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.

For Immediate Release:

Brandworkers International

Contact: press (at) brandworkers.org

September 16, 2008

At Centro Vinoteca and Gusto, Philosophy of Creative Fresh Food Includes Respect for Workers' Rights Along the Supply Chain

Celebrated Italian Restaurants Choose Not to Serve Seafood from Wild Edibles or its Front Companies

New York, NY- Centro Vinoteca and Gusto, the popular Village restaurants sought after for their creative Italian specialties, have stopped serving seafood from wholesaler and retailer, Wild Edibles, Inc. over concern for workers' rights.  Employees have been campaigning for over a year to win respect for work and family at Wild Edibles.

Dear Friends,

Celebrity chef Terrance Brennan who serves seafood from known labor rights violator Wild Edibles, Inc. is set to appear on NBC's The Today Show.

To add insult to injury, Chef Brennan's Artisanal Bistro lied to workers in writing by stating that the restaurant no longer served Wild Edibles seafood. After Brandworkers exposed the deception, Brennan admitted in a Sept. 1, 2008 press statement that his restaurant is still serving Wild Edibles.                                      

Please take a moment now to express your opinion that Terrance Brennan lacks the credibility and trustworthiness that viewers of The Today Show expect from guests. Click on the following link to participate: http://citizenspeak.org/node/1352

Thank you very much for all of your work to ensure that working families receive the respect they deserve.

http://www.Brandworkers.org

Dear friends and comrades,

For two weeks in late-April and early-May four members of the Industrial Workers of the World traveled to Haiti to meet with labor leaders and document the plight of the Haitian working class. During our trip we encountered a Haiti still reeling from food riots which had gripped it just weeks prior. We found the workers and organizers that we met with to be extremely competent and passionate, but almost completely immobilized by a severe lackof resources.

Now a new crisis grips the Haitian people in the form of over a thousand dead and one million out of a total population nine million people displaced as a result of the recent hurricanes which have battered the island.

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.

For Immediate Release:

Brandworkers International

Contact: press (at) brandworkers.org

Noho Star, Paloma, Madison Bistro Demonstrate Social Responsibility in Support of Wild Edibles Workers

More Top New York Restaurants Stop Serving Wild Edibles Seafood Over Workers' Rights Concerns

September 5, 2008

New York, NY- Three highly-regarded restaurants here have demonstrated that ethical and sustainable business practices include consideration for the well-being of workers employed by suppliers.  Noho Star, Paloma, and Madison Bistro have chosen not to serve seafood from Wild Edibles or its front-companies until workers there are treated with respect and fairness.  Twenty-four current and former Wild Edibles workers have been campaigning for over a year to make positive change on the job and reclaim unlawfully withheld overtime pay.

Pro-union Starbucks barista gets his job back

By LAUREN SHEPHERD - AP BUSINESS WRITER

 

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.