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A Storied Union Takes On Starbucks [BusinessWeek]

Posted Fri, 08/03/2007 - 11:45am by x344543

The Industrial Workers of the World is taking on the coffee giant and its much-praised workplace practices

by Moira Herbst - Business Week

Daniel Gross looks a lot like your average Starbucks (SBUX) barista. The 28-year-old is slim and clean-shaven, dressed in tan cargo pants and a T-shirt.

But Gross would rather talk about worker solidarity than lattes and soy milk these days. A volunteer organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Gross claims his involvement with the union got him fired from a New York City Starbucks a year ago. Now he's preparing to go before a judge on Aug. 6 to make the case for himself and other baristas he says have been fired or intimidated for union activity. Seated in the one-room headquarters of the IWW's local in Queens (N.Y.), Gross says it's all part of a broader battle to change the way American companies treat their employees.

Starbucks Organizing Hits Europe Along w/ Union-Busting

Posted Fri, 08/03/2007 - 11:36am by x344543

Report from Starbucks organizing in Europe
by Diane Krauthamer and Adam Lincoln

Throughout the summer, we have been touring Europe with presentations of film and discussion to draw attention to the efforts of Starbucks workers organizing with the IWW, and to bring to light the vicious union-busting campaign that has been waged by Starbucks Coffee Company. Comrades throughout the continent are expressing immense support with the six fired baristas in New York City and workers struggling in such retail jobs throughout the world. We have reached out to many baristas and have had nothing but positive reactions from fellow workers the IWW, the Confédération Nationale du Travail (CNT-F) in Paris and in Die Freie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeiter Union (FAU-IAA) in Berlin. But what's important now is the reaction of Schultz & Co., in light of such events, as their reaction consists of worker intimidation and vicious PR manuevers that had not previously developed on this side of the Atlantic.

Solidaridad Issue #4 Out Now

Posted Wed, 07/18/2007 - 2:37am by x344543
Featuring:
  • Los Angeles: 1 de mayo, 2007 la lucha sigue
  • El Sindicato de Trabajadores de Starbucks (IWW) sigue creciendo
  • Trabajando sin patrón: reflexiones acerca del movimiento de empresas recuperadas
PDF File

Industrial Worker - Issue #1697, July 2007

Posted Thu, 07/12/2007 - 9:01pm by x348328

Headlines:

  • IWW UK fights centralized blood service
  • US Supreme Court tightens noose on victims of job discrimination
  • Cambodian textile workers feel crunch
  • Ontario workers march as factories close

Featured Articles:

  • Working without bosses in Argentina
  • Training IWW organizers in the US Midwest
  • Obituary: Remembering Fellow Worker Mark Dickson

Download a free PDF copy of this issue. 

Industrial Worker - Issue #1696, June 2007

Posted Tue, 06/19/2007 - 12:43am by x348328

Headlines:

  • Solidarity Never? BC teachers' fed locks out staff
  • Mexican unions move toward independence
  • Latin American solidarity must be grassroots, not government-led

Featured Articles:

  • Four pages of May Day coverage!
  • Review: Unions can help elect Democrats, but what for?
  • Australian Labor Party no working class saviour
  • Tightline Johnson conclusion: The Long Road
Download a free PDF copy of this issue.