Submitted on Sun, 11/26/2006 - 11:57pm
Disclaimer - The workers mentioned in this article are not IWW members and do not have any affiliation with the IWW. This story is included for informational purposes only.
RANCHO PENASQUITOS – An armed robber tied up two Starbucks employees after its closing Sunday night and forced a third to open the safe before leaving with an undisclosed amount of money.
Read the rest of the story.
Submitted on Sun, 11/26/2006 - 3:14am
Sisters and Brothers,
Starbucks workers need your help to continue organizing a union with the Industrial Workers of the World. With members at seven Starbucks locations and growing, the IWW baristas are proving that workers at large multinational retailers can gain an independent voice on the job. However, we can't do it alone. The coffee giant is waging a fierce union-busting campaign to defeat our organization and we need your financial support to continue fighting for justice at work and in society.
A SWU Success Story
Sarah Bender joined the IWW Starbucks Workers Union after two months on the job at the world's largest coffee chain. Like each and every Starbucks barista in the United States, Sarah was a part-time employee. With her schedule fluctuating unpredictably between 11 and 35 hours of work per week, Sarah could not count on a steady paycheck to pay the bills. Her irregular schedule meant that she often had to arrive at work at 5:00 a.m. after a long commute only to be sent home just four hours later. Sarah's precarious work life soon caused serious sleep problems. To get the justice she deserved at work, Sarah decided to go union with the SWU. Shamefully, Starbucks retaliated against her for exercising her fundamental right to organize.
Submitted on Sun, 11/26/2006 - 2:57am
PITTSBURGH, PA—Local members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), joined by Friends of Labor supporters from across the city, participated in the IWW Starbucks Union’s “Global Days of Action” in a picket held here on November 24, 2006. For an hour on a sunny Friday afternoon, over twenty workers supporting the Starbucks Workers Union carried picket signs and loudly chanted in front of the Squirrel Hill Starbucks at the corner of Forbes and Shady Avenue. This was part of a broader movement in many cities around the world to protest Starbucks’ anti-union practices and the wrongful termination of five union workers.
As the post-lunch crowd milled about, union activists entered the store in an attempt to talk with employees and customers, and formed a line extending from the registers back to the entrance. The pro-union customers were faced with so many beverage options that it took a while to decide what they wanted. Others dug through their pockets and realized that while they had enough for a tip, they would have to put the price of their small but expensive beverage on a credit card.
Submitted on Sat, 11/25/2006 - 3:58am
November 22, 2006
Five unjustly fired IWW baristas entered the Starbucks regional headquarters today to demand their jobs back and demand that Starbucks cease its scorched earth union-busting policy. As SWU members and community supporters picketed outside, the fired baristas delegation addressed their demands to Starbucks "Partner and Asset Protection Investigator" Marc Stella inside the company's posh office across from the Empire State Building. Marc Stella is the company's internal Pinkerton who conducted the sham investigation against Daniel Gross and is likely complicit in all the baristas' terminations. Regional Director Jim McDermott was conveniently out of the office enjoying the Thanksgiving Weekend and his fat cat salary as baristas work extra-hard meeting holiday demand on a poverty wage.
Submitted on Sat, 11/25/2006 - 3:39am
Disclaimer - The following article is reposted here because it is an issue with some relevance to the IWW. The views of the author do not necessarily agree with those of the IWW and vice versa.
By By news-press.com - Originally posted on November 24, 2006
Two of the three Starbucks locations at the Market Square were the scene of protests this morning.
Roughly 17 people ascended on the stand-alone at the shop's at Market Square and at the in-store and the the Target locations.
Melody Gonzalez, 23, of Immokalee said the group was there to protest what she contends is Starbucks firing of workers who are trying to unionize and receive better wages and health insurance. She said they are also protesting Starbucks alleged failure to use only fair trade coffee.
"A fair trade means the coffee farmers are receiving a fair price for the coffee they produce," she said.
Gonzalez said local protests is part of a national initiative today and tomorrow to call attention to these issues.
The protest began at about 9 a.m. With people bearing signs stating such things as "Starbucks robs coffee farmers" and "know where your bean has been."
At the stand-alone store the protesters stood along an access road as Black Friday shoppers drove by. In the parking lot behind them were as many as four cars from the Lee County Sheriff's Office.
Gonzalez said most of the protesters were from Immokalee with some from Fort Myers and they came as concerned citizens, not representing any organizations. However, she did say that their ranks included members of the Student Farmworkers Alliance, Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
"There's shopping and there's thoughtful shopping," Laura Germino of LaBelle said. She was there with her husband, Greg Asbed and their son, Isaiah, 22-months old.
"We just thought it was a different approach to the big buying day for consumers,"Germino said. "There are thoughtful consumers out there who think about where they shop and want to support businesses and treat people right and have fair trade policies."
The protest was over by roughly noon. The manager of the stand-alone Starbucks store said company policy prevented her from commenting.
