Submitted on Thu, 12/22/2005 - 2:33pm
From starbucksunion.org:
As a recipient of support from TWU Local 100 members on our picket lines, it is with great honor that we express our total solidarity with striking transit workers in New York City. We know you are striking not only for your families but also for every working New Yorker.
Corporations, public or private, are concerned with two things: money and power. Since the MTA's last-minute bargaining demand would have saved less money than two day's worth of overtime for cops to patrol struck stations, it follows that power was the element at issue. The two-tier pension scheme the MTA tried to impose had the singular intent of weakening the union. By dividing senior workers from newer workers, two-tier schemes undermine solidarity within a union. They also provide an incentive for the bosses to concoct pretexts to get rid of more senior workers to save money. The supermarket bosses imposed such a two-tier contract on 70,000 striking and locked out grocery workers in 2004. But in 2005, TWU Local 100 and affiliated unions said, "No."
Submitted on Fri, 12/16/2005 - 1:58am
By IWW - Industrial Worker, December 2005
On Nov. 1, Local 810 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters lost an NLRB election for the roughly 300-worker transportation department of New York City internet grocer FreshDirect, LLC. The local had lost an election in 2004 for the same unit. Despite having won the support of over 100 workers who could have been organized into a powerful union presence, Local 810 abandoned the field after that election.
FreshDirect, of course, soon broke the promises it had made during the campaign. Transportation workers grew increasingly dissatisfied, and, in June of this year some of them contacted the IWW's New York City General Membership Branch. New York Wobblies mapped out an ambitious industrial campaign to line up the entire FreshDirect workforce - about 1,200 workers - along with workers in other nearby wholesale and retail foodstuffs establishments. With help from other members of New York's rank-and-file May Day Coalition, the Branch began gathering contacts and agitating for the union.
Submitted on Tue, 12/13/2005 - 4:46am
URGENT ALERT - SOLIDARITY URGENTLY NEEDED!
Today, December 12, Joe Agins Jr. was fired by store manager Julian Warner at starbucks on 2nd and 9th in NYC. Julian made reference to an alleged verbal argument that had occurred inside a starbucks outside of Joe's work time. Joe has been a member of the union since July and one of the hardest working and most committed organizers.
Whenever a wobbly needs support JOE has always been there, today JOE needs your help!
Call store manager Julian Warner at 2nd and 9th - 212-780-0027
Ask for an explanation for Starbuck's union discrimination and Demand that Joe Agins be rehired immediately.
Also, call Regional Vice President, James McDermet at 212-613-1280 ext. 2201 to express your disgust at the constant illegal anti-union activity of this company.
Submitted on Sun, 12/11/2005 - 4:47am
By Philip Dawdy - Seattle Weekly, December 5, 2005
In a first for Starbucks, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) charged the company with violations of federal law on Nov. 18 in response to complaints filed by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which has waged a yearlong campaign to unionize three coffee shops in New York. In the filing, the NLRB asserted that the 10,500-store Seattle-based chain violated the National Labor Relations Act by engaging in unfair labor practices, specifically citing instances of employees being fired for union activity and Starbucks managers conducting surveillance of and questioning employees about union activities, among other claims.
Submitted on Sun, 11/27/2005 - 5:40am
BY DEBORAH S. MORRIS, STAFF WRITER - New York Newsday, November 26, 2005, 6:55 PM EST
Russ Allen considers himself a Starbucks fan, buying a cup o' joe every day from the ubiquitous coffee haven. He also considers himself a smart businessman.
So, true to form, he wasn't taking sides Saturday on whether or not Starbucks workers should unionize. Instead, he looked at it as an opportunity to watch free enterprise in action.