What in the hell …

A list, bulletpointed. (more…)

Notes on “Can The Subaltern Speak?” as the next step from this suggested by Rob. (more…)

… of Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, Dread Soul and Messenger of the Other Gods, with the Three Headed Dog(ma) of Empiricism? (A bit of an experiment, not sure about its success…) (more…)

Summer enervation continues apace. By summer’s end I should be divested of an interest in the printed word. (Actually, that’s a lie. I read a short Lovecraft collection that was quite fun (and I’m about to go to the lieberry to get some more), some comics, and a bit of a Dave Roediger book, all of which were invigorating, or at least not enervating.) I’m a third of the way through the second chapter of Difference and Repetition and holy crap is it painful going. More notes on that to come. In the meantime, a few scattered notes from another (thankfully shorter) enervating text, Fredric Jameson’s “Cognitive Mapping” in Nelson and Grossberg, Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. (more…)

Bit of welcome good news. Please forward this in your networks. Thanks.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
IWW Starbucks Workers Union

Union for Starbucks Workers Expands to Grand Rapids

Wealthy St. Starbucks (2172 Wealthy SE) makes Michigan the fourth state with Starbucks Workers Union members

Contact:
Grand Rapids: Cole Dorsey, Barista and Union Member
616-881-5263

Chicago: Joe Tessone, Barista and Union Member
815-545-5273

New York: Daniel Gross, Organizer IWW Starbucks Workers Union
917-577-1110

Grand Rapids, MI 5/17/07- Baristas at Wealthy St. Starbucks in East Grand Rapids announced last night their membership in the IWW Starbucks Workers Union (www.starbucksunion.org), becoming the first store in Michigan to declare union membership at the world’s largest coffee chain.

Workers served Starbucks management at the café, located on 2172 Wealthy St. SE, with a declaration of union membership and a set of demands including a living wage, guaranteed work hours, reinstatement of IWW baristas fired for organizing activity, and respect for an independent voice on the job through union membership.

“For a company as profitable as Starbucks my fellow baristas and I should be better compensated for our work,” said Cole Dorsey, an IWW barista at the Wealthy St. store. “We hope to build off the achievements already won by the IWW Starbucks Workers Union in New York and Chicago and improve our working conditions here in Grand Rapids.”

After management got wind of the ‘union talk’ at Starbucks cafes in Grand Rapids all baristas citywide were forced to sign Starbucks corporate statement on unions.
One victory already won at the Wealthy St. store is more consistent scheduling, which came about directly after workers began discussing the union.

In stark contrast to its employee-friendly image, Starbucks workers in Grand Rapids and around the world face low wages and barriers to health care and other benefits. After years of promoting itself as a leader in employee health care, Starbucks was forced to admit that only 42% of its employees (including management) are covered by company health care- that figure is lower than Wal-Mart’s 47%, a company often condemned for its poor health care package.

In Grand Rapids, baristas start at only $7.25 per hour and, like all café workers at the company,are not guaranteed any number of work hours per week. Employees who expect to work full-time are often not given the necessary number of hours to qualify for health care benefits.

Founded in 2004, the IWW Starbucks Workers Union has won three wage increases, more consistent scheduling, and safety improvements at Starbucks stores across the country. The union uses direct pressure against the company on the job and in the community to win demands and remedy member grievances with management. The union’s organizing approach is known as solidarity unionism whereby workers themselves control their own organization; power is exerted without interference from the government or union bureaucrats; and organizing takes place regardless of certification status. Like many labor organizations, the IWW Starbucks Workers Union does not get involved in government certification elections because of the fatal flaws in that system. Starbucks does not recognize the union and is waging a relentless campaign to crush the organization, which resulted in a large complaint leveled against the company by the National Labor Relations Board. The government settlement agreement of those charges is available on the web at
http://www.starbucksunion.org/node/712.

I finished college in 2000 with a lot of student loan debt and no job skills as a result of my degree. (more…)

It’s the title of a thing that Todd and I did for Turbulence. The first issue is online here. A number of things look good in it. I look forward to reading them. If anyone’s interested, our piece is here. Responses welcome too, of course.

The editors we worked with were initially like “your piece is so … reasonable” - as in “it’s a bit dull” - but I guess as it turned out the piece made for a bit of (*hardyharhar*) turbulence in discussions as the issue came together.

I think I’m a prick for saying this, but the inclusion of a glowing piece on the J4J campaign raises my ultraleftist hackles a bit, indicating a place where post-operaist/autonomist thought bridges to left-liberal in its labor guise (a lot the sort of “teamster and turtles together” huzzah-ing after the WTO stuff in 1999), in a way that wouldn’t happen with regard to party forms (in anglophone circles I mean, I think in Italy that sort of thing is more common - Refondazione and the Greens and all that). Ah well. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. (I don’t suppose, actually, rather I’m going to have to start sharpening my infantile leftist barbs, it’ll give me something to do since I’m no longer as interested in shouting “Kronstadt, Kronstadt!”)

A more productive response would be to build a list of materials on the labor movement and workplace organizing for those interested, including criticisms thereof and also criticisms of the social justice industry, professional staff, substitutionism, etc.

Note to self, read this before reading the Mezzadra/Roggero piece in Turbulence. Also, Prol Position #8 is out.

As in “… makes me similar to” or “… do I have in common with.” (more…)