Submitted on Wed, 12/14/2005 - 4:46am
By Joshua Frank - December 14, Online Journal
David Graeber, PhD, is an assistant professor of anthropology at Yale University, and the author of Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value: The False Coin of Our Own Dreams and Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology, among many other scholarly publications.
Last spring Prof. Graeber was informed that his teaching contract at Yale would not be extended. It was not Graeber's scholarship that was ever in question; rather it was his political philosophies that may have played a heavy hand in the administration's unwarranted decision. Graeber, a renowned anarchist scholar, spoke with me shortly after he was informed of his firing.
Submitted on Tue, 12/13/2005 - 4:46am
URGENT ALERT - SOLIDARITY URGENTLY NEEDED!
Today, December 12, Joe Agins Jr. was fired by store manager Julian Warner at starbucks on 2nd and 9th in NYC. Julian made reference to an alleged verbal argument that had occurred inside a starbucks outside of Joe's work time. Joe has been a member of the union since July and one of the hardest working and most committed organizers.
Whenever a wobbly needs support JOE has always been there, today JOE needs your help!
Call store manager Julian Warner at 2nd and 9th - 212-780-0027
Ask for an explanation for Starbuck's union discrimination and Demand that Joe Agins be rehired immediately.
Also, call Regional Vice President, James McDermet at 212-613-1280 ext. 2201 to express your disgust at the constant illegal anti-union activity of this company.
Submitted on Sun, 12/11/2005 - 4:47am
By Philip Dawdy - Seattle Weekly, December 5, 2005
In a first for Starbucks, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) charged the company with violations of federal law on Nov. 18 in response to complaints filed by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which has waged a yearlong campaign to unionize three coffee shops in New York. In the filing, the NLRB asserted that the 10,500-store Seattle-based chain violated the National Labor Relations Act by engaging in unfair labor practices, specifically citing instances of employees being fired for union activity and Starbucks managers conducting surveillance of and questioning employees about union activities, among other claims.
Submitted on Thu, 12/08/2005 - 3:39pm
When Labor Leaders Fail to Deliver,What Should Union Members Do? - By Harry Kelber (Fourth in a series of six articles)
Every union member, whether in the AFL-CIO or Change to Win coalition, is experiencing a growing anxiety about their economic future. And their problems are getting worse with the passage of time.
The announcement that General Motors is eliminating 30.000 jobs may be just the tip of the iceberg. During 2004, the nation's employers laid off 4,197,000 workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), who called them "job losers."
Neither the AFL-CIO nor the unions in Change to Win challenged the layoffs, accepting them like a natural disaster, similar to Hurricane Katrina or a tsunami. In virtually every instance, unions allowed employers the right to cut as many jobs as they desired, without consulting their workers. Thus, even companies that were rolling in profits took part in the layoff epidemic to lower their labor costs still further, while expecting the remaining workers to take up any slack in production. We're not sure where the ax will fall next, but what if you become one of the victims?
Submitted on Thu, 12/01/2005 - 3:44pm
WATCH - DON'T JUST READ ABOUT - THE IRISH FERRY DISPUTE 
The story will be a familiar one to many of you. An employer, fed up with paying union wages, decides to import a few hundred non-unionized workers from poorer countries. Security guards are brought in to "escort" the new contract workers into the workplace as hundreds of unionized workers are about to get the sack.
This is what Irish Ferries was attempting this week when they ran up against the determined resistance of union members who barricaded themselves onto ships. Those workers and their union, working together with the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), have turned this from a simple cost-saving move by a heartless management into a major struggle for social justice. The Irish unions have called for a national day of protest on 9 December.
