Submitted on Fri, 02/03/2006 - 2:54am
By Tomer Malchi - Industrial Worker, February 2006
On Friday Nov. 18, Starbucks workers at Union Square publicly declared their membership in the Starbucks Workers Union. Throughout the weekend workers showed their strength by refusing to take off union pins in the face of management attempting to enforce a no-pin policy. Our key demands were for guaranteed hours, a group meeting with management, and an end to anti-union discrimination.
District manager Kim Vetrano informed us three days after we went public that we could not wear our pins; although pins have been worn in the past, the policy was suddenly being enforced. Vetrano also insisted there would be no group meeting. We could have one-on-one meetings with managers, but not as a group.
Submitted on Sun, 01/29/2006 - 8:13pm
The New York City General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World stands in solidarity with falsely accused environmental and social justice activist Daniel McGowan (http://www.supportdaniel.org/).
Daniel's efforts in projects such as the demonstrations against the Republican National Convention as well as support of political prisoners have enriched our progressive communities here in New York City. He has been a friend to us and now we must stand with him. An injury to one is an injury to all.
Submitted on Sat, 01/21/2006 - 6:02am
The author of this article refers to the IWW's "violent" past, but he fails to note that the violence was caused by the employing class in reaction to the IWW at least 99% of the time. Otherwise the article gives the IWW fair coverage. . .
As the transit strike drama has played out on television and in newspapers, the public eye has watched union members pack conference rooms in nice hotels, their angry leaders speaking loudly from a pulpit about the gall of government officials.
Submitted on Thu, 01/19/2006 - 4:35am
Coffee Giant Has Lower Percentage of Insured Workers Than Wal-Mart
New York, NY- The myth of a socially responsible Starbucks is steadily unraveling with an admission by the coffe chain that less than half of its employees are covered by company health care. The revelation is all the more remarkable since the company has long promoted itself as a leader in employee health care while the actual percentage of Starbucks workers covered is less than that of Wal-Mart, a corporation notorious for the burden it places on taxpayers via uninsured workers.
"The Starbucks socially responsible image is all smoke and mirrors. Customers always ask, 'you get company health care, right?'" said Pete Montalbano, an IWW barista. "Starbucks employees, many of whom are uninsured or on Medicaid, knew the answer to that all along. Only now, so does everyone else."
Submitted on Thu, 01/05/2006 - 3:02am
By DANIELA GERSON - Staff Reporter of the New York Sun, January 4, 2006
The Wobblies are back. Organizers with the 101-year-old Industrial Workers of the World - a radical union that once included "Big Bill" Haywood, Helen Keller, and "Mother" Mary Harris Jones - recently launched efforts in New York to organize Starbucks, illegal immigrant workers, and the online grocer FreshDirect.
"Abolition of the wage system" is their banner.
Membership, albeit still small, has roughly doubled in the past five years to nearly 2,000 in North America, the union said. In New York City, where it has about 50 or 60 members, there has been a similar rate of growth. Even more significant than an increase in membership, arguably, is the expansion of public actions.