By ALAN WECHSLER, Business writer (Photo by Paul Buckowski) - Albany Times Union, May 2, 2007

ALBANY -- As Circuit City Stores Inc. Tuesday projected it will post a first-quarter loss of as much as $90 million, it wasn't getting much sympathy from protesters in front of its local store.
   
They were members of the Industrial Workers of the World union, and on Tuesday they were protesting Circuit's firing of 3,400 employees around the country. The company had dismissed the higher-paid workers in March, replacing them with lower-paid new hires as part of a cost-cutting plan.

"It's the most incredibly outrageous act by a corporation today," said Paul Poulos of Hartwick, who was passing out fliers that read "Boycott Circuit City."

Circuit City has offered to hire back the workers after a 10-week "cooling-off" period, but at reduced pay.

"It's an unprecedented way to trim costs," said Greg Giorgio, an OTB channel announcer from Altamont who also produces a labor show on WRPI. He held up a sign that said "Circuit City -- Ultimate Corporate Greed."

The manager of the Crossgates Commons store declined to comment, except to say that the protesters -- standing on the sidewalk in front of the store -- were not on store property. A spokesman at the Richmond, Va.-based company also declined to comment.

Circuit City officials say the layoffs were part of the company's attempt to save money in light of worse-than-expected earnings due to poor sales of large-screen televisions.

It now expects a loss from continuing operations before income taxes of $80 million to $90 million for the first quarter of its 2008 fiscal year. The company has also said it is closing seven domestic stores, a Kentucky distribution center and 62 company-owned stores.

Circuit City has long struggled for market share against Best Buy Co., and analysts have said each of Best Buy's locations bring in about twice as much revenue as its smaller rival. Both have seen fierce competition from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

In a research note Monday, analysts at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. said Best Buy, the nation's No. 1 electronics retailer, has "significant competitive advantages" and is "well positioned to take business from both Circuit City's operational changes and closed Tweeter and CompUSA stores."

Tweeter Home Entertainment Group Inc. said last month that it is closing 49 of its 153 stores and laying off about 650 workers.

The Upstate N.Y. IWW Branch and its anti-sweatshop committee will stage their second informational picket in support of Sweatfree Baseball in Cooperstown, N.Y.on Saturday, July 23rd, beginning at approximately 11:30 a.m. on Main street.

The IWW here and in other locations in the U.S., including Pittsburgh, Baltimore Milwaukee and other cities, continues to call on Major League Baseball to create justice for workers who toil under miserable conditions to produce highly profitable MLB licensed logo gear. Factory production of MLB items like hats, shirts, jerseys and team jackets takes place in the larger context of globalization, in facilities all over the world whose common denominator is low pay,intimidation and harassment of workers, hostilitytoward unions and many other documented abuses.

The IWW and other groups with concerns about sweatshop production abuses have conceived Sweatfree Baseball to bring about a transformation of how licensed sports logo gear is produced. The recommendations for change are based on a 3 point plan. The gear must be produced via a process that allows citizens of the MLB Baseball system to serve in an advisory capacity to team owners and league officials to ensure that community standards and legal requirements are met for the items -- Community Collective Bargaining. Next, the production facilities who supply Major League Baseball with clothing must participate in Certified Payroll verification to prevent some of the worst abuses in pay shortages and other employer intimidation. And Free Speech rights must be honored for the factory workers and at the ballparks, often virtual lockdowns against public protest about such inhumane and anti-worker practices. The fans often pay for the stadiums through their tax dollars, so let's let them speak!

Audio Link (IWW piece is second story): http://lsiprelle.simpli.biz/laborradio/files/lo/winsheadlines.ram

June 10, 2005

A worker at a Starbucks in New York City is claiming she was fired for encouraging others to join a union. Sarah Bender was a barista at the 17th Street and 1st Avenue store. She says she became interested in joining the Retail Workers Union, a branch of the Industrial Workers of the World, after she heard about successes at the Madison Ave and 36th Street shop. The battle on Madison Avenue has led to Starbucks being called before the National Labor Relations Board on charges of union busting and threatening employees. Bender says once she brought up unions with her coworkers, similar actions occurred.

[Bender1]: Workers at my own store where getting interrogated and having closed door meetings with the manager. Some people were getting threatened to not get promoted if they were involved with me or involved with the union. A lot of things went on for about eight months before I got fired.