Take Action: Starbucks Barista Homeless After Racist Demotion
Submitted on Tue, 06/26/2007 - 12:54pm
Sisters and Brothers:
Simone Gordon and the IWW Starbucks Workers Union [StarbucksUnion.org] need your solidarity now. Ms. Gordon is homeless and on welfare after Starbucks demoted her from shift supervisor to barista on New Year’s Day and cut her schedule to a stunning five hours per week. Simone’s store manager, Graham Higgins, falsely accused Ms. Gordon, who is African-American, of being racist against white people and stated that she wasn’t fit to be a leader in the store. The allegation that Ms. Gordon is racist is so patently absurd that we won’t even dignify it with a response. Suffice it to say, Simone Gordon, who has a white grandparent, opposes all forms of discrimination.
Starbucks’ discriminatory conduct has caused Ms. Gordon to lose her home as she struggles to care for her father who is suffering from a severe heart ailment. To add insult to injury, store manager Higgins has been spreading the falsehood that Ms. Gordon is racist to customers and other employees at the New Jersey mall where the store is located. One customer subsequently stated that she didn’t want “the black girl who doesn’t like white people” to touch her drink. Ms. Gordon has also been criticized by management for wearing her hair in an Afro from time-to-time and for, “the way she talks.” Legal charges are pending.
Instead of bowing down and quitting as Starbucks intended her to do in our opinion, Simone Gordon has chosen to fight back and she has joined the SWU. She is one of a growing number of precarious workers in the U.S. and abroad who refuse to be brushed under the rug like so many workers have. Here is Simone Gordon in her own words:
“I always had to fight for things- I’ve been on my own since I was 17. I want to fight because if they’re going to do this to other people I’m not going to allow it. No one should be treated like trash. We’re all human; we’re all taxpayers. No matter our salary, no matter a fancy car, we’re all equal.”
Please take a stand with Simone Gordon and her union as we struggle to get her back into the shift supervisor position with her work hours restored. She needs that income to get back on her feet and she needs to be respected at work to regain her dignity.
Please help by taking part in this e-mail action to Starbucks.
Thank you for your solidarity. United and looking beyond the boundaries of our individual workplaces, we can challenge the logic of corporate supremacy over our lives and communities. Together we win.