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Twin Cities GMB

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 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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Anti-Capitalist Bloc @ the RNC: An I.W.W. Report

Submitted by intexile on sze, 10/01/2008 - 3:17pm.

by Kdog, x359209

During the first week of September 2008, Republican Party delegates gathered in St. Paul, Minnesota for the Republican National Convention (RNC) - the media spectacle and corporate sleaze-fest that completes their nominating process. An army of armor-clad riot police, National Guard, and private security with their humvees, rubber bullets, and tear gas protected them. FBI-assisted sheriff's raids at more than a half-dozen activist homes and organizing centers in Minneapolis-St. Paul sought to hinder opposition. But thousands of protestors still took to the streets to emphatically reject the Republicans' vicious policies of war, discrimination, and attacks on the working-class and poor.

Among the more important mobilizing efforts against the RNC was the Anti-Capitalist Bloc, an initiative of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) union - Twin Cities General Membership Branch. The Anti-Capitalist Bloc was conceived as an organizing front for the week of the RNC that would unite those anti-capitalist activists with an orientation toward organizing. The Anti-Capitalist Bloc issued a "Call" and adopted a set of "Solidarity Principles" that made clear our opposition to not only the Republican party but the whole system of capitalism. Ten other groups signed on including three other I.W.W branches. Approximately 1800 full-color posters with the Anti-Capitalist Bloc message were distributed over the course of the week.

But as Wobblies, we know that words are not enough, and so a series of events, actions, and contingents were organized by the Anti-Capitalist Bloc.


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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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Wobblies Welcome Mall of America Starbucks Baristas to the Union!

Submitted by eforman on sze, 07/30/2008 - 9:44pm.

P1010008_0.jpgIWW 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.


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Starbucks Goes Union in Minnesota

Submitted by intexile on k, 07/22/2008 - 1:12pm.
For Immediate Release:
Starbucks Workers Union/Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
Contact: Erik Forman, 612-245-4871
July 21, 2008

Starbucks Baristas at the Mall of America Stop Work to Protest Store Closures

Workers Demand Right to Transfer and Fair Severance for Affected Employees

Press Conference July 22, 12 noon, Mall of America Northside Parking Lot

Twin Cities, MN- Baristas at the Mall of America Starbucks walked off the café floor today and delivered a demand letter to management calling for just treatment of all employees affected by Starbucks’ closure of stores nationwide. The surprise job action comes in the wake of the coffee giant’s announcement that it will close 600 stores, including 27 in Minnesota.

The baristas demanded an option to transfer to other stores and a fair severance package for affected workers. Starbucks reportedly plans to give workers just one month notice before laying them off with a paltry two weeks’ pay The company will insist that some baristas transfer and will revoke severance pay if transfer offers are refused.


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Starbucks Workers Make Demands

Submitted by intexile on k, 07/22/2008 - 1:02pm.

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 Julie Forster, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Jul. 22--Some baristas at the Mall of America Starbucks are using the company's recently announced plans to close 600 stores nationwide to publicize a 4-year-old union organizing effort.

Starbucks plans to close 27 Minnesota locations.

On Monday, two workers walked off the cafe floor and delivered a demand letter to the store manager asking for, among other things, a more lucrative severance package for workers in Minnesota affected by the store closings, according to the Starbucks Workers Union, an organizing campaign of the Industrial Workers of the World.


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