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THE ORGANIZER
April 2009 • Issue #16.
At midnight April 5, 2009 contracts for most of thecomponent groups represented by the Communica-tions Workers of America (CWA) at the telecom giantAT&T have expired. After weeks of mobilizing, around90,000 workers are poised to strike one of the largestand most profitable multinational corporations. A jobaction by CWA would be the largest and among themost significant labor action in the United States sincethe UPS strike in 1997. It would also be the first majorstrike under the Obama regime. The brewing confron-tation could set the tone forclass struggle in the U.S. forthe near future.AT&T has demanded majorconcessions in health care,seniority, over-time, and dis-cipline. These demands areopportunistic, and the com-pany has made speciouscomparisons with the col-lapse of the auto industry.More concerning, the com-pany is attempting to put the different parts of "thenew AT&T" against each other. CWA has only partiallyresisted these efforts.The attitude among the rank and file is increasinglymilitant. As we continue to work without a contract,public displays of union solidarity occur regularlythroughout all shifts. There is now a significant group of workers who are not only willing to strike, but activelywant to strike.If we are forced to go on strike it is important that wewin. We have little confidence that the business unionapproach can beat such a committed and powerfuladversary. It is likely that the withdrawal of our laboralone will not be sufficient. Direct action tactics likethose most recently employed bythe Republic Windows workers inChicago, who successfully blockedthe sell-off of their factory bystaging an occupation/sit-in areones we need to look at andadvocate.Members of the IWW who aredual card members with theCWA are in the active coreof union workers. The groupemerged during a strugglefor greater union democ-racy in our CWA localabout 4 years ago. We par-ticipate in the CWA as“solidarity unionists”, fight-ing for greater militancy,democracy and revolution-ary analysis of the systemwe are up against. We donot ignore the CWA or letit exclusively define our activity. Itis this mix of independent IWWorganizing and dual-card organiz-ing that really defines our GMBand points toward a successfulmodel for bringing the IWW back to the cutting edge of the strugglefor emancipation from capitalismand the state. – x359209This morning a group of about 50Wobblies temporarily shut-downthe Starbucks at the Mall of America. The purpose of the ac-tion was to bring pressure to themanager to re-hire a worker whowas fired for union organizing.During the action, workers camein small groups and demanded tospeak to the boss. When con-fronted about firing a worker forunion organizer, the boss said "itwas between the company andthe worker and it was none of theunion's business." The wobbliesbasically responded "your lyingand were not going to let up untilyou rehire our fellow worker."The action is a step up in the es-calation of the campaign whichbegan last week with a series of phone-ins. After about 10 minutesor so of back and forth betweendifferent groups, the shop was fullof Wobblies singing multiple cho-ruses of solidarity forever. Every-one was promptly kicked out of the mall but nobody was arrested.It was inspiring and awesome tosee some direct action on the
continued on page 2Editorial
Editor Ericco Hedake onthe worldwide responseand resistance to therecent economic crisis.
Page 2Schultz Vs. Wobbly
Chicago Starbucks worker Joe Tessone confrontsStarbucks CEO Howard Schultz, hilarity ensues asexecutive flees the scene.
Pages 3 & 7Reflections on Gaza
FW discusses current and historical conflict in Israel-Palestine and his relationto it.
Pages 4 & 5“The StarbucksProblem”
Comments from aStarbucks worker onexactly how terrified capitalists are of militant, grassroots organizing.
Pages 5 & 6
May Day Party!
Join thew IWW May 1-3in celebrating theworkers’ holiday! Moreinformation and anitinerary on back page.
Page 8
Workers at AT&T Poised to Strike
IWW/CWA dual-carders in the heart of the struggle
IWW ShutsDown Star-bucks at Mallof America
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
Bob Adamsrogead@rogead.comDavid Boehnkedboehnke@gmail.com
Editors
Errico Hedake Jake Bell
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 .
Governments in Europe are start-ing to fall on the regular. Belgium,Iceland, Latvia, and the Czech Re-public have all crumbled or beenunseated as a result of the eco-nomic crisis. Expect more, per-haps even (especially in CentralEurope and the Balkans) by thetime this is printed. Meanwhile,China is making noise about theability of the USA to even con-tinue to make regular interestpayments on the roughly $1 Tril-lion the US owes it. China is thelargest government creditor in theworld - it holds approximately $2Trillion in foreign governmentdebt.Even relatively non-political work-ers must pause at this point andat least consider that this crisismight not end the way financialmanagers and politicians claim.The trillions of dollars spent bythe US government on stimulusprograms, bailouts and war, willfail to drag our national economyout of the toilet. Once we fall, orperhaps even before that processis complete, the global economiccrisis will spiral out of controlinto political and military arenas.Will your life change? How much?What are the bosses likely to doto prepare for the possibility of real global crisis, in order to hangon to their power, and whatshould we be doing?Consider the possibility that thecrisis we are in is the same crisisthat has gripped the globe fornearly five centuries; like everyprevious crisis of production, ac-cumulation, and distribution, thereis a good chance that some of those already on top will be ableto preserve their position. Morefrequently, such crises lead to achange among those on top.Those of us who want to over-throw the entire system shouldbe paying as close attention to theeconomics of the current crisis asthe bosses are - that is knowledgewe will need in order to preventnew bosses from taking over, oncewe have occupied our workplacesand continued to produce for theworking class.This issue of
The Organizer
hasnews and analysis from here andafar. There are updates and storiesfrom local organizing campaigns inthe food service industries, storieson our union's current search fora stable office space, and articlesfrom Mexico and about Gaza.We'll be playing with the formatand content of
The Organizer
overthe next few weeks. Let us knowhow we're doing: send compli-ments, complaints, and generalhoo-ha to tc-organizer@riseup.net . We also publish let-ters. – FW Ericco Hedake
MOA Direct Action,continued from page 1
shop floor, to let the boss knowthat we permit or do not permitthe flow of production. I got madprops for the workers who organ-ized the action.All things considered, it was avery successful action as part of an ongoing effort to organizestarbucks workers in the twincities. It will be very interestingfrom the perspective of labor andconstitutional law if the struggleescalates into more direct andextended confrontations betweenworkers and bosses inside themall.It was certainly a relief to not bedetained by riot cops prior togetting of at the MOA stop. Idon't have pics or anything yet butwill try and post links to them asthey become available. – FW Ursa Minor
THE ORGANIZER
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Editorial
For a long time now, we’ve been talking about findingour own space as a union--a dedicated site for the TwinCities IWW membership. The need to have a home of our own isn’t just about finding a convenient place tohold our branch meetings. It’s also about taking ourplace within the community, validating our success as abranch, and showing ourselves that we are more than just a collection of individuals who get together at abookstore or a coffee shop. I think I speak for everymember in thanking May Day and all of our other pastmeeting locations for their support; but we are a union,and as a union, we need to find a sense of permanence.As a union, we need to be a destination for peoplewho need a union. And to do that, we need to be avail-able to workers in the community. We need to bemore than a voicemail line with an email address. Weneed to have a physical location that provides an out-reach to the workers we need to organize.In having our own space, we would have a facilitywhere we can hold branch meetings, do organizertrainings, have one-on-one meetings with workers, holdfundraisers…the list of what we can do is almost end-less. Many members are already prepared to donatefurnishings, computer equipment, and other items. Butto make use of it all, we need a space; and to get aspace we need every Twin Cities IWW member tohelp us get there by contributing funds. We have aspace fund that is slowly growing, but only a handful of members are giving to that fund. Before making a finan-cial commitment to acquire a branch office, we need toknow that we have sustainable funding to allow us tokeep that space. We’re asking every Twin Cities IWWmember to play an active role in acquiring and main-taining our own refuge from an increasingly unjust andanti-worker society. The Twin Cities IWW can be adestination for oppressed workers; and, by workingwith like-minded community activists, we can be a bigpart of creating the social and economic change thatdefines the IWW.Members of the Space Committee will be contactingevery Twin Cities IWW member about contributing toour own space. You may have already heard from oneof us. None of us as individuals has the financial abilityto make this happen, but by acting in solidarity…byacting as a union…we are strong enough to make it areality. We have enough in our Space Fund to start out.If each member would commit to a regular contribu-tion of five to ten dollars per month, we could get thisdone right now. Our union has grown in numbers, inorganizing campaigns, and in community outreach. Tocontinue our growth, we need to have our own place.That way, the next time someone asks you if the IWWstill exists, you can point to the big red and black signon the building and say, “Of course…and you’re wel-come to join us!” – FW Bob AdamsThe time is 8:55 AM, 5 minutesbefore my alarm clock was sup-posed to sound I am awoken by atext message which says thatHoward Schultz, Starbucks CEOand #1 union buster, is having apress conference at the Oak andRush Starbucks location. I jumpout of bed, get dressed, and hauldowntown. By the time I getthere, the news cameras are gone.I look around and there he is sit-ting behind amerchandisewall in aninterviewwith a fewreporters. Iorder anIced Tall Pas-sion Tea…no need forcaffeine, I’mfired up.My old Dis-trict Man-ager is in thecafe greeting customers and sheasks me why I’m there. “Just get-ting a drink,” I respond. She thenproceeds to make a call on hercell phone, obviously calling uppermanagement. After I get my bev-erage, I find a seat, set my bagdown, and I approach him.“Mr . Schultz?,” I say as I reach outto shake his hand and he standsup, “My name is Joe Tessone, I’m amember of the IWW StarbucksWorkers Union, I’d love to talk with you for a few minutes beforeyou leave today.”Taken off guard he says, “I’m in ameeting right now. We can talk when I’m done.” So I sit patientlyat the table next to them, sippingon a my tart beverage. About 10minutes go by and their interviewends.Again, I approach the man. “Mr.Schultz. I have been a Starbuckspartner for over 4 and a 1/2years. Three years ago, my co-workers and I gave the company alist of things that were of majorconcern to us and we have, forthe past three years, been ignoredby the company. We would likeyou to sit down at the negotiationtable with us to discuss our con-cerns and needs.”Immediately, he started to walk backwards away from me. “I don’thave time for this. I have a phoneconference to be on,” he saidnervously as he turned aroundand scampered to the back doorof the the cafe. “Don’t turn yourback on us like this, Howard! Ba-ristas are livingin poverty!” Iexclaimed. Hethen disap-peared out theemergency exit.Without hesita-tion, the Chi-cago RegionalDirector entersthe scene andasks me if I’dlike to sit downand talk withher. Generally, Iwon’t talk with managementwithout another union memberpresent, but this was a specialoccasion.She then started spewing outbaseless talking points about “Op-timal Scheduling:” the newest tac-tic in Starbucks’ war against itsworkers. “It will create full timepositions for partners and thosewho are part time will fill in thegaps,” she said. I asked her if thatmeant guaranteed hours for fulltime workers. “We cannot guaran-tee anything,” she responded.Essentially, what it comes down tois that they are going to lay off workers who do not “fit into thethe new system,” part timers will“fill in the gaps” and will not re-ceive enough hours to qualify forbenefits, and so-called full timerswill not be guaranteed any num-ber of hours. Basically, nothing willchange except that people whocannot comply with the unrea-sonable expectations for availabil-ity will be fired.Throughout the conversation I
continued on page 7
THE ORGANIZER
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A Twin Cities IWW Office SpaceThe Day My Boss Ran Away
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