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

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Starbucks Workers Plan Strike in Chile

Posted Thu, 07/21/2011 - 12:03pm by IWW.org Editor

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.

By Julie Jargon - Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2011

In what would be Starbucks Corp.'s first strike at a company-owned store, baristas at the chain's outlets in Chile plan to walk out Thursday because, they say, their wages are so low that they can't afford to buy lunch.

Unionized employees at 30 of Starbucks's 31 Chilean stores plan to walk out for as many as several days, said Andr?s Giordano, president of the union, Sindicato de Trabajadores de Starbucks Coffee Chile.

Mr. Giordano, a 24-year-old shift supervisor in Santiago, said the starting hourly wage for Chilean Starbucks workers is the equivalent of $2.50, and it hasn't changed in eight years.

"Lunch in Chile costs $5 to $6," he added.

The Chilean workers have been pressing for a lunch stipend since they organized two years ago. Starbucks managers in Chile get a monthly "lunch bonus" of $50, while other employees are offered two free coffees a day. "I would prefer to eat a sandwich," Mr. Giordano said.

The skirmish underscores one of the challenges U.S.-based companies like Starbucks face as they expand their global footprint. Multinational companies seeking to enter new markets often have to deal with local labor groups and government requirements to honor collective bargaining.

As a condition of merging with African retailer Massmart Holdings Ltd., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. recently agreed to honor union-bargaining agreements for three years.

Starbucks has had to comply with government-mandated participation in collective-bargaining agreements in Brazil and Argentina. The company has also clashed with workers who tried unsuccessfully to organize in Europe and New Zealand, and it has battled with unionized workers in North America, where 300 employees are members of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union.

Phone Zap in support of Grand Rapids IWW member wrongfully terminated from Jimmy Johns!

Posted Sun, 07/10/2011 - 11:47am by IWW.org Editor

Fellow Worker Mathew Bair was fired July 8 from a JJ in Grand Rapids for alleged costumer complaints, when the facts are that Bair never was told of any complaints and always received praise and good tips from costumers. FW Bair was fired for his membership in the IWW and we won't go silently!

When: Saturday and Sunday July 9th and the 10th 2011 all day

What to Do: Call Owner Tom KirkPatrick.   If he doesn't answer leave a message. 

Demand: That fellow worker Matthew Bair be reinstated and to continue work at Jimmy Johns.  That they stop their campaign against Jimmy Johns workers organizing for a better future.      

Sample Text: Hello Mr. KirkPatrick, I am calling to insist that fellow worker Matthew Bair be reinstated at Jimmy Johns.  It is illegal to terminate someone for their organizing activity.  Please join the consensus of working people around the nation and stop the union busting efforts against your workers.

Tom KirkPatrick   

Phone: (616) 617 3773

Grand Rapids, MI

New Fringe Fest Musical Inspired by Union Fight at Starbucks Puts Low-wage Retail Workers in Spotlight

Posted Sat, 07/02/2011 - 2:19am by x344543

The Silent Room: A Worker's Musical

Contacts: Ted Dewberry, 763-607-4492; Erik Forman, 612-598-6205

The Silent Room Takes Audiences Inside Labor Insurgency in America's Corporate Chains

Sneak Preview: 7:30pm July 7th, Zorongo Dance Theater Performance Dates: August 5th-11th in the Minnesota Fringe Fest at the Gremlin Theater.

MINNEAPOLIS-- When a coworker at Starbucks approached barista Ted Dewberry about forming a union at their workplace, his initial reaction was fear. Working 17 hour days at Starbucks and IKEA to pay off decades-old film school student loans, Ted was in no position to risk his job. He reluctantly agreed to come to a meeting, but only to listen. Little did he know the decision would change his life. In the months that followed, Ted and his coworkers faced down a campaign of intimidation coordinated by Starbucks' anti-union consultants at the Akin Gump law firm, won improved working conditions at their store, and helped spark a retail workers movement that continues to grow with unionization campaigns at Jimmy John's, Target, Walmart, the Apple Store, and other corporate juggernauts.

An independent filmmaker in his limited free time, Dewberry decided to tell the story of what happens when you say "union yes." The result is "The Silent Room," a new music-laced exposé of the misery of the corporate retail workplace. The name of the show is inspired by a special room in the Twin Cities IKEA for workers to go to when they have a nervous breakdown on the job.

Organizing on Wobbly Ground: Learning from ‘Solidarity Unionism at Starbucks’

Posted Sun, 06/19/2011 - 12:02pm by x344543

By Adam Kader, In These Times, June 16, 2011.

This article is reposted in accordance with Fair Use Guidelines.  The opinions of the author do not necessarily reflect those of the IWW and vice versa.  The image included here was not included with the original article.

The decline of unions does not mean the end of the labor movement. Indeed, the last few years have seen a proliferation of new kinds of worker organizations and workers' rights campaigns. Some of the most exciting of late have been conducted by community-based groups (rather than workplace-based unions), such as the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and those part of the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

In Solidarity Unionism at Starbucks, a recent pamphlet published by PM Press, Daniel Gross and Staughton Lynd highlight an increasingly important feature of today’s labor movement—nonunion workers using direct action strategies protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)—while examining the Industrial Workers of the World’s (IWW)'s ongoing efforts to organize Starbucks.

Government Reports Reveal Jimmy John's Lied about Pattern of Food-borne Illness Outbreaks Due to Sick Workers

Posted Sat, 06/04/2011 - 12:48pm by x344543

Company Credibility Erodes as NLRB Investigation over Firing of Six Whistleblowers Continues:

June 3, 2011 - Jimmy John's Workers Union & Industrial Workers of the World
Contacts: Max Specktor, 612-250-7309, Erik Forman 612-598-6205

MINNEAPOLIS- Two months after Jimmy John's fired six workers for blowing the whistle on a company practice of forcing sandwich-makers to work while sick, the IWW Jimmy John's Workers Union has released Minnesota Department of Health documents today revealing eight outbreaks of foodborne illness at franchises across the Twin Cities area in the past five years, seven of which were due to employees working while sick at the chain. The release of the documents seriously erodes the credibility of Minneapolis franchise owner Mike Mulligan who had previously claimed to reporters and employees that, "the company has made more than 6 million sandwiches during its nearly 10 years in business—and no one’s ever gotten sick from eating one." Two of the outbreaks, both caused by sick employees, were at the Mulligans' stores.

"This is smoking gun evidence not only of the seriousness of the public health risk caused by workers being forced to work while sick at Jimmy John's, it also proves that Jimmy John's franchise owner Mike Mulligan willfully lied to the media, the public, and his employees about his food safety track record. We will continue our fight for paid sick days for restaurant workers until Jimmy John's changes their policy to protect workers and the public," said Max Specktor, one of the fired whistleblowers.