News - All Departments and Unions

This is the news page for all IWW Departments and Unions. This page displays *all* news items from every Department and Union. To see news only from a particular Department, click on the Department title below.

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Industrial Worker - Issue #1717, July 2009

Submitted by Diane on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 10:48pm.

Headlines:

  • UE Workers in Chicago Facing Another Plant Closure
  • PIDC Hunger Strike Leader Assaulted & Threatened
  • Indigenous People Massacred in Peru

Features:

  • Recession: Time To Organize
  • Special: Wobbly Art & Poetry
  • Post-Fordism in Northern Ireland
Download a free PDF copy of this issue.

False Advertising? MPG Lays Off Workers While Profits Grow

Submitted by Diane on Fri, 06/19/2009 - 12:42pm.
By Diane Krauthamer

On Wednesday, June 17, members of the New York City IWW protested against the callous layoffs at Havas’ Media Planning Group (MPG), a multimillion dollar media agency whose clients include some of the largest corporations in the world.

MPG recently cut 11 percent of its staff, primarily at its headquarters in New York. But the media giant did not anticipate that one of its former employees, Joseph Sanchez, would publicize their anti-worker practices.

“This extremely profitable corporation laid me off just to put extra money in their pockets,” said Sanchez, who worked in the client accounting department. “Instead of making a living wage, I’m surviving off unemployment benefits and food stamps.”

IWW Member to Debate Libertarian Party Member on Community Radio

Submitted by intexile on Mon, 06/15/2009 - 5:23am.
The massive federal give-away to private banks and insurance companies has sparked protests across the political spectrum. Recently, some members of the far-right Libertarian Party have sought to make common cause with the left around these issues.

Do we really have grounds to work together on these issues?

John Reimann, Communications Officer for the SF Bay GMB of the IWW will present a socialist viewpoint vs. the viewpoint of the Libertarians as presented by E. Wayne Johnson, Libertarian Party member and former candidate for Urbana City Council. on the radio on Saturday, June 20 at 11:30 a.m. Central time. The show will be hosted by the IWW's own David Johnson, also from Champaign, IL on WEFT* radio.

Fellow Worker Johnson hosts a regular "Labor Hour" show on WEFT at this time. It can be heard online at: WWW.WEFT.ORG.

Saturday, June 20, 11:30 a.m. Central Time. WWW.WEFT.ORG or, for those in and around Champaign/Urbana IL on the radio at 90.1 FM.

Disclaimer: The IWW members on this radio show are representing their own viewpoints and not speaking in any official capacity for the IWW.

PIDC Hunger Strike Leader Assaulted and Threatened with Deportation

Submitted by Diane on Mon, 06/08/2009 - 11:41pm.

By Greg Rodriguez

June 3, 2009 was a day of anger and sadness for people in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas—a region known for its vast rural landscapes and primarily immigrant community. At around 6:15 a.m., Southwest Workers’ Union (SWU) member Nadezhda Garza received a phone call from a detainee inside the Port Isabel Detention Center (PIDC). The worried voice on the other end of the phone line informed Garza that fellow detainee Rama Carty had been assaulted by four private guards and one federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent at around 5:45 a.m. The ICE agent allegedly involved was identified as Lieutenant Sandoval. When Carty demanded to speak with representatives of Amnesty International, USA, the guards proceeded to drag him away. Policy Director of Refugee and Migrant Rights for Amnesty International, USA, Sarnata Reynolds, and a representative named Daryl Grisgraber, were at PIDC since June 2. They were writing up a report on conditions inside the facility, and met with Carty on the day before the assault.


What do Starbucks and Wal-Mart have in common?

Submitted by intexile on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 8:54pm.
What do Starbucks and Wal-Mart have in common?

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Disclaimer - The opinions of the author do not necessarily match those of the IWW. This article is reposted in accordance to Fair Use guidelines.


Union backers target Starbucks with new-media campaign

Submitted by intexile on Mon, 06/01/2009 - 6:35pm.

Disclaimer - The opinions of the author do not necessarily match those of the IWW. The image pictured to the right did not appear in the original article, we have added it here to provide a visual perspective. This article is reposted in accordance to Fair Use guidelines.

Critics use a website and social media to portray the coffee giant as anti-union. The company denies being a bad employer.

By Patrick McDonnell - Los Angeles Times, May 28, 2009

Starbucks a hub of union-busting and worker exploitation?

Say it ain't so, Howard Schultz!

The Starbucks chief executive, who actively cultivates a socially progressive image, is in the cross hairs of a new-media campaign designed to bolster union representation at the retail giant and beyond. For five years, Starbucks has been the target of a limited but sometimes nasty unionization drive that has tarnished its reputation for high-minded benevolence.

But last week, Brave New Films in Culver City launched an ambitious "Stop Starbucks" offensive, including a website (stopstarbucks.com) featuring a four-minute video that was also posted on YouTube assailing Starbucks' treatment of workers, along with a petition demanding that Schultz "quit following Wal-Mart's anti-union example." By week's end, almost 12,000 had signed the petition, while nearly 40,000 had viewed the video, organizers said.

The anti-Starbucks onslaught also featured an attempted Twitter "hijacking" designed to undermine a Starbucks promotion in which contestants vied for prizes by submitting photos of themselves at Starbucks cafes. The virtual saboteurs forwarded the required "Twitpics" but hoisted signs blaring seditious mottos such as "I want a union with my latte" or Schultz "makes millions, workers make beans."


Industrial Worker - Issue #1716, June 2009

Submitted by Diane on Thu, 05/28/2009 - 4:30pm.

Headlines:

  • Immigrant Detainees on Hunger Strike at South Texas ICE Facility
  • International May Day Reports
  • Baltimore Marches for Living Wages

Features:

  • First Independent Trade Union Forms in Egypt
  • Farewell to FWs Franklin Rosemont and Jennie Cedervall
  • Anzac Day Commemoration of the IWW Anti-Conscription Campaign
Download a free PDF copy of this issue.

Statement of the Starbucks Workers Union on its Fifth Anniversary

Submitted by intexile on Sat, 05/23/2009 - 4:31pm.
May 17, 2009 marks five years since baristas at a Starbucks in New York City announced their membership in the Industrial Workers of the World and launched a campaign open to employees throughout the company.  A worker-led organizing effort with the legendary IWW at the world's largest coffee chain could have been a flash in the pan? brilliant and inspiring, but brief.  But a fire was lit and a movement began. The idea that Starbucks workers could organize themselves and speak in their own voice, independent of company executives and union bureaucrats, could not be restrained.

The bosses did their best to defeat us, to bury any indication of our existence under a heap of lies and retaliatory firings. They tried to stamp us out, even as the campaign for secure jobs and a living wage burst from New York into Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota and beyond.

While Starbucks used the economic crisis as a pretext for an all-out assault on our already meager standard of living, our struggle gained momentum this year amidst a stark decline of the company's brand and widespread store closures.  Baristas around the country and around the world made the decision to organize and fight back against severe cuts in work hours, chronic under staffing, and a new "Optimal Scheduling" program which forces many workers to be available to Starbucks for over 80 hours a week without being guaranteed a single work hour.

This journey has been full of set-backs and tests of will.  Progress has been made yet much remains to be done.  But one thing is certain: our voice for dignity is firmly planted and our union?s future is bright.