FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Erik Forman, 608 695 8705
Starbucks Workers Union/IWW
December 23, 2008
Twin Cities Starbucks Baristas to Spill the Beans in New Blog
Starbucks Workers Union Invites Public to ‘Look Behind the Brand’
Blog: http://tcsbuxunion.com
Minneapolis, MN– the Starbucks Workers Union announced today that Twin Cities Baristas have launched a new blog to document their struggle against poverty wages, inconsistent scheduling, and job insecurity at the world’s largest coffee chain.
Union Barista Aaron Kocher said, “This is the blog that Howard Schultz doesn’t want you to read. As Starbucks’ overpaid executives gut the company to feed greedy investors, we will bring the truth behind the brand into the public eye.”
The blog, accessible at http://tcsbuxunion.com, will provide an inside look at working conditions at Starbucks, keeping the public abreast of Starbucks’ vicious attempts to thwart worker unionization amidst deteriorating working conditions.
Background on the IWW Starbucks Workers Union
While portraying itself as a ‘socially-responsible’ employer, Starbucks pays baristas a poverty wage of $7.60/hr. In addition, all retail hourly workers at Starbucks in the United States are part-time employees with no guaranteed number of work hours per week. According to Starbucks figures released to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 40.9% of its employees (including managers) are covered by the company health care package, a lower percentage than the oft-criticized Wal-Mart, which insures 47% of its workforce.
Since the launch of the IWW campaign at Starbucks on May 17, 2004, the company has been cited multiple times for illegal union-busting by the National Labor Relations Board. The company settled two complaints against it and is awaiting a decision by a judge in New York on more than 30 additional rights’ violations. Starbucks’ large anti-union operation is operated in conjunction with the Akin Gump law firm and the Edelman public relations firm.
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The IWW Starbucks Workers Union is a grassroots organization of over 200 current and former employees at the world’s largest coffee chain united for secure work hours and a living wage. The union has members throughout the United States fighting for systemic change at the company and remedying individual grievances with management. The SWU has been especially active in New York City, Chicago, Grand Rapids, and Minneapolis.
For Immediate Release:
Starbucks Workers Union (Industrial Workers of the World)
Contact: StarbucksUnion (at) yahoo.com
Judge Finds Starbucks Guilty of Extensive Union-Busting
The IWW Scores Big Victory Over Global Coffee Chain
New York, NY (Dec. 23, 2008)- Following a lengthy trial here last year, a National Labor Relations Board judge has found Starbucks guilty of extensive violations of federal labor law in its bid to counter the IWW Starbucks Workers Union. In an 88-page decision, Judge Mindy E. Landow found, among other things, that Starbucks maintained multiple policies which interfered with workers’ right to communicate about the union and about working conditions; terminated three workers in retaliation for union activity; and repeatedly discriminated against union supporters. The decision comes despite a 2006 New York settlement in which Starbucks pledged to stop illegal anti-union activities and mirrors federal government action against the company for its conduct toward baristas in Minnesota and Michigan.
“The judge’s decision coupled with previous government findings expose Starbucks for what it is — a union-busting corporation that will go to staggering lengths to interfere with the right to freedom of association,” said Daniel Gross, a barista and member of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union found to have been unlawfully terminated by the coffee giant. “In these trying economic times of mass layoffs and slashed work hours, it’s more important than ever that Starbucks and every corporation is confronted with a social movement that insists on the right to an independent voice on the job.”
The Board decision is the latest blow against a company that has experienced a stunning fall from grace. From a precipitous decrease in customer demand to its increasingly tattered socially responsible image, the myriad of challenges facing Starbucks has resulted in the company losing over half its value from just a year ago. The decision also represents a significant victory for the IWW Starbucks Workers Union which continues to grow across the country with baristas taking creative and determined actions to improve the security of works hours and win respect on the job. Starbucks faces another Labor Board trial next month in Grand Rapids, Michigan over illegal union-busting.
“For the first time, a judge has confirmed the existence of a nationally coordinated anti-union operation at Starbucks,” said Stuart Lichten, the attorney for the IWW Starbucks Workers Union in the case. “This decision conclusively establishes Starbucks’ animosity toward labor organizing.”
The union is confident that Judge Landow’s copiously documented and well-reasoned 88-page decision will be upheld by the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C. should Starbucks appeal. The victory is sure to be gratifying for the union’s international supporters who conducted spirited global days of action in defense of Isis Saenz, Joe Agins, Jr., and Daniel Gross after their terminations which the Board has now found to be unlawful.
The National Labor Relations Board attorneys on the case were Burt Pearlstone and Audrey Eveillard. The union’s attorney Stuart Lichten is a partner at Schwartz, Licthen & Bright, a prominent New York City labor law firm. Starbucks was represented by union-avoidance lawyers Daniel Nash, Stacey Eisenstein, and Nicole Morgan at corporate firm Akin Gump.
The IWW Starbucks Workers Union (StarbucksUnion.org) is an organization of almost 300 current and former Starbucks employees united for a living wage, secure work hours, and respect on the job. Founded in 2004, the union uses direct action, litigation, and advocacy to both make systemic improvements at Starbucks and take on the company over unfair treatment of individual baristas.
The Industrial Workers of the World (iww.org) is a rank and file labor union dedicated to democracy in the workplace and global solidarity.
The NLRB decision is online here: http://www.nlrb.gov/shared_files/ALJ%20Decisions/2008/JD-NY-46%2008.htm
I’m leaving town tomorrow for the holidays. I figure I better commit my resolutions to words now.
- Treat exercise as being at least as important as work and political commitments
- Climb at least once a week (been doing this mostly, should be no problem)
- Rock climb at least once a month (I mostly boulder, which I really like but rock climbing’d be good too)
- Figure out a climbing support fitness program and start it, like rotator cuffs and stuff
- Do a cardio-vascular work three times a week
- Go back to yoga, average once a week
- Go back to a meditation group, at least once a month
- Get down to 200 pounds (I’m about 215 right now)
- Do more ab work out stuff, improve ye olde gutte
- Shave my face and head at least once a week; no more scruffy
- Finally get those other tattoos I’ve been thinking about forever, at least one of them anyways
- About every two weeks call the brother I don’t live with
- At least every two weeks do some thing deliberately to improve my writing, like a writing exercise or reading a thing on style then trying it out
- Get two massages by May
- Finally finish volumes two and three of Capital
- Cook vegetarian versions of poutine, biscuits and gravy, chicken and dumplings
- See more rock music live
- Make a short list of novels to read from the gilded age and progressive era and actually read them
- Keep my desk more neat and organized
- Make and keep some socializing goals, rather than pretending that having a job and doing political stuff is the same thing as a social life
- Do more outdoor things, like outdoor rockclimbing and kayaking
- Read some of those books about understanding comic books and/or the history of comic books
- Get my blog posts categorized at least up through 2008
- Finally get around to getting to know Twin Cities music more, starting with the Husker Du records I don’t have then maybe Lftr Pllr (sp?)
Okay so I really, really, really, really (etc) love Jawbreaker. They’re my all time favorite band. Turns out Blake Schwarzenbach is in a new band, Thorns of Life. There’s some video online of a show they played in New York.
I was walking my dog just now and called MK so we could be all “fuck yeah!” together, cuz of all the folk I know who think “fuck yeah” about Jawbreaker MK’s on the list of folk who is like that almost as much as I am. While I was talking to MK my lovely dear sweet little dog Lizzie (who has an adorably cute dog winter coat because she’s too small to handle the Minnesota cold without covering - hell, I can’t handle the cold with a coat on and I’m between 15 and 20 times bigger than the dog is and with a higher percent of body fat) jerked suddenly on the leash and pulled my cell phone out of my hand. It disappeared into a snowbank. Like totally gone. I didn’t have my gloves on at the time, which was dumb. I dove for the phone and dug around in the snow. For a moment I couldn’t find it, which would have been a big problem for my travel plans - among other things, my dad and brother have both gotten new numbers that I haven’t memorized yet. After a very long couple seconds I found the phone, blew the snow off it and tried to wipe it off. MK was still there, talking, which was comforting both as evidence of the phone working for the moment and to be able to instantly tell someone about it.
The tip of my pinkie finger is a bit numb and a bit burn-y now. On the plus side, I found my phone. And whoo Thorns of Life! I won’t be talking on the phone while walking the dog anymore though.
Hola, amigos. I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya, but I’ve been eating too much and it’s left me in a food coma that I can’t break out of. (more…)
I’ve blogged about this a fair bit here and there, exclusively or almost exclusively in relation to Antonio Negri’s work, maybe also the work of some other recent Italian writers. I’ve got some other things I need to get to (grading, sleeping, watching Scrubs) so I’m going to be a bit lazy. At some point I’d like to write something proper about this, review the literature then show up the problems on it. For now, just a blog post and a start. (more…)
Or, engaged scholarship. Following on from the discussion with Eli in the comments here. I don’t think there’s an a priori reason why academic work can’t be useful for important social change. I am just very skeptical about any particular claim about particular work making a real contribution, and even more so about this work making any difference to people outside of universities (or people who work at universities but are not academics). I think the burden of proof is on the people making such claims and the bar is high re: evidence. (more…)
A few years ago in Chicago my wife and I went downstairs to catch the train. The train sat on the tracks a few feet back in the tunnel so no one could get on. A youngish white kid with a backpack was having some kind of conversation with a Latino guy, something about Israel and Palestine. It sounded vaguely heated, I thought it was like people having heated agreement. The white kid came up to us and asked if we knew what was going on with the train. We were like “oh, it’s just late, they do this, it’ll be fine soon.” He thanked us and walked away. On the back of his backpack was a sticker for a racist organization. I was really angry, like how dare this shithead get me to help him in any way whatsoever?
I recently had a similar experience though happily not as extreme. When I first moved in to my apartment someone from the neighborhood organization came by and asked me to sign a petition to make our street permit parking, said it would alleviate congestion. I didn’t think about it, just signed the petition. A few weeks later someone came by and put a flyer on our door then asked us to come to a meeting of the neighborhood organization. I can’t remember the details but I got a weird vibe like there was an implied reference to “Those People” or something. I didn’t like that and I was busy anyways so I said I wouldn’t be going. Turns out the parking permit stuff went in. Just the other day my brother got into some kind of conversation with someone in the neighborhood while smoking, the neighbor said something along the lines of “hurray for the parking permit rule, it’ll keep the fucking Somalis from parking here.”
Motherfuckers. Makes me particularly mad about signing that paper.
A regular question deriving from the incompatibility of my delicate hot-house flower constitution and the brutal climate where I reside.
It’s 0 degrees out with a windchill of -22. That’s farenheit, for celsius folk that’s about -18 and -30.
My brother and I just walked the dog. I came in took my coat etc off, checked the temp online, and typed this. My exposed skin has stopped stinging and now feels slightly warm with a hint of tingly.
According to this http://www.weatherforecastmap.com/russia/tobolsk/ the weather’s about the same right now in Tobolsk, Siberia.
I talked to Adam the other day. He lives in California, I think San Jose (the Sans confuse me). He said it was a bit chilly out, which he said I think was like low 50s. From the temp right now to that temp is the same amount as from that temp to a really hot day. Crazy.
I think I’ve lost weight or else my body composition has changed [speaking of which, the other day I was taking a shower and let me just say, wow I think bouldering has improved my calves… wicked] because I think I’m feeling the cold more, though maybe it’s just that I forgot what this weather really feels like. Tomorrow will be a fine day for staying inside and grading. And watching the season finale of Heroes. (By the by - this is post number 700. Yowza.)
