Submitted on Mon, 10/20/2008 - 7:26am
Greetings from the International Solidarity Commission (ISC) of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and welcome to the fifth digest of our monthly international news letter.
The purpose of this newsletter is to keep our allies around the world informed of our activities, solidarity campaigns, and relevant international labor struggles. It is our hope that this newsletter will contribute to building worker-to-worker solidarity through strengthened communications and exchanges of information.
If you would like to contribute story ideas or news for the bulletin, or wish to contact the ISC, you can email [email protected].
Saludos de la Comisión de Solidaridad Internacional (ISC) de los Trabajadores Industriales del Mundo (IWW) y bienvenidos a nuestro boletín internacional mensual.
El propósito de este boletín es mantener a nuestros aliados alrededor del mundo informados de nuestras actividades, campañas de solidaridad, y luchas obreras relevantes. Esperamos que este boletín contribuya a construir solidaridad entre trabajadores reforzando las comunicaciones e intercambios de información.
Submitted on Sat, 10/04/2008 - 11:46pm
Headlines:
- Ward's Market fires IWW members
- Toronto radio station fires staff while bargaining
- Quebec workers get union contract at Wal-Mart
- Sweatfree Communities press state governors
Features:
- General Assembly in Europe an IWW first
- Remembering Helen Keller as a fighter
- Youth must organize at school and work to win power
- UK inquiry reveals chronic neglect led to death
Download a free PDF copy of this issue.
Submitted on Fri, 10/03/2008 - 8:41pm
New York, NY- The Starbucks Coffee Co. is in the process of an extreme
revamping of its workforce policies according to company documents obtained by
the Starbucks Workers Union of the Industrial Workers of the World. The
initiative, dubbed "Optimal Scheduling", will require employees to make
themselves available to work essentially around the clock to obtain so-called
full-time status. Even for workers able to make the extraordinary sacrifice to
obtain "full-time" status, no work hours are guaranteed- identical to Starbucks'
current system of part-time status for all retail hourly workers. In addition,
Starbucks will lay off workers who cannot meet minimum availability
requirements. As baristas learn of the new program, discontent is
rising.
"I've had to make myself available each week from Tuesday to Sunday
starting at 4:45am until 11pm in the hopes of possibly getting 32 hours of work
but not being guaranteed a single hour," said Liberte Locke, a Starbucks barista
in New York and member of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union. "It's impossible for
me to get a second job now even though I need one and impossible to have a life
outside of work."
Under the new system, baristas who opt for pseudo full-time status have to
make themselves available to work 70% of the total hours their store is open
during the week. In an example given in the company documents, a store open 115
hours per week requires a barista to be available to work 80.5 hours each week -
over double the standard work week. Week-to-week Starbucks can then schedule
workers anywhere within that availability. In addition, workers who cannot make
themselves available for at least three shifts a week will be fired, absent a
"compelling reason" which Starbucks has not defined. Weekend workers must be
available for at least 16 hours to avoid termination.
Submitted on Fri, 09/26/2008 - 1:31am
Dear friends and comrades,
For two weeks in late-April and early-May four members of the Industrial Workers of the World traveled to Haiti to meet with labor leaders and document the plight of the Haitian working class. During our trip we encountered a Haiti still reeling from food riots which had gripped it just weeks prior. We found the workers and organizers that we met with to be extremely competent and passionate, but almost completely immobilized by a severe lackof resources.
Now a new crisis grips the Haitian people in the form of over a thousand dead and one million out of a total population nine million people displaced as a result of the recent hurricanes
which have battered the island.
Submitted on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 6:37pm
Headlines:
- South Korea orders arrests of union leaders
- Mall of America Starbucks baristas join IWW
- US working poor lose ground in Midwest, Northeast US
Featured Articles:
- Reader's Soapbox: IWWs remember Utah Phillips
- Providence IWW rallies against police brutality
- Review: Dishwasher Pete wanders, entertains, rebels
Download a free PDF copy of this issue.
