Better Cooperative Mutual Aid Fund

We, the staff of Fulton Street Coffee, have been operating the cafe without tangible support from ownership and have decided to go on strike. The operating owner you might be familiar with, Omar Vargas, began as a friend to all of us. Because of our friendship, we tolerated a severe degree of neglect to the business. Unmitigated heat in the Cafe, local government and utility shut downs, and alterations to timecards to avoid paying overtime are but a few of the violations of our trust and the health of the cafe.

For a few months, we have been in talks with ownership about purchasing the cafe to convert into a worker-owned cooperative in hopes of being able to resolve these issues ourselves.

Initial discussions were cordial and productive. We have since sensed a change in negotiations. Information we previously had access to has been denied to us, affecting our ability to apply with lenders and making it impossible to keep accurate accounting of tips earned. Immediately following a request for transparency, tipping options were altered in our POS in a manner we suspect will significantly affect our take-home pay.

In the process of forming our cooperative, we have learned to lean on each other's support, and now we are reaching out to the community.

We have set a goal that we do not expect to reach, but any donations you make will be used to cover the living expenses of striking baristas. Funds will be transferred to a private account of one of the baristas in question, Damon Schopen, to be dispensed equally from there to the four other striking baristas.