Submitted on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 7:10pm
By Eric Griffey - Fort Worth Weekly, February 3, 2010.
In late December, a small group of Starbucks employees blocked the drive-through window at the company's coffee shop at Rosedale Street and 8th Avenue for about 20 minutes, in protest of the rising cost of their healthcare insurance, low wages, and a litany of other issues. The protest signaled that a handful of local baristas had gone public with their association with the Starbucks Workers' Union - and it meant that, for a while on that afternoon, customers had to wait even longer than usual to get a cup of gourmet coffee. coverThe protesters said they didn't intend for the store to lose any business. They saw the move as a symbolic gesture, a message to the corporate coffee giant that they are willing to go to great lengths to improve their working environment. Although the protest hardly measured up to, say, the garbage workers strike in Fort Worth in 1999, it did get the company's attention. Organizers said that the company's top brass now has the Rosedale store under a microscope and that corporate officials visit frequently.
Fort Worth is the sixth city in the U.S. and the first in Texas to associate with the Starbucks Workers Union, which was started in 2004 under the umbrella of the Industrial Workers of the World, a century-old international union that takes a kind of class warfare approach and has had success in organizing in nontraditional industries, from bicycle messengers to food co-op workers.
Michelle Cahill, the group's organizer, said that she and others have seen firsthand the declining morale of their co-workers, as the company has been forced to make changes to cope with hard times.
The unhappy baristas feel as though the company, which is perennially listed on Forbes magazine's "best companies to work for" list, has lost its way, and is becoming more like a fast food chain - concentrating more on moving product than connecting with customers. "There are people in every store in the country who feel that the company isn't what it used to be," Cahill said.
But she said the union's goals have less to do with the overall direction of the company than with mistreatment of workers. Among their demands are better and cheaper healthcare, increased wages, more hours, and better working conditions.
Submitted on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 1:22am
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
IWW Starbucks Workers Union (Industrial Workers of the World)
Contact: Michele Cahill, 817-368-5892
December 18, 2009
Steamed
Baristas Shut Down Fort Worth Starbucks Drive-Thru to Demand Affordable
Healthcare and Paid Sick Days for those Diagnosed with H1N1
Press Conference: December 18, 12:00 noon, 8th and W. Rosedale Starbucks, Fort Worth
Fort
Worth, TX- Baristas and community supporters at the 8th and Rosedale
Starbucks shut down the store’s drive-thru this morning and delivered a
list of demands including affordable health care options and sick days
for those displaying H1N1 or other cold and flu symptoms. Starbucks
doubled the cost of the company health insurance plan in September,
leaving many workers unable to afford treatment because of sky-high
deductibles and premiums.
