Starbucks Union

Check out the great pics at: http://www.wsa.org.pl/module.php?op=galery&cmd=366

By Damon Agnos

Monday, May. 4 2009

The National Labor Relations Board laid the smack down on the wrist of Starbucks last week, siding with union organizers in finding that the coffee giant engaged in unfair labor practices at eight Minneapolis-area stores. The union said that Starbucks kicked visiting organizers out of their stores and told them they couldn't talk about the union, and also retaliated via disciplinary measures against employees who tried to organize.

The NLRB proposed a settlement, which Starbucks can accept or decline and then face a formal complaint before an administrative law judge. But the real kick is the employees' union. When I heard Starbucks employees were organizing, I automatically thought it would be under the umbrella of the SEIU, the fast-growing, aggressive, powerful union of service industry employees (local branches of which recently protested in front of the First Hill Bank of America).

Instead, though, the Starbucks Workers Union is organized under the Industrial Workers of the World (aka the Wobblies), the international union that was a powerhouse in the early 20th century, opposing World War I, calling general strikes, and facing violent repression from business groups and government. (A particularly notable episode occurred in Centralia.) Those who keep close tabs on labor (or coffee) news probably know that the IWW has been organizing in Starbucks and elsewhere, but for the casual observer, it's a trip to see their name in the news.

Nazis tried to murder union activists and their daugther. In 1999 Nazis
murdered the SAC member Björn Söderberg. Now they have tried again.

Two members from Stockholm – one of them earlier board member of the Stocholm
Local- and their three year old daughter had to escape trough the balcony
of their three floor building, when Nazis put their apartment on fire.

Just Before 09.00 pm Monday the first of December, someone poured gasoline
trough their mailbox, our member loudly shouted “we got our child in
here!” Just seconds after they lighted it up. The only way to escape was
trough the balcony, were our members managed to lower their daughter to
the neighbour downstairs who catch her and then climbed down themselves.

Miraculous our members and their daughter managed to escape without
suffering any injuries, but that doesn’t changes the fact that someone,
cold-blooded tried to take their lives. Just two days earlier someone
burned down the social centre Cyklopen in Högdalen south of Stockholm. The

The Spark We Need

The Chicago Sit-Down Strike

By DANIEL GROSS, Counterpunch Dec. 8, 2008

The corporations got sloppy. From the hedge-fund parasites to the housing market fraudsters, the corporate criminals have shown their hand. Their filthy fingerprints are all over the economic pain blanketing the country and the world.

To add insult to injury, the corporate agents in government, also known as politicians, are looting incomprehensible billions of dollars to turn over to the fat-cat executives.

Working families have long known the pain of stagnant wages, steep rents, and unaffordable heath care and education in the United States. But there’s no doubt that this recession has squeezed the vise beyond what many of us have seen in our lifetimes.

What’s invigorating and critically important though is the rising awareness that corporations are to blame for the current calamity, and that this crisis is not merely, “a force of nature.” Working people across the country are pointing the blame where it belongs. The elites understand this rising public awareness of corporate wrongdoing as well. How else to explain President George W. Bush feeling obligated to give a speech last month in New York defending capitalism itself...

Read full article at: http://www.counterpunch.org/gross12082008.html

Two members of the SAC union in Sweden and their two year old daughter were assaulted at home by a Nazi fire attack. The IWW Starbucks Workers Union (SWU) stands in proud solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the SAC, a Swedish labor union dedicated to extending democracy into the workplace.

The SWU will continue to update our members and supporters around the world regarding the Nazi violence against SAC members. Like the IWW, the SAC does not back down from a fight whether it is with a tyrannical boss or a blood-thirsty Nazi. We are certain that in the birthplace of IWW organizer and songwriter Joe Hill, the strength and dignity of every day working people will prevail over the hatred of the Nazis:

From http://anarkisterna.com/blog/2008/12/03/nazis-tried-to-kill-union-activists-and-their-child/

Nazis tried to kill union activists and their child

onsdag 3 december, 2008 kl. 2:27 e m

1999 Nazis killed the Syndicalist Björn Söderberg. Now they tried again. Two Syndicalists from Stockholm – one of them the former chair of the Stockholm chapter of the Syndicalist union - and their two year old daughter were forced to climb down from the balcony of their third floor apartement when Nazis sat fire to their flat.

Half a year ago, our union members were exposed on the Nazi webpage Info-14. The Nazis behind Info-14 are the same people who arrange the annual Nazimarch in Salem.

Just before nine p.m. on Monday night, 1st December 2008, our members heard a splashing sound from the hallway. “I saw someone pour a clear fluid through the mail slot and understood from the scent that it was gasoline”, one of them says. “I shouted so loud that they can’t have missed it: We have children in here! Only seconds later they lit the fire.”