Submitted on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 10:01am
Clowning the Boss
By FW double jeff
Monday, February 16th The New York branch of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union held an energetic eight-hour picket outside two separate Starbucks locations. Originally planned as a “loose informal picket” outside the Union Square East Starbucks location, managerial stupidity and increased union-busting activity on the part of Starbucks turned it into a media circus and all night protest. Between the time when the picket was planned and when it actually took place, Starbucks decided to fire yet another union barista, Sharon Bell, from the 17th and Broadway location, conveniently located across the park from Union Square East.
The picket was called to protest the recent wave of Starbucks layoffs and draw attention to the refusal of Starbucks to pay severance, in spite of claiming in several press releases to the media that they will be providing severance pay to all laid off workers. The message was expanded to include the demand for the reinstatement of Sharon Bell and an immediate end to the illegal, unethical, nationally coordinated union-busting operations of Starbucks Coffee.
Submitted on Mon, 03/30/2009 - 1:02pm
From the March 28, 2009; New York Times story.
In 2007, Mr. Green completed a project nearly 50 years in the making, The Big Red Songbook, which he helped to edit. It included the lyrics to more than 250 songs in the various editions of the Little Red Songbooks published from 1909 to 1973 by the Industrial Workers of the World, best known as the Wobblies. They were gathered by John Neuhaus, an I.W.W. machinist, who left his collection to Mr. Green when he died in 1958.
Thanks to LaborStart for the heads-up.
Submitted on Tue, 03/24/2009 - 4:37pm
By Greg Rodriguez - leftovergreg [at] yahoo.com
McAllen, Texas -- The weekend of January 31st, and February 1st, 2009 was a historic one for the radical labor movement in general, but also for workers in the Rio Grande Valley (South Texas) looking to create democracy on the job. Industrial Workers of The World (IWW) – an international labor union known for its principles of direct action and working class empowerment – held a training for working residents of the Deep South Texas area. Young labor leaders from Laredo, McAllen, Edinburg, and Mission attended the two day event.
Space for the training was provided by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 5, which organizes local public employees, including Hidalgo County and Hidalgo County Head Start workers.
The training was independently organized by a group of local IWW members whose goal is to establish an officially chartered IWW branch in the months to come.
Attendees were able to be part of a very comprehensive and participatory educational experience. By means of role plays, brainstorms, and discussions, participants learned how to talk to their fellow workers about the union, the principles and structure of IWW, essential labor laws relevant to workplace organizing, and a number of other labor organizing nuts and bolts. Put shortly, the attendees - most of whom could be considered leaders at their work place - became labor organizers by the end of the two day session. Everyone seemed energized and excited.
"The training was really good. It really kept my interest throughout the entire weekend." said local IWW member and training participant, Sammy Zumwalt. "Now I feel positive and confident about organizing because I know the steps I need to take in order to have a successful union effort."
The training content was lead and presented by IWW members Jefferson Pierce (Pennsylvania) and Patrick Brenner (Illinois), whom are significantly involved with the IWW's national and international activity. They are part of the IWW Organizer Training Committee, which was formed in 2003 for the purposes of training workers across the United States to become radical labor organizers, grow IWW ranks, and to increase national solidarity with the broader labor movement.
Brenner had this to say about the trainings: "I think it's important to have these trainings because they give workers the confidence to improve their lives at work and improve the world as well. The McAllen training went very well and I found the burgeoning group very inspiring."
Submitted on Fri, 03/20/2009 - 4:35pm
Chicago, IL (03-19-2009)- The Starbucks Coffee Co. informed outspoken union
member and barista, Joe Tessone, yesterday that it was laying him off, just two
weeks after he confronted CEO Howard Schultz over the company's squeezing of
employees. Mr. Tessone's blog post on the encounter entitled, "Howard the
Coward: The Day My Boss Ran Away" quickly became an Internet hit among fast food
workers and their supporters (online at:
http://www.iww.org/en/node/4618).
"When I heard Howard Schultz was in town, I knew had to get to the store
and make my voice heard as a barista and union member," said Tessone, a 4-year
veteran of the company with an excellent performance record. "He said he'd speak
to me after his interview with the Wall Street Journal only to scurry through
the emergency exit the first chance he got. I told Schultz that it was time to
dialogue with union baristas and that too many of us we're living in poverty but
he showed nothing but cowardice."
Shortly after his exchange with Schultz, Tessone was ordered into a
one-on-one meeting with a Starbucks Regional Director rather than the store
manager who would normally administer discipline. The director warned Tessone
that he was out of compliance with Starbucks' new "Optimal Scheduling" policy
which pries open baristas' availability to work without guaranteeing any work
hours. The problem with the director's rationale: Tessone's availability was
indeed in complete compliance with Optimal Scheduling requirements which are
laid out in a written policy. The same rationale was erroneously deployed by
Tessone's store manager yesterday when he was laid off.
Submitted on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 9:15pm
Fellow Workers,
I am a Wobbly in IU 650 who was trying to organize my
workplace, here in San Diego. I was working at a group home for children with
Severe Emotional Disorders run by a nonprofit called New Alternatives
Incorporated. I started talking to my coworkers on my shift about taking
collective action when I observed it to be an environment of intimidation and
favoritism.
A former Coworker told me it was standard procedure to
harass employees into quiting at New Alternatives Inc. because they didn't want
to pay unemployment. I know when a friend of mine quit without a two week
notice the management called her up two weeks later yelling at her saying she
would not get a good reference from them.â€
I also heard coworkers
from another program stating when they wrote a letter about the problems with a
Shift Supervisor to the Program Manager, the Program Manager gave that letter to
the Shift Supervisor, who met with the signatories individually and scolded
them. This same shift supervisor once said that the employees of her shift
should not expect a break during their eight hour shift.
I had also
talked to an employee who had worked a double shifts which amounted to
double-time hours, in California double time is anything in the excess of twelve
hours in a shift, and distribute them throughout the week so he would not be
paid for double-time. These are just some of the incidents as I had been the
target of harassment as well.
In response to several incidents I began
drafting petitions and distributing amongst my shift. The first petition letter,
which was sent to our Program Manger and courtesy copied to the Executive
Director, dealt with a letter of expectation that we as shift singled us out.
Three of us signed this letter. The result of the meeting is we were able to
meet the Assistant Executive Director who heard our grievances but was sort of
standoffish about the whole incident. The effect was we stood by our decision
not to sign and the whole incident dropped off the map.
