Submitted on Thu, 11/10/2005 - 3:34pm
Sisters and Brothers:
The decision of NYU President John Sexton to withdraw union recognition from graduate employees represents an affront to the dignity of those workers and belies any notion that NYU is some sort of enlightened institution. In response to the University's move, on October 31, the NYU graduate workers union (GSOC/Local 2110 UAW) voted by an overwhelming 85% majority to withhold their labor in defense of the right to free association. I write to you because, as an NYU undergraduate, you are uniquely positioned to make a major contribution to the struggle for social justice by supporting this strike. I'm also writing because without your support this strike will end in defeat.
The strike beginning at your school on November 9 will reverberate far beyond campus. If Sexton's gambit to break the union is allowed to succeed and grad workers are denied a contract, the ability of working people all over the country to build and maintain power at work will be negatively impacted.
Power in a Union
The education system, the media, religious institutions, and the labor movement itself have all failed to properly draw attention to the importance of unions or even accurately portray what a union is. First of all then, I'll share some thoughts on unions to illustrate why I believe the workers' cause at NYU deserves your support.
Submitted on Sun, 10/09/2005 - 5:30pm
By Harry Harrington, aka Sathari Singh Khalsa - Industrial Worker, September 2005.
In June of last year the New York City Transit Authority removed me from my job as a train operator for wearing a turban. I had worked there for 23 years with a turban, nearly all as a train operator. The bosses at the MTA were quickly compelled by adverse media coverage to return me to my regular job in passenger service. The initial attempt to put me out of sight failed. My case had reached millions through TV and newspaper accounts that made the MTA officials look like narrow-minded bigots.
Not to be frustrated in their efforts to control nearly all aspects of their employees' lives, the MTA bosses then told me that I had to "pick" a job in the yard during the next job selection process if I continued to wear my turban. As a member of the worldwide Sikh community, I could not remove my religiously mandated head covering and as a union activist I could not let them violate my rights. The media campaign continued and the pick came and I did not pick a yard job but a job I had been working for the last 12 years on the number four Lexington Avenue Express line. Their threat to fire me for picking my regular job proved empty.
Submitted on Wed, 09/14/2005 - 11:12pm
It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to another courageous Colombian union leader and worker, Luciano Enrique Romero Molina. Starbucks workers have always felt a kinship with the food and beverage workers of SINALTRAINAL which was solidified in a 2004 meeting between SINALTRAINAL leader Juan Carlos Galvis and Starbucks Union member Daniel Gross where the two exchanged mutual pledges of solidarity. The assassination of Mr. Romero is a time for mourning yes, but even more so, it's a time to act and to organize. Please read SINALTRAINAL's statement on the killing which follows below and write the letters they suggest:
SINALTRAINAL LEADER LUCIANO ENRIQUE ROMERO MOLINA ASSASSINATED
It is with deep pain that we inform you of the death of comrade LUCIANO ENRIQUE ROMERO MOLINA, a leader of SINALTRANAL who was assassinated in the city of Valledupar, Cesar. Luciano was seen alive at approximately 9pm on 10 September, then on the morning of 11 September his dead body was found tied up, tortured and with 40 knife wounds. He was living under the PROTECTIVE MEASURES scheme of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission of the Organisation of American States.
Submitted on Fri, 08/19/2005 - 12:47am
The first line of Starbucks Coffee Company's mission statement says "to provide a great work environment & treat each other with respect & dignity." Recently Starbucks barista Sarah Bender was fired for attempting to improve the work environment that the company claims to already be providing.
She was fired for union organizing. And when Sarah Bender, numerous IWW co-workers & supporters picketed the Starbucks at Cooper Union recently, they had to confront numerous hecklers, members of Billionaires for Bush, who could not sip their lattes idly but instead, recognized Starbucks for its outstanding performance in union-busting and its continuing commitment to pay its baristas unlivable wages.
Read More: http://www.starbucksunion.org/node/369
Submitted on Wed, 08/10/2005 - 6:30pm
Original article and photos available at: NYC Indymedia
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2005/08/55275.html
Manhattan Billionaires could not sip their lattes idly while StarBucks Corporation faced attacks by pro-union protesters on Saturday, August 6. Instead, a bevy of Billionaires recognized our #1 specialty coffee retailer for its outstanding performance in union-busting and its continuing commitment to pay its baristas unlivable wages.
To touch off our defiant 'sip-in’, the Billionaires proffered a toast to “record-breaking profits”, while Diva Denz phoned her stock broker, demanding 1,000 more shares of Starbucks stock. But this celebration was cut short by the arrival of, alas, StarBucks Union picketers! Dr. DeBooks, in a fury not often exhausted by a Billionaire, snatched one of the Union’s flyers and brought it inside the store. Reading out loud in unutterable indignation, he sounded off the Union Workers’ grievances, including absurd things like livable wages, a decent number of hours, bathroom breaks, and similar claptrap that you might often hear the indentured class complain about.