Lunch lady land: reflections on a unionization drive from a radical food service worker
An account of organising in a US college cafeteria.
It was sometime in late February, 2011 when we let the cat out of the bag. I was working the swing shift in the college’s main cafeteria – “The Den” as it was known. It was starting to get dark, and I had just clocked out for my lunch break and stepped outside onto the smoking dock.
Lessons from small shop organizing
Submitted by Recomposition on Dec 20 2013 03:46
A significant amount of organizing experience in the IWW comes from working in relatively small workplaces such as stand-alone single shops or franchises of multiple smaller shops. These places present their own set of difficulties and opportunities. Lou Rinaldi talks about what happened at a former job of his in this piece.
Brazil World Cup 2014: workers' deaths, racism, gentrification, and cultural terrorism
Submitted by working class s... on Dec 15 2013 13:15
A brief look at the deaths of four construction workers at the World Cup 2014 stadium construction sites, and at several other scandals associated with next summer's tournament, FIFA, event organisers, and the Brazilian political elite.
Despite everyone knowing the opposite to be true, the Brazilian sports minister claims that all the world cup stadiums will be finished and ready to hand over in January 2014. His smugness over the speed of their completion has come with a heavy cost.
Fast food unionism: the unionization of McDonald’s and the McDonaldization of unions
IWW organizer Erik Forman gives a broad background of the fast food industry, business union tactics, and draws out some directions that an autonomous movement of fast food workers could take to remedy the issues he identifies.
[i]This week’s piece comes to us from Erik Forman, a contributor to Recomposition. Forman cut his teeth organizing in the IWW at different fast food establishments before the recent push by SEIU and other unions. The text is a repost from from Counterpunch’s Monthly Digital Exclusive.
Starbucks fires employee on food stamps for eating a sandwich from the garbage
Submitted by Ramona on Aug 28 2013 19:31
Last Monday, 21-year-old barista Coulson Loptmann says he was fired from a downtown Seattle Starbucks where he’d worked for more than a year. The reason? He ate a sandwich that had been thrown away.
Really. Like most cafes, the coffee giant gets rid of food that has expired; they donate what they can and toss the more perishable items.
Working at Artistry Bakery and Cafe - Madaline Dreyfus
Submitted by Recomposition on Apr 13 2013 21:02
In this article, Madaline tells the story of how she fell into organizing and the IWW – pushed both by terrible bosses and by amazing solidarity among her coworkers.
If the first week of work at Artistry Bakery and Cafe was any indication, there was no way this four-month experience should ever have resulted in two of the strongest friendships in my life. I was introduced on the first day to a group of men and women, mostly about University age, who were also going to be working with me at the restaurant.
Manifesto of the fast food worker - Socialist Alternative (U.S.)
Submitted by wojtek on Feb 28 2013 02:02
The U.S. organization Socialist Alternative's text on the fast food industry, written in the wake of an organising drive at Pizza Hut in 2003. Though insightful, we disagree with the politics of the authors, Tony Wilsdon and Brent Gaspaire.
Because you should have clocked in at 7…
Submitted by Liberté Locke on Oct 23 2012 18:40
In memory of assaulted and slain Starbucks barista Whitney Heichel.
TRIGGER WARNING FOR SEXUAL VIOLENCE
Dear Whitney,
Together we win: the fight to organise Starbucks
A short 15 minute documentary that chronicles the struggles and victories of the Starbucks Workers Union, from how it formed to members continue to organize.
Produced by Diane Krauthamer.
Please contact diane [AT] indymedia.org if you would like to purchase a full-length version, proceeds benefitting the IWW Starbucks Workers Union.
Lyon, France: Strike at Domino's Pizza
Submitted by ites on Sep 27 2012 10:57
News of the struggle against Domino's Pizza Friday in the 8th district to protest working conditions and low wages. Here is the translated text from the site, edited for this post.
Contact the strikers at collectif-dominos-lyon8 [AT] hotmail.fr.
Original page: http://rebellyon.info/Engagement-d-une-lutte-a-domino-s.html#formulaire_forum.
Friday, 21 September, 2012, 6pm. Employees of Domino's Pizza store Lyon 8e were given an appointment to find a solution to low wages and poor working conditions (the leaflet is written attached to the end of the text).
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