Submitted on Wed, 05/09/2007 - 3:51am
Originally posted by Sheffield Food Not Bombs to uk.indymedia.org on May 8, 2007.
On Saturday 5th May Sheffield Food Not Bombs staged a picket outside the Broomhill branch of Starbucks in solidarity with the IWW’s “Justice from Bean to Cup” campaign:
"Justice from Bean to Cup!" - A Human Rights Campaign in Solidarity with Starbucks Baristas and Coffee Farmers
Despite its attempt to create a socially responsible image, Starbucks’ failure to meaningfully embrace Fair Trade coffee and transparent purchasing has left coffee farmers and their children teetering on the brink of starvation in the Global South.
In Starbucks cafes, baristas are paid a poverty wage and the company insures a lower percentage of employees than Wal-Mart. Starbucks baristas are organizing a union with the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) for a better life on the job in the face of a fierce and unlawful union busting effort by the world's largest coffee chain.
The stall itself ran unexpectedly smoothly. Free coffee, tea, jaffa cakes and crisps were offered as an alternative to the overpriced drinks and food sold by Starbucks. The manager, who not surprisingly failed to appreciate the irony of Food Not Bombs using the same “aggressive marketing” strategy Starbucks uses to force other local coffee shops out of business, demanded the picket leave immediately else the police would be called. However, when the police showed it became clear that they dislike Starbucks’ attitude to employees and humanity in general as much as Food Not Bombs do, allowing the picket to continue. On the whole it was great to see so many members of the public actively interested in the disgraceful role Starbucks plays in union busting and abusing third world developers.
Submitted on Wed, 05/02/2007 - 3:30pm
By ALAN WECHSLER, Business writer (Photo by Paul Buckowski) - Albany Times Union, May 2, 2007
ALBANY -- As Circuit City Stores Inc. Tuesday projected it will post a first-quarter loss of as much as $90 million, it wasn't getting much sympathy from protesters in front of its local store.
They were members of the Industrial Workers of the World union, and on Tuesday they were protesting Circuit's firing of 3,400 employees around the country. The company had dismissed the higher-paid workers in March, replacing them with lower-paid new hires as part of a cost-cutting plan.
"It's the most incredibly outrageous act by a corporation today," said Paul Poulos of Hartwick, who was passing out fliers that read "Boycott Circuit City."
Circuit City has offered to hire back the workers after a 10-week "cooling-off" period, but at reduced pay.
"It's an unprecedented way to trim costs," said Greg Giorgio, an OTB channel announcer from Altamont who also produces a labor show on WRPI. He held up a sign that said "Circuit City -- Ultimate Corporate Greed."
The manager of the Crossgates Commons store declined to comment, except to say that the protesters -- standing on the sidewalk in front of the store -- were not on store property. A spokesman at the Richmond, Va.-based company also declined to comment.
Circuit City officials say the layoffs were part of the company's attempt to save money in light of worse-than-expected earnings due to poor sales of large-screen televisions.
It now expects a loss from continuing operations before income taxes of $80 million to $90 million for the first quarter of its 2008 fiscal year. The company has also said it is closing seven domestic stores, a Kentucky distribution center and 62 company-owned stores.
Circuit City has long struggled for market share against Best Buy Co., and analysts have said each of Best Buy's locations bring in about twice as much revenue as its smaller rival. Both have seen fierce competition from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
In a research note Monday, analysts at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. said Best Buy, the nation's No. 1 electronics retailer, has "significant competitive advantages" and is "well positioned to take business from both Circuit City's operational changes and closed Tweeter and CompUSA stores."
Tweeter Home Entertainment Group Inc. said last month that it is closing 49 of its 153 stores and laying off about 650 workers.
Submitted on Mon, 04/30/2007 - 12:35pm
Since 2004, the managers at Starbucks stores across America have been trembling in the workplace, for the infamous revolutionary union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies) has been organising with workers and fighting for a better wage and a better world. When I set out to conduct an interview with some of the rank and file union members, I soon discovered that getting a hold of these people can be very difficult (apparently they’re all very busy fighting the class war). Eventually, Daniel Gross, perhaps the most well-known member of the Starbucks Workers Union, was kind enough to grant me an interview.
In this wide-ranging interview with IWW organizer Daniel Gross conducted by the UK-based Now or Never!, Gross discusses the innovative worker-controlled organizing model, known as solidarity unionism, that has made gains for Starbucks workers where the bureaucratic union model has failed. Gross explains the role of anarchists and anti-authoritarians in the global Starbucks Workers Union effort as well as his own anarchist worldview. He highlights the resurgence of the IWW, the challenge of precarious work, and calls for a direct action movement across borders to challenge the hegemony of corporate power. Gross also pays tribute to fallen comrade Brad Will who was a supporter of the Starbucks Workers Union and radical labor.
Submitted on Thu, 04/26/2007 - 3:11pm
Does Starbucks Need a Union?
Starbucks is scared to debate the IWW Starbucks Workers Union because it doesn't want to talk about the gains we've made organizing against poverty wages and insecure work hours. So a Starbucks apologist stood in for the company.
If you're a Starbucks barista you're a "partner," even though Starbucks pays a poverty wage and maintains a 100% part-time cafe workforce. Starbucks boasts that it provides health insurance for part time workers even though it insures a lower percentage of its workforce than Wal-Mart.
Submitted on Tue, 04/24/2007 - 1:40pm
With the decertification of the last seven unionized Starbucks outlets in Vancouver... there is now only one unionized Starbucks in the World. It's in Regina and the employees there are represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
You'd think that might take the steam out of - other drives to unionize Starbucks outlets. But not so - for Daniel Gross. He's not backing away from his own bid - although he is taking a slightly different tact. Three years ago while he was working as a "barista" at a Starbucks in New York City, he organized the Starbucks Workers' Union and affiliated the group with the International Workers of the World.
Daniel Gross was fired last July in disputed circumstances. And late last month, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board charged Starbucks with 30 violations of the law in an alleged attempt to ward off union activity at four Manhattan outlets. Starbucks denies the charges.
Daniel Gross is still an organizer with the Starbucks Workers' Union and he was in New York City.
