Lithographers to Starbucks: "The Whole World is Watching, and You are Being Judged."
Submitted on Tue, 08/29/2006 - 3:28am
Attention:
Jim McDermet
Regional Director
Starbucks Inc.
Re: Reinstatement of Daniel Gross
Dear Jim:
My union the Amalgamated Lithographers of America Local One from New York City, an affiliate of the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (GCC-IBT), has been notified of the unionbusting tactics being committed by Starbucks. We are here to inform you we stand 100% behind our Sisters and Brothers who are members of the IWW who are exercising their rights by engaging in concerted protected activities.
You must cease and desist such capricious and arbitrary behavior and activities you are illegally engaged in by violating the rights of workers to exercise their democratic right to organize and bargain collectively:
Until you begin respecting the standards of living set by New Yorkers as well as communities across this country we will continue to inform our members, friends, and family, to boycott all Starbucks.
Please don’t think that these anti-worker, anti-social and amoral tactics are going unnoticed in the larger community. You are at serious risk of having your company identified as one of the ‘unenlightened holdovers’ from a more brutish time in human development.
The truth is that you are not the reason that your company is doing well. You are not the producer of the quality goods and services that have earned you the reputation you now enjoy. It is the very employees that you now attack whose skill and expertise have created that climate of success; it is on the strength of their labor and their commitment that you have any product to sell.
Poisoning the well from which everyone drinks is no way to ensure a supply of water, and poisoning the work environment and public perception of you is no way to ensure the continued success of the company.
We urge you to reconsider the shamelessly greedy and patently anti-union attacks against these workers, and we would encourage you to remain mindful that nothing happens in a vacuum anymore – the whole world is watching, and you are being judged.
Yours truly,
Ed Rosario - Business Agent
Amalgamated Lithographers of America Local One (GCC-IBT)