Starbucks
IWW: Union victories at NYC Union Square Starbucks
On Friday Nov. 18, Starbucks workers at Union Square publicly declared their membership in the Starbucks Workers Union.
Throughout the weekend workers showed their strength by refusing to take off union pins in the face of management attempting to enforce a no-pin policy. Our key demands were for guaranteed hours, a group meeting with management, and an end to anti-union discrimination.
Workers at third US Starbucks go union
In New York City at the end of last year Starbucks baristas and supporters wearing union pins and hats surrounded the store manager at the Union Square location in Manhattan tonight to announce their membership in the IWW Starbucks Workers Union.
The workers, joined by union baristas from two other New York Starbucks stores, demanded a guaranteed minimum of 30 hours of work per week and an end to Starbucks' unlawful anti-union campaign. The Union will assail Starbucks with a wide array of actions until the demands are met.
Vietnam: Wildcat strikes win pay hike
More than a dozen strikes by more than 40,000 workers in Ho Chi Minh City's export processing zones have forced the Vietnamese government to raise the country's minimum wage by nearly 40 percent.
The hikes -- up to 55 US dollars a month in Vietnam's two biggest cities, 50 dollars in mid-sized cities, and 45 dollars in the rest of the country -- show increased frustration among workers who are only allowed to affiliate with a single, government-run trade union.
First starbucks strike in the world!
It was bound to happen eventually -- and it happened today in New Zealand. Low-paid Starbucks workers walked off the job and formed a picket line.
They were joined by workers from other low paid, fast-food restaurants such as KFC and Pizza Hut.
Starbucks, which tries to project an image as a caring, progressive, company, has some 80,000 employees worldwide. It pays those workers minimum wage or only slightly above, and generally does not welcome unions.
