Starbucks Baristas Get Steamed

[Dan Clore]

News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
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http://www.fwweekly.com/index.php?option=com_wordpress&p=2488&Itemid=482
Starbucks Baristas Get Steamed
by Eric Griffey

Some of the baristas at the 8th and Rosedale Starbucks announced today
that some of their employees have unionized, making them the first
unionized Starbucks in Texas. Here is their press release:

Fort Worth, TX- Baristas and community supporters at the 8th and
Rosedale Starbucks shut down the store�s drive-thru this morning and
delivered a list of demands including affordable health care options and
sick days for those displaying H1N1 or other cold and flu symptoms.
Starbucks doubled the cost of the company health insurance plan in
September, leaving many workers unable to afford treatment because of
sky-high deductibles and premiums.

�We�ve had enough. Baristas should not be forced to expose customers to
H1N1 or other contagions and stay sick longer, just in order to be able
to make the money they need to support their families and pay
astronomical health care costs. We�re making $7.30/hr., that�s a nickel
above minimum wage,� said IWW Barista Michelle Cahill.

The protesting baristas are members of the Starbucks Workers Union,
which is an international campaign of the Industrial Workers of the
World (IWW) labor union. The store action makes the 8th and Rosedale
location the first Starbucks in Texas to have a public union presence.

Baristas decided to move toward unionization after many workers were
forced to continue working while displaying intense H1N1 and other flu
symptoms, enhancing the likelihood of spreading the flu virus. The
baristas are demanding that those who display H1N1 or other cold and flu
symptoms be excused from work with pay to avoid exposing customers to
Swine Flu.

Casey Keeling, another union barista at the store, said, �Watching our
coworkers be forced to serve customers while they were sick with H1N1
was the last straw. Something needs to change- in our workplace and in
this country. We have decided to form a union to fight for affordable
health insurance, paid sick days, a fair wage, and secure work hours.
And they could at least give us a first aid kit for the store.�

While portraying itself as a �socially-responsible� employer, all of
Starbucks� retail hourly workers in the U.S. 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 numerous complaints
against it and a judge�s guilty verdict on more than 30 additional
rights� violations was recently upheld on appeal by the Board in D.C.
Starbucks� large anti-union operation is headed by CEO Howard Schultz
and operated in conjunction with the Akin Gump law firm and the Edelman
public relations firm.

The IWW Starbucks Workers Union is a grassroots organization of over 300
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 and Canada fighting for systemic change at
the company and remedying individual grievances with management.

Union baristas, bussers, and shift supervisors have fought successfully
toward improved scheduling and staffing levels, increased wages, and
workplace safety. Workers who join the union have immediate access to
co-workers and members of the community who will struggle with them for
a better life on the job.

--
Dan Clore

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"From the point of view of the defense of our society,
there only exists one danger -- that workers succeed in
speaking to each other about their condition and their
aspirations _without intermediaries_."
--Censor (Gianfranco Sanguinetti), _The Real Report on
the Last Chance to Save Capitalism in Italy_