Submitted by x344543 on Fri, 05/01/2009 - 11:26pm
By Adam Turl - Socialist Worker, April 17, 2009
Disclaimer: The International Socilaist Organization is not affiliated with the IWW or vice versa.
WHEN BANK of America hosted a conference call to discuss how to
defeat the Employee Free Choice Act, one executive used a new
formulation: "the Starbucks problem."
His worry: workers might follow the example of Starbucks baristas
and form their own unions without waiting for bigger "traditional"
unions to organize them.
In the past five years, the Starbucks Workers Union (SWU)--a part of
the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)--has spread from one
Manhattan store to win hundreds of members in New York City,
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Grand Rapids, Chicago and beyond.
The SWU has made inroads among a section of the workforce--low-wage
retail workers--that many unions have written off as too difficult to
organize. Indeed, organized labor represents just 5 percent of workers
in retail.
Since its formation, the SWU has won a series of important National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rulings and achieved gains for baristas on
the job. Given the dire straits workers face today, if Corporate
America is worried about the "Starbucks problem," then union members
and supporters should take a close look at the SWU.
Submitted by x360279 on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 10:01am
Clowning the Boss
By FW double jeff
Monday, February 16th The New York branch of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union held an energetic eight-hour picket outside two separate Starbucks locations. Originally planned as a “loose informal picket” outside the Union Square East Starbucks location, managerial stupidity and increased union-busting activity on the part of Starbucks turned it into a media circus and all night protest. Between the time when the picket was planned and when it actually took place, Starbucks decided to fire yet another union barista, Sharon Bell, from the 17th and Broadway location, conveniently located across the park from Union Square East.
The picket was called to protest the recent wave of Starbucks layoffs and draw attention to the refusal of Starbucks to pay severance, in spite of claiming in several press releases to the media that they will be providing severance pay to all laid off workers. The message was expanded to include the demand for the reinstatement of Sharon Bell and an immediate end to the illegal, unethical, nationally coordinated union-busting operations of Starbucks Coffee.
Submitted by x344543 on Fri, 03/20/2009 - 4:35pm
Chicago, IL (03-19-2009)- The Starbucks Coffee Co. informed outspoken union
member and barista, Joe Tessone, yesterday that it was laying him off, just two
weeks after he confronted CEO Howard Schultz over the company's squeezing of
employees. Mr. Tessone's blog post on the encounter entitled, "Howard the
Coward: The Day My Boss Ran Away" quickly became an Internet hit among fast food
workers and their supporters (online at:
http://www.iww.org/en/node/4618).
"When I heard Howard Schultz was in town, I knew had to get to the store
and make my voice heard as a barista and union member," said Tessone, a 4-year
veteran of the company with an excellent performance record. "He said he'd speak
to me after his interview with the Wall Street Journal only to scurry through
the emergency exit the first chance he got. I told Schultz that it was time to
dialogue with union baristas and that too many of us we're living in poverty but
he showed nothing but cowardice."
Shortly after his exchange with Schultz, Tessone was ordered into a
one-on-one meeting with a Starbucks Regional Director rather than the store
manager who would normally administer discipline. The director warned Tessone
that he was out of compliance with Starbucks' new "Optimal Scheduling" policy
which pries open baristas' availability to work without guaranteeing any work
hours. The problem with the director's rationale: Tessone's availability was
indeed in complete compliance with Optimal Scheduling requirements which are
laid out in a written policy. The same rationale was erroneously deployed by
Tessone's store manager yesterday when he was laid off.
Submitted by x357737 on Wed, 03/11/2009 - 1:01am
by Joe Tessone
03/03/09- The time is 8:55 AM, 5
minutes before my alarm clock was supposed to sound I am awoken by a
text message which says that Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO and #1 union
buster, is having a press conference at the Oak and Rush Starbucks
location. I jump out of bed, get dressed, and haul downtown. By the
time I get there, the news cameras are gone. I look around and there he
is sitting behind a merchandise wall in an interview with a few
reporters. I order an Iced Tall Passion Tea… no need for caffeine, I’m
fired up.
My old District Manager is in the cafe
greeting customers and she asks me why I’m there. “Just getting a
drink,” I respond. She then proceeds to make a call on her cell phone,
obviously calling upper management. After I get my beverage, I find a
seat, set my bag down, and I approach him.
Submitted by x360279 on Tue, 02/17/2009 - 3:24pm
From
NBC New York:
Protesters call for "reinstatement of all fired union baristas"
With 10 or 15 current and former Starbucks colleagues by her side, former barista Sharon Bell stood dressed in a black winter parka holding a sign with the names of six recently fired baristas, including herself, and the words, "Rehire laid off baristas now!!!"
Last week, Bell was fired by Starbucks for what her managers said were issues relating to her tardiness and overall attendance, a charge she and her fellow union members adamantly deny.
Bell said the real reason for her "expresso termination" is recent activity with the Starbucks Workers Union. In a document given out at the protest, the union claims the popular coffee company "has illegally fired three baristas for organizing with the Starbucks Workers Union. Sheanel Simon, Sharon Bell and Neal Linder are excellent baristas and highly respected union members." The Union goes on to note that Simon has since been reinstated, while Bell and Linder remain unemployed.
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