• 400 Truckers in Stockton, California strike the industry
• Spain: 'What's going on in Starbucks?' CNT member fired
• Forum on industrial organizing with the IWW in Chile
• Barrick Gold in Pascua Lama, Chile

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BY ADAM FLEMING

Earlier this month, Gov. Ed Rendell endorsed an interstate effort to better enforce anti-sweatshop policies. Pennsylvania is the first state to pledge its support for a proposed anti-sweatshop consortium, made up of states, counties and municipalities from across the country.

"Rendell has taken the leadership of states nationally," says Kenneth Miller, who has long been active in local anti-sweatshop campaigns. "He requires the disclosure of factory locations. He requires wage disclosure. And he's taking the leadership in consolidating that information with different jurisdictions."

For Immediate Release:
Brandworkers International

Contact: press (at) brandworkers.org

Celebrated Thai restaurant is the latest to drop Wild Edibles until it settles a year-long dispute with workers


August 7, 2008

New York, NY- Kittichai, the popular Thai restaurant in Soho, has stopped serving seafood from wholesaler and retailer, Wild Edibles, Inc. over concern for employee rights.  Wild Edibles workers and their allies have been campaigning for almost a year to reclaim stolen overtime pay; to compel compliance with workplace laws including the right to support a labor union; and to win a more livable wage as well as a health care and retirement plan.

"With Kittichai, thirty-four of New York's most well-regarded restaurantshave stopped serving Wild Edibles seafood," said Raymundo Lara Molina, one of eleven Wild Edibles employees fired or forced out in retaliation for asserting their rights.  "When will Wild Edibles see the writing on the wall and accept a just resolution of this dispute?"

From The Providence Journal

By David Scharfenberg

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — A year after a confrontation with police officers in North Providence left her with severe leg injuries, union organizer Alexandra Svoboda arrived at a rally yesterday with a cane, a knee brace and a message of defiance.

“This is the true spirit of resistance,” she said. “This is people saying, ‘no.’ ”

Svoboda, secretary of the Providence branch of the Industrial Workers of the World, was among a group of protesters who clashed with the police Aug. 11, 2007, while marching on Jacky’s Galaxie, a pan-Asian restaurant on Mineral Spring Avenue.

Union members were targeting Jacky’s because the eatery purchased rice and takeout containers from Dragon Land Trading, a restaurant supply company in Queens, N.Y., with a reputation for treating its employees poorly.

For Immediate Release:
Brandworkers International
press (at) brandworkers.org

Tavern on the Green Stops Serving Wild Edibles Seafood Over Workers' Rights Concerns

Legendary Central Park restaurant is the latest to drop Wild Edibles until it settles a year-long dispute with workers

August 11, 2008

New York, NY- Tavern on the Green, one of the nation's highest-grossing restaurants, has stopped serving seafood from wholesaler and retailer, Wild Edibles, Inc. over concern for employee rights. Wild Edibles workers and their allies have been campaigning for almost a year to reclaim stolen overtime pay; to compel compliance with workplace laws including the right to support a labor union; and to win a more livable wage as well as a health care and retirement plan.

IWW Delivers Cake to Mall Of America Starbucks Workers

Saturday June 26 was like any other busy Saturday at the Mall of America 1 Starbucks. A barista had called in sick during the morning shift, another had walked out in disgust the weekend prior. A Manager from another store was covering the shift of a barista who had been fired for union activity two weeks before. The store was shortstaffed, and the lines of customers were long.

But this Saturday was different. By 3:00, the grinding cacaphony of the frappuccino blenders died down, as a chorus of Solidarity Forever echoed through the Mall.

“When the union’s inspiration through the workers’ blood shall run…”

Workers stepped back from their tasks to crowd around the front counter. Managers looked on in silence. About two dozen Wobblies streamed into the Mall of America 1 Starbucks to welcome the workers to the union… with a cake.