JANUARY 8 DAY OF ACTION
DAY OF ACTION AGAINST STARBUCKS EDINBURGH saw another joint picket by IWW and the city's Zapatista support group on the Starbucks outlet in its world-famous Royal Mile. Despite bitter weather, at its peak this writer counted 20 on the picket, about half from each grouping. We brought the branch banner and the Zaps again brought a free coffee stall. Hundreds of jointly produced leaflets were handed out. Unfortunately the flier was (literally) being printed when we received the news that the American Labour Relations Board had found in favour of the IWW Baristas, otherwise we would have included this happy update.
This time the manager didn't try to get us moved on, but one of his minions, evidently bucking for promotion, came out and gave a lengthy spiel on what a wonderful employer Starbucks was and how we could all do a lot worse than getting a job there. When it was pointed out to her that her beloved Starbucks had just been found culpable in the US on 7 counts of breaking employment law, including intimidation and bribery, her face dropped and she vanished inside. Two of Lothian's finest stopped by, scrounged a cup of coffee in Starbucks (no one invited them to have a free Zapatista coffee) and quietly departed, leaving one of the outlet's windows completely blocked out by the branch banner and a teeming coffee stall set up before the other. There they remained for the 3 hours of the picket. Numerous people including groups of tourists were turned away from Starbucks after talking to the picket and perusing the flier. Many chose the free Zap coffee over the 'hot sweet and filthy' concoction on offer inside ('It tastes of workers' blood' we would tell those who crossed the picket and went in) and stayed to talk. The outlet stayed quiet throughout the demo, sometimes empty. Once I looked in the open door and saw the manager and his faithful minion leaning forlornly on their elbows at the counter, gazing at the hive of activity outside.