Submitted on Tue, 02/20/2007 - 4:21pm
Take a Stand for Worker Dignity at the Starbucks Annual Shareholder Meeting
March 21, 2007 at 9 a.m.
Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at the Seattle Center
Seattle, Washington
Mercer Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues
Submitted on Tue, 02/20/2007 - 4:17pm
Seth Dietz, Starbucks barista and IWW member in Rockville Maryland, tells his story:
Life at Starbucks has improved for baristas in Rockville with a union! We’ve already had victories around the trash in our store, work hours, respect, and recycling. There is a stronger sense of community among workers. Union members can now walk through the doors with a spring in their step after letting the company know that we aren’t going to be pushed around anymore by bosses. Since declaring membership in the IWW Starbucks Workers Union the presence of a union in our store is bringing about real change.
Trash Problem Solved With Increased Staffing
Our store used to open with two people in the morning. The plan is now three people will be scheduled in the morning. The result is giving workers adequate time to complete their daily morning tasks including removing the trash heap in the back. We had wanted a second trashcan to create a safe walkway in the back of the store which was inundated with trash but it turns out there’s not really space for one. But adding another worker to help us we decided is a better solution! This victory is a direct result of “unofficial negotiations” with the District Manager after we went public with a demand to solve the trash problem.
Submitted on Tue, 02/06/2007 - 1:57am
Starbucks recently fired barista Tina [not her real name] without warning from her store near Toronto. Tina sold a few of her leftover "partner-markouts" [a bag of tea or coffee each employee is entitled to each week] on eBay to save for a Disney World trip with her daugthers. The coffee and tea were her property and she had never been made aware of any policy against selling it.
What do folks think: Did she deserve to get fired? If so, should she have at least received a warning?
Is it creepy that a multibillion dollar company found a single employee selling a few pounds of product?
Here is Tina in her own words:
I am not a younger person; I am 42 and was in Information Technology for over 17 years. After having two girls, I decided to stay home for a couple of years like a lot of mothers. I had entered our local Starbucks and really liked the atmosphere. My husband suggested maybe coming and working for them part time while our girls were at school. Great idea I thought!
Submitted on Wed, 01/31/2007 - 12:56am
By Daniel Gross
Despite the ferocious union-busting campaign waged by Starbucks, 2006 was an incredible year for IWW baristas and their supporters. Building on multiple victories this past year, the IWW Starbucks Workers Union (SWU) is poised to continue deploying innovative organizing strategies and exerting shop-floor power in what will be an exciting 2007.
The most gratifying aspect of 2006's accomplishments is the staggering number of Wobblies and supporters from around the world who were active participants in the campaign. For example, the May 17th Day of Action for Starbucks Workers- commemorating the founding of the SWU- saw IWW supporters at Starbucks stores in 20 cities and 4 countries reaching out to baristas and protesting for the right to join a union.
Submitted on Tue, 01/30/2007 - 5:19am
GET ORGANISED!
You’ll make a better life with the union than you ever could without one.
Baristas United is part of the Shop Workers Industrial Union of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The IWW union is controlled directly by its members and fights for better conditions for working people.
It is a fact that today, most coffee shop workers are unorganised. Wages and conditions may vary from company to company and from shop to shop, but whatever the set up, baristas are all subject to the whims of company strategies that seek to reap maximum profits from the labour of coffee shop workers, while generally paying poor wages to the baristas who make those profits possible.
Read More: (PDF File - warning, paper size conforms to European A4 dimensions, not US "letter" or "legal" sizes.)
