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Union of Starbucks Workers in New Zealand Condemns Termination of Daniel Gross

UNION CO-FOUNDER IN U.S. FIRED AFTER CAFÉ PICKET. STARBUCKS CONTINUES CAMPAIGN AGAINST UNION.

Starbucks continues a campaign of union busting in the United States while the IWW Starbucks Union continues to organize. Coffee giant Starbucks is accused of unlawfully terminating the Union co-founder, Daniel Gross.

New Zealand union Unite who won a landmark fast food agreement earlier this year with Restaurant Brands Ltd, have expressed solidarity with Daniel Gross and three other union barristas terminated in the last few months on what they call “exaggerated charges designed to bust a sister union”. Gross was fired for “intimidation” after a protest outside Starbucks protesting the earlier firings

“Unite is disgusted at Starbucks’ clear discrimination against the union. Every worker should have the right organize collectively”, said Unite Fast Food Organiser Tom Buckley. The anti-union bias is confirmed in the company’s email auto-reply to thousands of emails protesting Gross’s firing, which claims their work environment “make unions unnecessary at Starbucks.”

Daniel Gross, appeared on the ‘Campbell Live’ to express his solidarity with Unite after the world’s first Starbucks’ strike in New Zealand last November. Daniel has been in this situation before when his job was saved in 2004 after an email campaign against his termination.

“Daniel has worked at Starbucks for over three years and has labored tirelessly to improve life on the job for all Starbucks workers, said Tom Buckley. “He doesn't deserve to be fired for taking a stand in solidarity with his co-worker and fellow union member. But this struggle is about more than one worker and his job. This struggle goes to the heart of whether workers at multinational retailers like Wal-Mart, McDonald's, and Starbucks can exercise their right to free association or are destined to languish as subjects of their employers.”

Press Release 8/8/06

Any queries or interviews contact:

Tom Buckley

027 445 5703

[email protected]