PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Justin Hillsmith has been prepping breads and batters at the vegan bakery Shoofly in Southeast Portland. But now, after he and a dozen co-workers say the new owner missed two paychecks, they want to turn it into a worker-owned co-op.
It’s silent inside this Portland favorite along Southeast Division and 11th. A letter taped to the door explains the employees walked out of Shoofly last Friday over the missed paychecks.
“It was kind of a hard decision to walk off the job and to just, kind of, give up the prospect of future paychecks,” Hillsmith told KOIN 6 News.
But the idea of a co-op is appealing.
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“It’s not just us that loves Shoofly enough to fight for it,” he said. “It’s everyone we talk to in Portland and it just means a huge amount to them and to us.”…