Bradford IWWs Defend Fired Starbucks Union Organizer
Submitted on Sat, 08/19/2006 - 12:03am
IWW Bradford took the word to boycott Starbucks for its union-busting activities to the busy Bradford town crowds.
Store managers were taken by surprise. The manager in the new Centenary Square Starbucks jumped up from doing the accounts and told the IWWs to stop leafletting customers. The Fellow Workers only left once they had distributed leaflets to the clients and staff person.
"I didn't think you could cause so much jitter with some A6 [leaflets]," said FW Clive, who reported that the manager said we should call ahead next time we want to leaflet. Sounds like a good idea.
The manager of Starbucks on the second floor of the Waterstones bookstore spread his arms to block the IWWs from climbing the stairs and distribute leaflets. The other Starbucks manager had called ahead to warn him. He said that his clients had the right to relax and enjoy their coffees. The IWWs told him that Starbucks employees had the right to unionize before walking past him. The manager threatened to call the police and the IWWs said, "Go ahead" and distributed leaflets to customers. No police came.
The IWWs then left the store and continued to leaflet in the street, encouraging hundreds of people to boycott Starbucks until they re-hired the fired union members. People responded positively, sometimes taking an extra leaflet to share with others.
The Starbucks manager came into the street and spoke with the Fellow Workers leafleting. Like his colleague, he plainly had not been informed by Starbucks about the Starbucks Union. "You know about the health package and benefits, right?" he asked. FW Peter replied that Starbucks workers still had the right to organize a union and negotiate collectively for better conditions without facing firing or intimidation.
The IWW in Bradford calls on all people in the Yorkshire region to stop purchasing Starbucks products until the international coffee company re-hires the fired IWW union organizers. No coffee is worth the dignity of our members.
For more information, visit www.starbucksunion.org
To leaflet Starbucks in your area, download the leaflets on http://www.iww.org.uk/news.htm