IWW Branches Out In Bid To Recruit Starbucks Baristas
Submitted on Thu, 05/18/2006 - 11:57pm
Dow Jones International News Service via Dow Jones
By Kris Maher Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 17, 2006
The union trying sign up Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) workers sought to give its organizing campaign a jolt by sending union members to more than 100 of the coffee chain's stores in about a dozen cities to persuade more baristas to join the union.
The Industrial Workers of the World said it sent organizers to Starbucks stores in Boston, Portland, Atlanta, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Salt Lake City, among others. IWW members in several cities in Canada and the United Kingdom also participated in the coordinated effort.
Until now, the organizing campaign has been mostly limited to a handful of Starbucks stores in New York City where some workers have informed management that they have voluntarily joined the union. With its latest effort, the union is hoping to broaden the campaign and demonstrate to the company that it is generating more support among workers. The IWW Starbucks Workers Union was created by a handful of workers in New York two years ago.
Audrey Lincoff, a Starbucks spokeswoman, said she was aware of just one store in the Midwest that had been visited by organizers. She said that the company respects the free choice of its employees to join a union but that working directly with employees had been successful for the company. "We are very confident in the open, communicative environment that we offer to our partners," she said.
Phil Schrader, a 24-year-old IWW member in Minneapolis, said he talked to about 20 baristas about joining the union at eight Starbucks locations in that city. "Some of the workers were surprised to hear that some workers had organized at Starbucks, so it was good to get that message out," said Schrader, who works for another coffee chain.
In Edinburgh, Scotland, Barbara Scott, 36, an IWW member who works as a secretary in the Scottish Parliament, also spoke to workers in a handful of stores. "We're hoping to spread it throughout the U.K.," Ms. Scott said of the organizing campaign.
The union isn't seeking to become the bargaining representative for Starbucks workers, but members believe that by joining the union and participating in protests and other actions they can gain better pay and working conditions, such as less expensive health care and more regular work schedules.