GR Starbucks employee firing triggers global protests
Submitted on Fri, 07/11/2008 - 2:24am
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Originally published at woodtv.com
Kentwood, Mich. (WOOD)
- Western Michigan is in the center of a series of global
demonstrations against Starbucks after a local employee was fired for
union activity.
Workers picketed a Kentwood Starbucks store Saturday afternoon in response to two union related firings by the coffee giant, one in Spain, and one right here in West Michigan.
Cole Dorsey, an East Grand Rapids barista, worked for the company for two years, and was considered a stellar employee, until he was fired the day Starbucks discovered he was in a union.
Starbucks would not reveal any specifics about why Dorsey was fired.
Leaders of the protest say Starbucks has been firing outspoken union baristas ever since the start of the (Industrial) Workers of the World Starbucks Workers Union in 2004.
Dorsey who was present at the Kentwood protest, hopes to alter how Starbucks pays and treats it's coffee growers and baristas. "If they see this global solidarity of people that are angry throughout the world they might have to reconsider how many stores they can open," he told 24 Hour News 8 Reporter Jessica Leffler.
A Starbucks representative told 24 Hour News 8 they consider their employees partners and "respect our partners right to organize, but believe that they would not find it necessary given our pro-partner environment."
The protests took place in Argentina, Chile, the British Isles, Italy, Japan, Norway, Serbia, Poland, Slovakia, 4 cities in Spain, 6 cities in Germany. In the US: Phoenix, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, and Kentwood.