We have received the following serious complaint of employer arbitrariness, which we publish (verbatim) with every reservation.
“Translation:
The text that follows is the witness of a comrade who went through an abusive incident and was later fired from working at Kufiya, the new Palestinian coffee place in Saripolou, Limassol.
[I was working at Kufiya for approximately a month. Kufiya is a place that aims to create a confortable and welcoming atmosphere around the Palestinian culture. At first, Ι was happy to work there, since I fully support the struggle against the Palestinian genocide. I always spoke in the best way for the shop and whenever I had the opportunity, I invited people to visit. I always went to work with a good mood, serving the customers in the best way possible.
The day came when I felt a lot of injustice towards me. It was the day I got fired without a warning, through a text message. It was a Tuesday. That day, the shop wasn’t busy at all. One of the owners was with me in the shop. Two greek cypriot clients entered the shop, looking around the same age as me. One of them, knew my boss. They greeted each other and then my boss left. I went to prepare their order, and as the shop was empty, I decided to go sit on the couch. After aproximately an hour I decided to socialize. I could hear them speak about the situation in the world today, talking about a city, which one I don’t remember now, that there, people earn very little money compared to their expences and nobody reacts against this situation. At that moment, I added “yes, sounds like Limassol”, since we also have a big housing problem and expensive rents.
The response from the client, the one that knew the owner, was completely unpredictable to me. The scene that followed shook me, as the client I now had in front of me was raising the tone of his voice and addressing his words towards me without listening to what I had to say. The problematic customer directed the conversation as he wanted, constantly changing the subject and with an invasive attitude. I was then very confused with his behaviour, I knew whatever I had to say wasn’t going to change his macho attitude and tone.
The problematic customer I had in front of me was out of control, shouting that gay people shouldn’t exist as they are not normal and un-natural, and shouted the insulting word faggot. He said a lot of homophobic opinions that I do not want to recreate here. I needed to find a way to stop this attack. I needed to find a way to protect myself as I was alone with them in the shop. Anybody could walk in the shop and I needed to make sure the shop was a welcoming place for all. The two people I had in front me where harmful. I stood up and told them, without shouting but with a serious tone, that their homophobic opinions and attitude are not welcome and tolerated in the shop and asked them to leave. The response from the customer was negative and started threatening me that my boss won’t like what I just said. I couldn’t stand being in the shop with them so I went outside. Shortly after, one of the shop owners arrived at the shop, and went on in a very friendly way to greet the homophobic customers. He came outside and asked me to close their bill and so I did. I didn’t tell my boss that I have asked them to leave. I started the conversation through saying that the customers/friends where shouting homophobic statements and insults in the shop. My boss did not engage with what I told him, he just said, well this is their opinion.
At 9pm I finished my shift and at 9:22 pm I received a message from the one of my bosses that deals with the staff, stating that I am fired for 3 reasons. Frist one was that I did not wear my uniform. I had already asked them twice for more t-shirts as I only received two in total. Second reason was that I was sitting down a lot and not working but when I finished all the jobs and there were no customers there was nothing more I could do. The third reason was ‘arguing with clients is a red line, doesn’t matter what is the reason.’ As I explained earlier there was no argument or conversation with the customers. I was attacked, disrespected and felt unsafe in my working environment.
And this is how Kufiya ended for me. The 4 bosses and owners of Kufiya gave me no chance to explain what I went through that day but instead chose to support their homophobic customer and friend through choosing to fire me. They chose to simply send me a message, without a notice of some days before I leave and without any chance for a conversation. It left me thinking that my experience or feelings do not matter or have any value to them. I feel also that they do not understand what economic instability might mean for someone like me.
Kufiya for me was a place that represented the Palestinian resistance against the genocide, since the main palestinian solidarity group in Limassol is also hosted there. After this experience, I disagree with the positioning of the owners of this business, that tolerate homophobic behaviour in their shop and that do not support their workers against harassment. I believe that United for Palestine should demand that Kufiya doesn’t continue to act with such a business oriented logic, against the LGBTQI community and with little respect towards their employees.
I fully support the struggle against the genocide that is happening in Palestine. Ideologically, I support this struggle with an intersectional point of view, meaning that all struggles are connected, I stand against any form of oppression, against colonization that creates the path for heteronormativity and I stand against sexism and against every form of working oppression that is diffused in capitalism. I believe in a world where self-determination, both in our bodies and in our sexuality, is as much a right as well as a way to value diversity in our cultures, whether it’s the Palestinian or Cypriot by culture, or any culture threatened to extinction.]”
The above incident underlines once again the first and most important position of the IWW Constitution, that workers and bosses have NOTHING in common. This fact (must) never escape the mind of every conscious worker, even when the reaction to atrocities and massacres of biblical proportions, such as the current genocide in Gaza, brings every person with a shred of grit and humanity together in protest.
After all, as we mentioned in our recent article Additional Notes on Palestine & BDS, “it would be wrong to ignore that the lack of equal rights between Israeli and Palestinian workers (the apartheid) is benefiting Palestinian employers as well.”. Finally, our non-negotiable and historic support for the Palestinian working class is not a Siloam’s Pool to wash away sexist, homophobic and patriarchal attitudes and views.
An Injury to One is an Injury to All!
