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General Distribution Workers Industrial Union 660

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Starbucks at Franklin and Nicollet becomes first City of Minneapolis location to go union!

Submitted by intexile on sze, 11/12/2008 - 10:34pm.
Contacts:
Aaron Kocher, SWU organizer, Franklin and Nicollet Starbucks: 612-220-6454
Brendan O'Donnell, IWW member at large: 612-306-7517
Erik Forman, SWU organizer, Mall of America Starbucks: 608-695-8705

Press Conferece: 11am November 13, corner of Franklin and Nicollet

Minneapolis, MN- Baristas from the Starbucks Coffee located at the intersection of Nicollet and Franklin Avenues in Minneapolis walked off the floor Wednesday morning to present a petition to management, signed by more than 500 concerned customers and community members, demanding Starbucks hire a security guard to ensure the safety of its patrons and partners.  The workers in turn declared their affiliation with the Starbucks Workers Union, a campaign of the Industrial Workers of the World labor union, becoming the first Starbucks in Minneapolis, and the second in Minnesota, to go union.

A press conference will be held Thursday, November 13, at 11 am, in front of the Franklin and Nicollet Starbucks to celebrate the solidarity of the workers and demand that Starbucks hire a security guard.

Initially, the store partners circulated an internal petition, compiling signatures from most of the store's employees, requesting a meeting to discuss the security situation.  After receiving no productive response from either the store or district manager, the employees turned to the
customers to prove their point.

"We hoped management would recognize the need to discuss these concerns with us, but when they refused to even hold a meeting, we knew more action was needed," said Aaron Kocher, a current store employee.  "We can't work when we are constantly being harassed, threatened, and intimidated, or trying to protect our customers from the same mistreatment," he said.


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Starbucks Management Conference in New Orleans Hit with Unexpected Union Protest

Submitted by intexile on h, 10/27/2008 - 9:52pm.
Contact: starbucksunion (at) yahoo.com

October 27, 2008

Starbucks Management Conference in New Orleans Hit with Unexpected Union Protest

Supporters of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union Took the Streets in an Energetic Display of Solidarity

New Orleans, LA- Starbucks Coffee Co.'s first national conference for managers held outside of Seattle and the first since the return of Howard Schultz as CEO, was rocked by a determined pro-worker demonstration here yesterday.  In the midst of a worsening economic crisis, New Orleans residents rose up to demand respect for the work of Starbucks baristas and coffee farmers who are bearing the brunt of the downturn while company executives continue to rake in millions of dollars.


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Starbucks faces another NLRB complaint [AP]

Submitted by intexile on szo, 10/04/2008 - 9:41pm.

Disclaimer - The opinions of the author do not necessarily match those of the IWW. This article is reposted in accordance to Fair Use guidelines.

By LAUREN SHEPHERD - NEW YORK (AP) - Starbucks Corp. is facing another complaint from the National Labor Relations Board alleging that the gourmet coffee chain engaged in unfair labor practices by firing a barista in Michigan.
The complaint, filed last month by the Detroit office of the NLRB, stems from an investigation into a charge made by employee Cole Dorsey earlier this year.

According to the NLRB complaint, Dorsey--a member of the Industrial Workers of the World union at Starbucks--was fired June 6 from his job at a store in Grand Rapids, Mich. Before being fired, Dorsey had been given two prior disciplinary warnings by his store manager.

The complaint alleges that Dorsey received the warnings and was fired because of his "sympathies for and activities on behalf of" the IWW Starbucks Workers Union. The union has been attempting to organize workers at the chain.


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Starbucks to Require Employee Availability Around the Clock and Cut Workforce in Major National Initiative

Submitted by intexile on p, 10/03/2008 - 9:41pm.
New York, NY- The Starbucks Coffee Co. is in the process of an extreme revamping of its workforce policies according to company documents obtained by the Starbucks Workers Union of the Industrial Workers of the World.  The initiative, dubbed "Optimal Scheduling", will require employees to make themselves available to work essentially around the clock to obtain so-called full-time status.  Even for workers able to make the extraordinary sacrifice to obtain "full-time" status, no work hours are guaranteed- identical to Starbucks' current system of part-time status for all retail hourly workers.  In addition, Starbucks will lay off workers who cannot meet minimum availability requirements.  As baristas learn of the new program, discontent is rising.

"I've had to make myself available each week from Tuesday to Sunday starting at 4:45am until 11pm in the hopes of possibly getting 32 hours of work but not being guaranteed a single hour," said Liberte Locke, a Starbucks barista in New York and member of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union.  "It's impossible for me to get a second job now even though I need one and impossible to have a life outside of work."

Under the new system, baristas who opt for pseudo full-time status have to make themselves available to work 70% of the total hours their store is open during the week.  In an example given in the company documents, a store open 115 hours per week requires a barista to be available to work 80.5 hours each week - over double the standard work week.  Week-to-week Starbucks can then schedule workers anywhere within that availability.  In addition, workers who cannot make themselves available for at least three shifts a week will be fired, absent a "compelling reason" which Starbucks has not defined.  Weekend workers must be available for at least 16 hours to avoid termination.


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Starbucks Settles Claim With NLRB

Submitted by intexile on cs, 10/02/2008 - 8:25pm.

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 Forster - jforster [at] pioneerpress.com
 
Starbucks Corp. has agreed to a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board on charges of anti-union activities at its Mall of America store that stemmed from the July firing of a barista who tried to organize workers.

The settlement agreement is the third nationally the Seattle-based corporation has reached with the NLRB concerning alleged efforts to stop workers from joining a union.

It comes in the wake of the August reinstatement of barista Erik Forman, who still is trying to organize Starbucks workers at Twin Cities stores into a union called the Starbucks Workers Union.


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Starbucks settles NLRB complaint of fired barista

Submitted by intexile on cs, 10/02/2008 - 8:09pm.

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 LAUREN SHEPHERD - NEW YORK (AP) -- Starbucks Corp. has settled a National Labor Relations Board complaint with an employee who said he was fired this summer for promoting union activity.
The agreement marks the gourmet coffee chain's third settlement of an NLRB complaint alleging the company was attempting to dissuade employees from joining a union.

The settlement stemmed from a complaint filed in July by Minneapolis barista Erik Forman who claimed he was fired for encouraging workers to join the Industrial Workers of the World union. He was fired July 10 after he received a "final written warning" for showing up half an hour late to work. The warning followed two earlier tardy notices.


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The long arm of RNC security reaches IWW at the MOA

Submitted by intexile on v, 09/07/2008 - 2:55pm.
Today 8/31/08 at 1pm the Twin Cities IWW held at the Lake and Hiawatha Light Rail Station in solidarity with Starbucks workers and to celebrate getting our comrade Erik Foreman?s job back.  The rally was a great success with about 100 people showing up.  At about 1:45 we all legally boarded the light rail (using rail passes) and headed down to the Mall of America in order to escort our fellow worker back to his first shift. 

Everyone was peaceful and orderly on the train as we headed south.  At the Bloomington Station we were met by police who asked to speak with us regarding our plans.  We informed the police that we did not wish to cause any trouble, to protest inside of the mall, or to unlawfully assemble in any way inside the mall.  The police told us we should be fine and that we would not have any trouble.  We were then allowed to proceed to the MOA stop.  At the MOA the train was surrounded by police in full riot gear.  They threatened to arrest us if we left the train.  We were trapped inside the train for about 20 minutes.  The police even prohibited a woman with a child who needed insulin from leaving the train, endangering the child's health. After about 10 minutes and only after repeatedly insisting that we had a
medical emergency did the police permit the woman and child to exit the train.  When asked why we were being detained a policeman said: "the mall doesn't want you here."  The officers? badge numbers were mostly covered by their gear.


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IWW Barista Reinstated to Mall of America Location

Submitted by intexile on p, 09/05/2008 - 2:23pm.

Disclaimer - The opinions of the author do not necessarily match those of the IWW. This article is reposted in accordance to Fair Use guidelines.

In this July 22, 2008 file photo, Erik Forman, a former Starbucks employee at the Mall of America who claims he was fired for union organizing, addresses the media across from the mall in Bloomington, Minn. Forman has been given his job back and will return to work Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, file) Pro-union Starbucks barista gets his job back

 
NEW YORK -- A barista who said he was fired from Starbucks Corp. for helping to organize fellow workers into a union has been given his job back.

In a preliminary reinstatement agreement dated Aug. 14 obtained by The Associated Press, Starbucks said its firing of employee Erik Forman was "ill-considered and should be reversed."

Forman said he will start back at work on Sunday at the same Mall ofAmerica location in Minnesota that he was fired from in July.

When he worked there, Forman said he had been talking to employees at his own store and at other stores in the area about joining the Industrial Workers of the World union.

In an interview, Forman said although several other employees at the store were members of the union, "I was the most vocal and the most active."

Starbucks spokeswoman Tara Darrow confirmed that Forman was being given his job back but said his firing and reinstatement had nothing to do with his support for the union.


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