Dosha Salon Spa was elected the 2011 “Scrooge of the Year” at a Dec. 10 fundraiser for Portland Jobs with Justice. Scrooge of the Year, formerly Grinch of the Year, is a tradition with the workers’ rights group: At its annual holiday fundraiser, contributors get 15 votes for each $15 contribution, and may vote however they like for the standout bad boss of the year. This year, Dosha won in a landslide.
Dosha is a salon with five locations around Portland. Workers voted in March to join CWA Local 7901, but the company appears to have adopted a “grind them down, wait them out” strategy, and no collective bargaining agreement has been reached in over six months of negotiation. Meanwhile, paychecks have bounced, one pro-union worker has been fired, and management set up a surveillance camera in a break room.
In Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” Ebenezer Scrooge has a change of heart after his sleep is disturbed by visits from a trio of ghosts. It’s still possible that Dosha owner Ray Motameni could have similar attack of conscience, with visions of the uninsured Tiny Tims in the homes of his low-wage hair stylists and nail techs.
[…] Occupy Christmas has been active since early November. References to Christmas elves on strike, Scrooge, and the Grinch abound in humor blogs and labor coverage during the holiday […]
[…] It becomes clear Dosha is going to fight, and protesters take over the street outside the Hawthorne location. Portland Jobs with Justice names Dosha 2011 “Scrooge of the Year.” […]