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Unionized Starbucks in Canada?

Submitted by ncwobbly on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 10:07pm.
I was playing around on some of the old iww.org posts and I came across one under the Vancouver section that reads: The never-ending Unstrike that the members of CAW Local 3000 commenced against Starbucks on May 13, 2002 continues. The major issues are job security, concessions, and seniority, and Starbucks still has no interest in negotiating. Further information can be obtained by phoning 604-516-8030. The Unstrikers are asking that we patronize only their unionized Starbucks locations: Some Starbucks are unionized in Canada? Do the IWW Starbucks union have a relationship with them? Does anyone know the history of this?
‹ Anti-Capitalist Bloc @ the RNC retailworker.org ›

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billybobince Says:
Fri, 10/26/2007 - 3:30am
i believe the CAW recently gave up on the few starbucks they had organised as they weren't 'profitable enough' for them. not sure where i heard that though

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Stripey Says:
Fri, 10/26/2007 - 11:36am
I heard it on CBC radio. They had a brief interview with a union bureaucrat. He basically didn't seem to care. he said it was a hard industry to maintain power in because of high turnover. Sounded really lame. I think the rest of the article was about the wobblies however.

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ncwobbly Says:
Fri, 10/26/2007 - 10:44pm
Wow, Wobbly coverage on CBC? I'm impressed.

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Stripey Says:
Sun, 10/28/2007 - 4:16pm
http://www.iww.org/en/node/3371

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paulb Says:
Thu, 12/27/2007 - 12:39am
Yeah, the IWW SWU had a relationship with the CAW local in Vancouver that had organized several Starbucks. They decerted a year ago I think. From what I heard, the company had been gradually wearing down morale for years and the CAW National leadership weren't particularly interested in mounting any real challenge necessary to take on a big company like Starbucks. Paul B.

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spacequixote Says:
Sun, 01/06/2008 - 8:48pm
I think this is a pretty good reason why we should be leery of calls to try and build a more staff based campaign in our own organizing in these kinds of small shops. The simple fact is servicing comprehensive contracts is not feasible with shops these small. If CAW, with millions upon millions of dollars can't service these workers under a standard organizing model I doubt we would fare much better.

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