SWU's blog

Members of SWU Sister Union in Sweden Survive Nazi Attack

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:31:20 -0500

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.”

Blast from the past: IWW comes to MOA [TC Daily Planet]

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:05:00 -0400

By Anthony Nadler , TC Daily Planet
July 23, 2008

This week the Mall of America (MOA) became an unusual site for the return of a group once thought to be a relic of Minnesota’s radical union past – the Industrial Workers of the World. Yesterday a group of workers at a MOA Starbucks delivered a letter to their management announcing their affiliation with the I.W.W. union and making a number of demands about working conditions and compensation.

The Starbucks Workers Union, part of the Industrial Workers of the World, has been organizing Starbucks workers for more than four years in cities across the U.S. including New York, Chicago, Grand Rapids, MI, and Minneapolis. The union claims to have over 200 current and former Starbucks employees as members nationally. This is their first public union action in Minnesota. The demands of the MOA Starbucks workers include calls for a living wage, automatic cost-of-living pay increases, and an expanded tuition reimbursement program. One of the benefits often advertised in Starbucks’s employment promotions is tuition benefits. A detailed explanation of the benefits packages on Starbucks website says this benefit will be considered only for “accredited courses relating to Starbucks business.” Union members say the tuition benefit is given only for study in areas relevant to future Starbucks employment.

The union action comes at a sensitive time for Starbucks, just after the company announced they would be closing over 600 stores nationwide and 27 in Minnesota. While neither of the two Starbucks locations at the Mall of America is slated for closure, the workers letter of demands also asks for fair severance packages for workers at closing stores.

Yesterday’s letter of demands comes on the heels of another controversial incident at the Mall of America I Starbucks. On July 11, Erik Forman, a former employee, filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (N.L.R.B) claiming he had been fired the previous day as retaliation for union activity. After Forman’s firing, five workers attempted to get management to reverse the decision through a petition and a short work stoppage. Supporters collected just over 50 signatures from Starbucks workers around the Twin Cities in a petition of support for Forman. Speaking for concerned employees, Jake Bell, a current MOA Starbucks worker, said, “We’re afraid that if Starbucks is willing to break the law to fire Erik, they might fire any of us.” [Editor’s note: Full disclosure—Jake Bell also works with the TC Daily Planet.]

In New York City, where the Starbucks Workers Union has also been active, the N.L.R.B. has accused Starbucks of at least 30 violations. In one settlement, Starbucks agreed to rehire two fired workers. Starbucks Workers Union sources also say their organizing has been instrumental to significant pay increases for New York City workers.

Five Starbucks workers participating at a press conference today at the Mall of America said that they were first attracted to employment with the company because of its reputation for generous benefits and social responsibility. However, they felt that reputation had proved illusionary. Workers participating in today’s press conference said Starbucks baristas are all making much less than a living wage (with salaries starting at $7.60/hour), facing hurdles to get enough hours needed to maintain eligibility for their health benefits and many are not in the position to be able to pay for the premiums and co-pays of company health packages if available. Starbucks requires employees work 160 hours every two months to qualify for healthcare packages in which the company covers a portion of insurance costs. Workers at the press conference today said it is not always possible for employees to secure enough hours on regular basis to qualify for these benefits.

The I.W.W. is a unique union in many respects. Since the early 1900s, the I.W.W. has tried to organize all workers regardless of race, gender and level of skill. They have tended to favor direct action by workers rather than working through governmental mediation or electoral politics. According to Macalester College labor historian Peter Rachleff, the I.W.W. was very active in the 1920s and went into a slump in following decades due to government repression and the success of more powerful unions. Rachleff says the public re-emergence of the I.W.W. now is partially “in response to globalization, economic neoliberalism, and the inability of official unions to develop strategies to resist corporate onslaught.” The Starbucks Workers Union is open to all Starbucks employees and does not require members pay dues.

Local union members would not say if they had plans for any further public actions. Starbucks has not returned phone and email requests for comments and specific information about this story.

Mall Starbucks workers join union [Star Tribune]

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:51:33 -0400

Mall Starbucks workers join union

July 21, 2008

by Matt McKinney, Star Tribune

A group of Starbucks employees at the Mall of America has joined a national union and called on the coffee company for better treatment of its workers following a company announcement this month that it would shutter some 600 stores nationwide, including 27 in Minnesota.

The laid off employees deserve a severance package and the option of a transfer to another location, said Erik Forman, a former Starbucks employee at the Mall of America. He said some employees of the mall location stopped working briefly on Monday to protest the closings; the group plans a press conference today.

Forman, who said he was laid off last week for union activities, said about half of the store's 13 employees have agreed to join the Industrial Workers of the World, which has helped Starbucks employees in New York and Chicago organize unions.

An e-mail sent to a Starbucks spokesperson on Monday evening was not immediately answered.

Mall of America Starbucks Baristas Walk Off Job, Protest Closures [Fox 9]

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:47:47 -0400

Mall of America Starbucks Baristas Walk Off Job, Protest Closures

Starbucks union plans protest of nationwide closures at MOA

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Starbucks baristas at the Mall of America location walked off the job Monday and delivered a letter to management demanding “just treatment” of all employees affected by Starbucks' store closures nationwide.

The barista walkout comes days after Starbucks announce the closure of 600 stores nationwide, including 27 in Minnesota.

BARISTA DEMANDS

The baristas demanded a severance package of closure-affected workers, plus the option to transfer to other stores.

The Starbucks Workers Union says the company plans to give workers one month notice before laying them off with “a paltry two weeks' pay.” The union also says Starbucks will "insist some baristas transfer and will revoke severance pay if transfer offers are refused."

Starbucks pays baristas a wage of $7.60 per hour -- a rate above minimum wage, but below an amount baristas find satisfactory.

"With the skyrocketing cost of living, workers have no other choice than to stand up for improvements on the job,” former barista Erik Foreman said. “Even at Starbucks in the Mall of America, we can organize and fight!"

MINNESOTA MINIMUM WAGE

There are three minimum wages in effect in Minnesota: $5.25 an hour at businesses with gross yearly sales of less than $500,000; the federal minimum of $5.85 at businesses with sales between $500,000 and $625,000; and $6.15 for larger companies. Starting July 24, all employers with sales topping $500,000 must pay the new federal minimum of $6.55 an hour.

Union Link: www.StarbucksUnion.org

SWU Allies Hit Starbucks in Spain on May Day

Tue, 06 May 2008 17:33:10 -0400

The CNT in Spain made sure to stop by Starbucks on their May Day march:

97% of Coffee Drinkers Call the Bluff on Starbucks "Training" Closure [Nation's Restaurant News]

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:37:27 -0400

Study: Starbucks closed-door training had little impact on patrons

CHICAGO (Mar. 13, 2008) Starbucks Coffee's closing of more than 7,000 domestic units for three hours last month to retrain baristas appears to have caused minor inconvenience to its customers and little gain for the Seattle-based chain’s competitors, according to a recent independent survey by a market research group here.

However, only 3 percent of the 1,000 people surveyed said the closed-door training session proved that Starbucks was improving service.

The study, conducting by Synovate, a research arm of Aegis Group PLC reached 1,000 American coffee drinkers and asked them whether they knew about the store closings, how it impacted them and whether they chose to visit another restaurant for coffee.

The majority of respondents, 94 percent, said the closing did not impact them in any way. Of the 544 who identified themselves as Starbucks customers, 88 percent said they purchased coffee from another store while Starbucks was closed from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 26 for the employee training session. Twelve percent said they waited for Starbucks to reopen.

Of those who bought coffee at another restaurant during the Starbucks’ closings, 20 percent took advantage of Dunkin' Donuts' 99 cent coffee offer at the time. Fewer than 14 percent went to McDonalds for coffee.

Starbucks Baristas Win California Tip Case

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:39:11 -0400

Starbucks may owe millions

Company liable for violating law, giving managers cut of tips
By Greg Moran
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

March 12, 2008

When exactly the tip jar became a staple of the decor in coffeehouses, restaurants, bars, or dry cleaners isn't really known. Not even Wikipedia has an entry for the term.

A class-action suit contends that Starbucks' policy of sharing tips between baristas and shift supervisors violates California labor laws.
But the humble tip jar is at the center of a potentially multimillion-dollar case in San Diego Superior Court involving coffee giant Starbucks and an estimated 120,000 of its baristas, the workers who grind the beans and froth the milk for lattes and cappuccinos.

Starbucks labor settlement approved [Seattle PI]

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:17:12 -0500

Company could face 3 other suits

By CRAIG HARRIS
P-I REPORTER

About 350 assistant managers for Starbucks who claim they were forced to work off the clock will receive an undisclosed benefit after a federal judge in Houston approved a settlement Tuesday between the workers and the coffee company.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison signed off on the deal, which was struck after an assistant manager in Houston nearly three years ago alleged he wasn't paid overtime and sued Starbucks Corp. Financial terms were not disclosed during the hearing, and the judge agreed to seal the settlement, citing federal law and the parties' agreement to do so.

Starbucks Lobbied on Welfare, Trade in 2007 [AP]

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:44:09 -0500

Tuesday February 19, 12:38 pm ET

Starbucks Spent $390,000 in 2007 to Lobby on Welfare Tax Credits, International Trade Issues

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Starbucks Corp. spent $390,000 in 2007 to lobby the federal government, according to a disclosure form.

The coffee retailer lobbied on health care technology, welfare tax credits and international trade agreements. Starbucks spent $230,000 lobbying on those issues in the second half of 2007, according to the form posted online Wednesday by the Senate's public records office.

Besides Congress, the Seattle-based company lobbied the departments of Commerce and State, and the U.S. Trade Representative's office.

Lobbyists are required to disclose activities that could influence members of the executive and legislative branches, under a federal law enacted in 1995.

Starbucks Customer Detained and Strip Searched [AFP]

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:12:27 -0500

Saudi woman's cafe plight highlights rights problems

by Suleiman Nimr 2 hours, 45 minutes ago

RIYADH (AFP) - A businesswoman was detained and strip-searched by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop with an unrelated man, taboo in the country, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. The incident came just days after a UN report blasted the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom for widespread discrimination against women and as a UN expert on women's rights began a visit to the country.

It also came as a Saudi princess announced a scholarship to promote women in journalism, saying "women journalists are best placed to promote cultural communication between men and women in Saudi society."

The English-language Arab News quoted a 40-year-old financial consultant, named only as Yara, as saying she was arrested on Monday by members of the powerful Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

She said she was holding a business meeting with the man in a branch of Starbucks in Riyadh, in a section reserved for families. Saudi law requires that unrelated men and women be segregated in public.

German Magazine Ponders Connection Between the IWW Campaign and the Decline of SBUX

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:34:01 -0500

Mehr Spirit, weniger Kunden

Die Finanzkrise in den USA schadet offenbar den Geschäften von Starbucks. Auch gewerkschaftliche Aktivitäten bereiten dem Konzern Probleme. von heiner stuhlfauth

Der 7. Januar sollte eigentlich die Wende für den einstigen Börsenliebling Starbucks bringen, die US-Kette, die auch deutsche Innenstädte seit zwei Jahren mit Filialen bepflastert. An jenem Tag kehrte Howard Schultz zurück auf den Posten des Geschäftsführers (CEO). Der Unternehmensgründer, der in den USA sehr bekannt ist und von manchen als »charismatisch« bezeichnet wird, auf andere allerdings eher schmierig wirkt, soll den verloren geglaubten »Spirit« zurück in das Unternehmen bringen. Zuvor hatte McDonald’s angekündigt, Starbucks mit der Einrichtung eigener Kaffee-Bars auf dem US-Markt zu attackieren. Die »McCafes« waren in Übersee, u.a. in Deutschland, an bislang 300 Orten, getestet und für gut befunden worden.

Die Starbucks-Aktie erholte sich nach der Rückkehr von Schultz kurzfristig, nachdem der Kurs innerhalb eines Jahres um 48 Prozent gesunken war. Zum Jahreswechsel hatte die Ratingagentur Bear Sterns & Co. ihre Empfehlung von »gleichbleibend« (peer perform) zu »abstoßen« (outperform) geändert. Joseph Buckley, der Analyst von Bear, begründete seine Skepsis einem Bericht der Agentur Bloomberg zufolge u.a. damit, Starbucks habe durch stetige Expansion seine Kundenbasis auch auf »weniger wohlhabende Kunden erweitert, die jetzt auf wirtschaftliche Belastungen reagieren«.

German Language E-Mail Action: Das Fortune Magazine soll aufhören, Lügen über Starbucks zu verbreiten!

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:52:53 -0500

E-Mail-Aktion: Das Fortune Magazine soll aufhören, Lügen über Starbucks zu verbreiten!

Starbucks ist keineswegs einer der 50 besten Arbeitgeber der Welt

Liebe UnterstützerInnen, Freundinnen und Freunde der IWW Starbucks Workers Union!

Bitte nehmt euch einen Moment Zeit, an einer E-Mail-Aktion teilzunehmen. Schickt einen Protestbrief an den Herausgeber des „Fortune Magazine“, das bereits im zweiten Jahr in Folge wissentlich grobe Unwahrheiten über Starbucks als Arbeitgeber verbreitet.

Starbucks wirbt weltweit Arbeitskräfte unter anderem mit der Begründung, dass das Unternehmen vom us-amerikanischen Fortune Magazine in der jährlichen Top-50-Liste der arbeitnehmerfreundlichsten Unternehmen geführt wird („50 Best Companies to work for“).

Das „Fortune Magazine“ ist eine Wirtschafts-Illustrierte, die zum TimeWarner Konzern gehört und im deutschsprachigen Raum in etwa mit Blättern wie „Forbes“ oder „Capital“ vergleichbar ist. Die Aufnahme von Unternehmen in die populären Ranking-Listen des “Fortune Magazine” erfolgt anscheindend nach äußerst merkwürdigen Kriterien; dennoch erfreuen sich diese seit Jahrzenten großer Resonanz.

Tamika's Story

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:44:37 -0500

My name is Tamika Williams and I've been a Starbucks barista for almost a year and a half. As a single mom, I take my job seriously and I do it well. Whether it's making drinks to standard or going above and beyond with customer service, I get the job done.

I wish I could tell you that I believe Starbucks "embraces diversity", but in my case that's just not true. For months now, I have been discriminated against by Starbucks on account of my race. I've been disciplined for things white workers don't get disciplined for and management constantly disrespects me. This discrimination has resulted in reduced pay raises and in me getting suspended.

When I wanted to further my partner development I was belittled and discouraged. I was physically attacked by a co-worker and for my trouble I received a write-up. He's white and he informed me he was not given a write-up. White workers haven't had to bring in doctor's notes when they're sick, I do. There's more but I think you get the picture.

Time and time again I have spoken out against unfair treatment and received responses like I'm "too sensitive". I've had enough. I'm standing up for myself and for my family. I've joined the Starbucks Workers Union and filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Working alongside baristas around the country who are part of the Union has made me feel empowered for the first time since I started working at Starbucks. I look forward to winning justice for my family and for my co-workers.

Video: McDonald's v. Starbucks [ABC]

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:43:57 -0500

The fast food giants are duking it out. Check out the video here: http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=5890157

Wall Street Journal on the Crisis at Starbucks

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:57:30 -0500

If you ask us, the degrading of barista jobs including: 100% part-time status, insecure work hours, low-wages, and unafforadable health care (only 42% of Starbucks employees are covered vs. 47% covered at Wal-Mart) is a significant factor in the decline of the Starbucks Corporation. The McDonald's-ization of the barista position has taken its toll.

Two articles from the Wall Street Journal on the ousting of Starbucks' anti-worker CEO Jim Donald and rising competition in the fast food coffee market from McDonald's:

Schultz Takes Over to Try to Perk Up Starbucks

By JANET ADAMY

January 8, 2008; Page B1

In retaking the reins of Starbucks Corp., Howard Schultz will have to fix a coffee empire that he says has become stifled by bureaucracy and has lost the courage that helped it change how Americans get their coffee.

Starbucks ousted CEO Jim Donald yesterday and said that, effective immediately, Mr. Schultz, the chairman, will take on the additional role.