Protest rally at Falmouth Dunkin’ Donuts Friday at 9

Rally tomorrow at Dunkin’ Donuts in Falmouth in support of earned sick time

39 locations on Cape Cod alone, Occupy Cape Cod, others join protest here

By Walter Brooks

Dunkin’ Donuts controls roughly 23% of the coffee and snack-shop market, and the coffee and doughnut chain currently operates nearly 7,000 stores nationwide, and this past January said it will double the number of stores in the next twenty years.

The 39 DD’s of Barnstable County.
The Dunkin’ Donut challenge.Each new store adds an average of 20 to 25 new employees, both full and part-time a Dunkin spokeswoman said, but none apparently have health inmsurance. on Cape Cod alone the company has 39 locations.

It is the General Motors of the donut business in America and on Cape Cod.

Tough times call for earned sick time

Now even customers: “Tough times call for earned sick time” as they plan a rally outside of the Dunkin’ Donuts on Main St. in Falmouth tomorrow morning in protest of the Massachusetts-based company policy that prohibits employees from earning a single sick day. Dunkin’ Donuts employees are among the almost 1 million Massachusetts workers who lack earned sick time benefits.

A release from the protest organizer’s PR firm says that without a sick time policy, stores force employees to make the difficult choice between coming into work sick or staying home and losing pay or, in the worst cases, their jobs. When employees get sick, and have no choice but to come to work, they risk spreading illnesses to customers and co-workers.

A new study released last week by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) reveals that the benefits of earned sick time greatly outweigh the costs. The report finds a net benefit of $74 million annually in Massachusetts with substantial benefits for employees, employers, and public health.

Occupy Dunkin’ starts tomorrow

    $6.5 Billion a year in sales

Dunkin’ Donuts is an international doughnut and coffee retailer founded in 1950 by William Rosenberg in Quincy and is now headquartered in Canton Massachusetts.
While the company originally focused on doughnuts and other baked goods, over half of its business today is in coffee sales, making it more of a competitor to Starbucks than to more traditional competitors such as Krispy Kreme and Tim Hortons.
Dunkin’ Donuts annual sales is over $6 billion in franchisee-reported sales and Dunkin’ Brands reported revenue was was an additional $577 million.

Read the Joe Quigley column here.Tomorrow’s action is organized by Occupy Falmouth and the Massachusetts Paid Leave Coalition to target Dunkin’ Donuts as a highly profitable, large corporation who has spoken out against earned sick time.

In a letter to elected officials in March, Robert Branca, Jr., Chairman of the Dunkin’ Donuts Franchise Owners Mass PAC, expressed his strong opposition to earned sick time for Dunkin’ Donuts workers, while he publicly claims that he has no position on the legislation.

The Massachusetts-based Dunkin’ Donuts employs over 25,000 people at over 1,000 locations throughout the Commonwealth while claiming to represent small business. Dunkin’ Donuts franchises dominate the coffee market on the Cape and throughout New England and deny employees this basic right. If a large company like General Motors didn’t provide employees with sick time, there would be outrage, but by claiming to represent small business, Dunkin’ Donuts is able to deny employees this benefit without any backlash.

The legislature is currently considering a bill supported by the Massachusetts Paid Leave Coalition that would allow workers to earn time off to care for themselves or their families when they fall ill.

Protesters will meet tomorrow at 9:00 at the Dunkin’ Donuts at 614 Main St. in downtown Falmouth to urge Dunkin’ Donuts to support earned sick time.

• WHO: Dozens of supporters of earned sick time legislation
• WHERE: Main St. Dunkin’ Donuts, 614 Main St., downtown Falmouth
• WHAT: Rally to urge Dunkin’ Donuts Corporation to support earned sick tim
• WHEN: 9:00, TOMORROW, May 31.