columbia Waffle House walked out to protest working conditions Saturday morning.
The walkout began at 10 a.m., as servers and cooks at the popular all 24-hour breakfast chain went on strike over calls for better security, more regular scheduling and an end to mandatory “meal deductions” from paychecks.
The strike at the Waffle House at 428 Garners Ferry Road, which is set to go for three days, is supported by the Union of Southern Service Workers. The union, which represents low wage workers in a variety of industries, officially formed last November in Columbia.
Workers from the first and third shift, as well as the entirety of the second shift walked out Saturday morning, a representative of USSW said.
Marshawna Parker, who has been working for Waffle House in a variety of roles for over 20 years, said the worsening safety situation motivated her to join the strike. In her time working for the chain, Parker said she has witnessed several shootings, but the chain only employs a security guard during late nights on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
“We could have been easily shot over an order of hash browns that’s $3,” Parker said. “There’s no excuse for them not to have security at all time to protect us... We are not just bodies in the building: We have lives, people have kids.”
Unsafe working conditions are not just a problem at the Columbia Waffle House, Parker said. At a previous location in Lancaster, South Carolina, she recalled shootings and finding bullets in the parking lot.
Workers also called for an end to the mandatory “meal deduction” — a policy of taking $3 to $6 out of employees’ paychecks to cover a shift meal, regardless of whether they eat it.
“I’m usually the only server working second shift, so I am running around and don’t have time to eat a meal, but Waffle House still makes me pay for it.... let us opt out,” Summer Schoolmeester-Cochran, a Waffle House server, wrote in a statement published by USSW.
Waffle House did not respond Saturday to a request for comment.
Saturday’s strike came after workers delivered a petition to management on July 1, according to a statement from USSW. The union says there was no response to the workers’ demands.
The list of demands also includes calls for a fair wage and for management to fix the broken equipment in the restaurant.
Workers at the walkout were supported by workers from other Waffle Houses, as well as workers from other fast food restaurants, Great Clips and Ryder, who went on a short strike over working conditions in April.
This story was originally published July 08, 2023 4:41 PM.