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THE ORGANIZER
February 2009 • Issue #15.
Starbucks Workers Issue Management a Six Month Review
On a freezing but bright Minnesota morning, baristasgathered on the sidewalk in front of the Franklin andNicollet Starbucks in Minneapolis. Mittens clutched thesplintery handles of picket signs. The baristas started tochant, “Starbucks Union, here to stay; these lattes areunion made!”It was January 8th, 2009. Almost six months prior, inthe first public action of the IWW Starbucks WorkersUnion in Minnesota, baristasat the Mall of America Star-bucks had stopped work toprotest the closure of 600stores. A week earlier, one of the workers had been firedfor discussing unionizationwith his peers. Despite thefiring, the idea stuck, withbaristas at the Franklin andNicollet Starbucks soon joining their fellow workersat the Mall of America aspublic union members.Almost six months later, thegrowth of the union wasevident as workers fromseveral Minneapolis loca-tions came together to giveStarbucks a “Big Review.” Standing almost six feet tall,the “Review” was indeed “Big.” Aside from the tongue-in-cheek wordplay, the action had special meaning forStarbucks workers.
Normally, baristas wait for theirsix-month reviews nervously. If you have been suffi-ciently submissive, you may get a 30-cent raise. Mostpeople aren’t so lucky, getting 20 cents or less. Nowthings are different.
As a union, workers have the op-portunity to talk back.
Over the last two weeks, theTwin Cities Starbucks Workers Union gathered inputfrom baristas locally and acrossthe US through an online survey,scoring the company on a scale of 1-3 (the same as Starbucks ownreview system).The results were not flattering forthe bosses. Starbucks scored adismal 0.6, with baristas allegingillegal misconduct in many catego-ries, such as equal opportunityhiring, treating coffee farmers withrespect, paying decent wages, pro-viding consistent scheduling, andrespecting labor law.Indeed, two days earlier, the IWWStarbucks Workers Union filed 11charges encompassing 25 viola-tions of federal labor law with theNational Labor Relations Board.Union baristas alleged a pattern of abuses, ranging from interrogationof workers for suspected unionsympathies, to instructing supervi-sors to spy on the union, and dis-ciplining workers for participatingin the union. The charges are simi-lar to allegations broughtagainst Starbucks by IWWbaristas in New York City,where a federal rulingagainst Starbucks concludeda two-year legal battle be-tween the coffee giant andunion baristas.Since the legal process takestime, Twin Cities baristasdecided to take their mes-sage directly to management.After picketing for a fewminutes, the workers begantaking turns reading off alitany of grievances. “Povertywages.” “Inconsistent sched-uling.” “Racist hiring prac-tices.” “Union-busting.” “Un-fair disciplinary procedures.” “In-consistent scheduling.” Workerstold personal stories of sexualharassment by managers, bouncedrent checks, and the thousandother invisible miseries enduredby today’s working class.Heard on their own, the stories
continued on page 2Editorial
Editor Ericco Hedake onthe continued importanceof organizing, not politics,to combat worldwideeconomic recession.
Page 2Rebellion in Greece
An FW discusses therecent student and worker revolts in Greece.
Page 3Independent Un-ionism in Cambodia
An FW documents histrip to build solidarity between the IWW and Combodian labor unions.
Page 4Seattle Solidarity Network
An analysis of the SeattleSolidarity Network and the potential for broad-based organizationlocally.
Pages 5 & 6
Economic Crisis Action Group
Notes on the Twin Cities’ grassroots response tothe current implosion of capitalism.
Page 6
T
H
E O
RGANIZER
A monthly publication of theTwin Cities General Membership Branch of theIndustrial Workers of the World.The IWW is a union for all workers, dedicated to organizing on the job for better conditionstoday, and a world without bosses tomorrow.You are invited to contact theBranch Secretary-Treasurer or any Delegate listed below for no-pressure conversations about your issues on the job.
Branch Contacts
Twin Cities IWW P.O Box 14111 Minneapolis, MN 55414Tel. (612) 336-1266email. twincities@iww.org web. twincities.iww.org
Branch Secretary-Treasurers
Steve Holmstephanholm@earthlink.net Kieran Knutsonredblack@riseup.net
Editors
Errico Hedake Alexander Graham
Policy
Stories, letters to the editors,and belly-aching can beaddressed totc-organizer@riseup.net Unless otherwise stated, theopinions expressed are not necessarily the official positionof the local branch or the unionas a whole. Many of our members areengaged in active organizing campaigns, and some use analias, occasionally their unioncard number, or ‘x’ number. Weprefer transparency over secrecy whenever possible, but will always honor requests for anonymity .
Editorial
What a new year. Most of theworld is thrilled that Barack Obama is the new president of the United States. It is unlikelyhe'll be anywhere near as hostileto the interests of workers asPresident Bush was, but thosewho have watched his cabinetpicks have noticed a disturbingcontinuity with the Clinton ad-ministration, during which periodvicious anti-worker actions weretaken, such as the signing of NAFTA. Workers cannot rely onObama or 'friendly politicians' tofight for their rights.And both here at home andaround the world, workers arenot waiting. In this issue there arestories on the amazing progressmade by the Starbucks WorkersUnion of the IWW here in theTwin Cities and around the nation(and the world), on the rebellionin Greece, and on the efforts of Independent Cambodian unionsto organize in the face of a des-perate economic crisis. Not allthe news is good, however, and wehave also chosen to run thestatement by the InternationalSolidarity Commission of theIWW against the Israeli govern-ment and IDF's vicious and brutalbombing and attacks on the Gazastrip, where nearly 1,300 peoplehave been murdered, almost 900of whom were civilians.This delicate issue arises regularlyin the circles of the American Left,as elsewhere, and usually threat-ens to divide the working class.Some of us see condemnations of state murder of Palestinian civil-ians as a form of anti-semitism,while others feel that any defenseof Israel constitutes a form of chauvinist Zionism. The ISC hastaken pains to distinguish betweenits concerns with the rights of workers and civilians to be freefrom violence and murder with-out engaging in the anti-semiticrhetoric that often inflames anddisguises the real issues. On thatlatter topic, those concerned withthe issue of anti-semitism and theLeft may be interested in readinga new pamphlet by April Johnsontitled "The past didn't go any-where: Making resistance to antis-emitism part of all of our move-ments," (endorsed by none otherthan Chris Crass!). It can beviewed and downloaded from theinternet at http://www.pinteleyid.com/past/We have a lot of work to docomrades. Let us celebrate ourvictories, and gird ourselves forthe battles ahead. They will bemany, but if we remain faithful toour convictions and refuse to bedivided, we will end victorious. AsErrico Malatesta once stated,"Those who fall without com-promise today, can be sure of vic-tory tomorrow." Let's get to it.Note: The Organizer welcomesletters to the editors. Please sendletters to tc-organizer@riseup.net. We reserve the right to editletters prior to publication. – FW Ericco Hedake
Six Month Review,continued from page 1
would be nothing more or lessthan disempowering tragedies. Buttaken together, it was all fuel forthe fire. Even in the cold Minne-sota morning, hearts began towarm with solidarity and a desirefor justice. Confident in our soli-darity, we took the six foot tallreview to Starbucks area office inan corporate tower in Blooming-ton. When no one answered thedoor, we slipped the giant docu-ment under the door for man-agement to find later.Six months ago, the idea of a un-ion for Starbucks workers, or of a“Review” for management wouldhave seemed preposterous.Communication was one-way.Now we have found our voice,and we’re only getting louder.
The Twin Cities SWU/IWW baristashave begun a blog at http://tcsbuxunion.com/ . Check it out!On December 6th of last year
THE ORGANIZER
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police shot and killed 16-year old Alexandros Grigoropoulosin the Exarcheia Square neighborhood of Athens, Greece.This neighborhood is famous for its status as a hang-out for radicals, immigrants, artists and outsiders – maybe like theWest Bank in Minneapolis on a much bigger scale. Immedi-ately the neighborhood erupted and confronted the police.Riots quickly spread to the Athens' suburbs, Thessaloniki (Greece’s gritty second city), Crete and many other parts of Greece. The riots eventually transformed into a nation-wideand in fact international rebellion, lasting four weeks and involving solidarity actions in countries around the world. For wobblies, the occupation by rank and file workers of labor union headquarters, in support of a call for a general strike,may be the most important event.
The main actionsin the first daysof the rebellionwere confronta-tions with thepolice, attacks onpolice stationsand capitalist &state symbols,and some loot-ing. The streetfighting has beenextremely fierce,with molotovcocktails andburning cars and buildings. The people in the streets atfirst were mainly radical youth especially from Greek’slarge militant anarchist movement and the radical stu-dent movement. During one of these battles, a poorwoman's sales kiosk burned down. Because of the earlydate of her livelihood's destruction, the governmenthas refused to assist her. Anarchists have since raisedover $18,000 and delivered to this woman, "who couldbe our mother."The space created by the confrontation expanded bothparticipation and the scope of the struggle: immigrantsfrom Albania, Romania and Africa have joined in, andthe ideological component of the rebellion becameclearly working-class and anti-racist. An occupationmovement began – several universities and highschools were occupied, as were municipal governmentbuildings.The Greek Communist Party (KKE) attempted to pac-ify the movement through physical actions to end oc-cupations and calls for 'national unity.' A general strikewas scaled back by reformist union leaders in an at-tempt to keep their membership away from the youthin the streets. condemned the protesters in thestreets, referring to them as "hooded rioters" that theCoalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) were"patting...on the back." SYRIZA in turn accused theKKE of taking on "the role of the state's prosecutor."Direct action in the streets forced even the anticapital-ist political parties to tip theirhands a bit, often more than theywould have liked.In response to the scaleback of the general strike, the headquar-ters of Greece’s main union fed-eration was occupied by a groupof workers in solidarity with theyouth in the streets. Initial at-tempts by the bureaucrats andtheir “heavies” to re-take the HQwere thwarted by studentsmarching over to defend the oc-cupation. We should rememberthat it was preciselythe coalition betweenstudents and workersthat sparked theworldwide rebellionof 1968 in Paris. All of these occupationsbegan having openmass assemblies tomake decisions aboutboth the specific op-position and thebroader struggle. A TVstation was brieflyoccupied and the pro-testers managed to actuallybroadcast a 5-min message urgingviewers to “stop watching and joinus in the streets”. On the Acropo-lis, one of Greece’s main cultural/tourist symbols, giant bannerswere hung urging the rest of Europe to take up the rebellion.International actions began, andthe ruling capitalist press openlyworried that the Greek infectioncould spread.Greek fascists acted against thegrowing insurgency. The hardcorefascist organization Golden Dawn,allied with the fascist and whitesupremacist National Alliance inthe U.S., mobilized it’s fightingcore to attack rioters and assistpolice in arrests. They were pho-tographed and videotaped openlycarrying clubs and knives ingroups as large as 50, in formationlines with the riot police. It’s beensaid that the cop who killed Alex-andros came from a family of fas-cist sympathizers and had in facthimself been a member of GoldenDawn.The uprising has created a crisison many levels for the Greek,European, and international rulingclass. We all know that the inter-national capitalist system is in acrisis of uncertain magnitude andthat the system is incredibly vul-nerable to a strong challenge.Early attempts by the PASOK(large mainstream socialist party)to use this to ride back into gov-ernment are now being seen asinsufficient to stem the revolt.After decisions made by massassemblies, the occupations of universities, municipal buildings,and labor offices were ended bythe rebels themselves, with deci-sions made to spread the rebel-lion through a broader segment of the population than that whichcould actively participate in streetbattles. Since then protestmarches on topics of education,and opposed to police violencehave taken place. Police have beenaccused of violently attacking notonly protesters, but also mediaand the press. In the protestagainst police brutality, some po-lice labor unionists openly took part and issued their own state-ment against the attempt to solvesocial problems with repressivemeasures.Greece has a long tradition of anticapitalist electoral parties,such as the KKE and the partiescomposing the SYRIZA. Anar-chists have often been subsumedin subcultural identities such aspunk. In one interview, one of therebels identified their recent re- jection of subcultural organizingas a major strength and one of the causes of the widespread ap-peal of the rebellion. It clearly ledto a clear working-class and anti-capitalist agenda on the part of the rebels, which became clear inthe confrontation between rank-and-file workers and union bu-reaucrats.The rebellion continues, andthough it is now perhaps less'spectacular,' it is vibrant and liv-ing, and a sign of hope. – FWs Knutson and Davis
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The Rebellion in Greece!
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