Restaurant, Hotel, and Building Service Workers I.U. 640

This page displays *all* news items from Restaurant, Hotel, and Building Service Workers Industrial Union 640.

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IWW Cleaners Score Victory in Guildhall Dispute

Posted Mon, 08/01/2011 - 12:42pm by IWW.org Editor

Cleaners at the Corporation of London, Guildhall have achieved a significant victory in a dispute with their sub-contractor Ocean Contract Cleaning London Ltd. Organised in the London IWW Cleaners and Allied Industries Branch (IU 640) this has been a major achievement for the workers and the IWW as a whole.

The Guildhall was built between 1411 and 1440 as a symbol of the English ruling elite – many of its labour policies remain stuck in its medieval past. The workers who maintain the splendour of the Guildhall are on a miserable £5.93 per hour, they receive no sick pay or pension. They are hired through Ocean Contract Cleaning. A company also with a long history worthy of a medieval establishment - in 2006 London Citizens uncovered that workers employed by Ocean at a London University were being commonly under-paid or not paid at all. Those cleaners recovered £50,000 in unpaid wages.

At the Guildhall the cleaners found themselves in a similar situation of being repeatedly underpaid in their wages going back months. Some waited two to three months to get wages they were owed. They even had the Public Holiday for the Royal Wedding deducted from their holiday leave. To add insult to injury the workers who are overwhelmingly migrants, from Latin America, Asia and Africa are subjected to management abuses now common place in the cleaning industry, petty bullying, and disciplinaries for next to nothing. If you are five minutes late you are sent home, if you are late again you are fired. IWW members have reported being threatened with dismissal for being two-minutes late.

IWW Starbucks Workers Union Declares Global Week of Action against Starbucks Union Busting in Solidarity with the Chilean Starbucks Strikers

Posted Sat, 07/23/2011 - 12:08pm by IWW.org Editor

Liberté Locke (IWW, NYC) 917-693-7742, liberte.angrybarista [at] gmail.com (English Only)

Andrés Giordano (President of El Sindicato de Trabajadores de Starbucks en Santiago, Chile) 011-569-918-19467, sindicatosbux [at] gmail.com (English and Spanish Speaking)

July 22. 2011

Union Seeks to Hold Starbucks Accountable for their Union Busting at Home and Abroad

NEW YORK – Monday, July 25th, the IWW Starbucks Workers Union will launch a Global Week of Action in support of their separate but sister union El Sindicato de Trabajadores de Starbucks en Chile (Starbucks Workers Union in Chile). 

Over 200 baristas and shift supervisors that work in the 32 Chilean Starbucks locations went on strike on July 7th.  They are striking in an effort to have their demands met.  Their most crucial demand is earning a higher wage.  Currently baristas at Starbucks in Chile make $2.50/hr. while the drinks are still sold for US prices, and they haven’t received raises in 8 years.  The baristas are also asking for a lunch stipend in order to eat during their shifts, this is something managers in Chile are provided.

Two weeks, to the day, after the strike began a New York City barista and mother of two young children was fired for announcing her membership in the IWW Starbucks Workers Union.  The company gave no official reason for her termination but did fire her when she refused to meet with higher ups without her attorney and union representative present, which was a previous agreement between the union and management.  Tiffany White-Thomas has worked at the Canal/Broadway Starbucks for over two years. She was up for a promotion when her store manager, Rafael Fox, told her that, being a mother, she would not have the time necessary to dedicate to the company so he would not be promoting her.  A letter given to Tiffany’s managers made reference to the collective efforts of the IWW Starbucks Union and the Chilean Strikers.  Both unions feel that that this solidarity across borders  is seen as a threat to the company and is, in part, what led to Tiffany’s termination.

In New York City, the first solidarity action will be a press conference and picket in front of the Canal and Broadway Starbucks location, 405 Broadway between Walker and Canal St., starting at 12pm on Monday, July 25th.  The IWW is demanding full reinstatement of Tiffany White-Thomas and that Starbucks negotiate in good faith with their brothers and sisters of El Sindicato de Trabajadores de Starbucks en Chile.

Similar actions in support of the Chilean Strikers are expected in various cities throughout the US and the world throughout next week.

The IWW Starbucks Workers Union is a grassroots organization composed entirely of current and former Starbucks employees who have fought for respect, security, affordable health care and a living wage since 2004. Working together, SWU members have improved working conditions for Starbucks employees and won legal victories against unfair labor practices.

Urgent Solidarity Appeal - Starbucks Worker Wrongfully Terminated!

Posted Thu, 07/21/2011 - 1:02pm by IWW.org Editor

Call and/or text Starbucks Store Manager Rafael Fox @ 860-559-6339. Demand Tiffany White-Thomas' job be reinstated @ the Canal/Broadway Starbucks in NYC. Demand to know why he refuses to promote mothers, discriminates in hiring, and fires union workers. Do not stop.

Official Release from the IWW London Cleaners

Posted Thu, 07/21/2011 - 12:31pm by IWW.org Editor

The Guildhall, London according to its own website was designed to show the power of London's ruling elite. This tradition is continued today by annual speeches by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Governor of the Bank of England. The most recent event was a dinner in tribute to the new Ronald Regan statue attended by the Foreign Secretary, Condoleezza Rice and other dignitaries.

Though regularly hosting wealthy patrons of this ancient and prestigious venue, the cleaning staff are failing to be paid for the actual hours they work. Whilst their hourly rate are far below the London Living Wage.

In June of this year, 34 cleaners employed by Ocean Contract Cleaning London struck for 2 days because of many workers receiving underpaid wages over the last 3 months. On average 2 weeks of wages were missing.

The company promised to pay the overdue wages by the 20th of June and so the dispute was suspended.

However when the cleaners received their last pay packets, the company failed to keep their promises which resulted in the cleaners calling a new strike day for 15th July with a picket outside London Guildhall 5:30am to 10:00am.

The workers raised a collective grievance to review the salaries for the past 6 months but Ocean Contract Cleaning London are have ignored this and refuse to participate in any collective bargaining process.

The cleaners of Guildhall are on poverty pay rates of £5.95 per hour, whilst working in one of the most expensive cities in Europe and receiving no sick pay or pension. According to the London Living Wage Unit this is officially poverty pay and the London Living Wage has been set at £8.30.

There will be banners and support by fellow trade unionists including Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

IWW Cleaners Strike Hits London

Posted Thu, 07/21/2011 - 12:22pm by IWW.org Editor

Early  morning contract cleaners hired by the City of London at Guildhall have staged a two day strike in protest at unpaid wages. The 34 cleaners only get the minimum wage, but even then cleaning contractor Ocean has underpaid many of them continuously over the last 3 months, despite asking them to work extra hours.

Their  patience ran out on Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 June, when those still unpaid refused to lift a finger until the company gave them assurances  they would be paid. Their other workmates agreed to stay put with them  in the reception area in solidarity for the duration of their two hour  shift. The situation is now on a knife edge, with  the company issuing some "amended" payslips, and promising that the rest  of the shortfall will be made good this week and in next month?s pay  packet.

The  workers, who hail from many different countries, are meanwhile presenting a collective grievance and have vowed to protest if the company fails to come up with the goods. They belong to the IWW's 640 (Cleaners and Allied Trades) branch. The last visible protest movements by City cleaners were at UBS's Liverpool Street offices in 2010 and the Willis Building in 2009.

Sent by: IWW 640 (Cleaners and Allied Trades branch)