Show some love to our IWW workers at Starbucks this holiday season as they fight for their rights.

[Selatius]

You can read the full story here:

http://www.iww.org/en/node/3044

The people at the SWU (Starbucks Workers Union), a division of the IWW, need your help fighting a corporate union-busting campaign levied by Starbucks against workers who have exercised their right to unionize.

Sarah Bender joined the IWW Starbucks Workers Union after two months on the job at the world's largest coffee chain. Like each and every Starbucks barista in the United States, Sarah was a part-time employee. With her schedule fluctuating unpredictably between 11 and 35 hours of work per week, Sarah could not count on a steady paycheck to pay the bills. Her irregular schedule meant that she often had to arrive at work at 5:00 a.m. after a long commute only to be sent home just four hours later. Sarah's precarious work life soon caused serious sleep problems. To get the justice she deserved at work, Sarah decided to go union with the SWU. Shamefully, Starbucks retaliated against her for exercising her fundamental right to organize.

"I felt like I was walking on eggshells, always afraid that if I came a minute late, or my register was off by pennies, I would face termination. Starbucks certainly created an atmosphere of fear around the whole union idea."

Soon after co-workers overheard the store manager complain that Sarah was informing people about the union, Starbucks fired her. The SWU paid Sarah an organizing stipend, on which she assembled a coalition opposing Starbucks' unfair labor practices. She led several picket lines, and successfully attracted local and national media attention. Meanwhile, the SWU filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board. Sarah and another employee won their jobs back, won a back pay award, and the NLRB ordered Starbucks to cease and desist from its threats, bribes, and surveillance aimed at driving out the SWU. Together Sarah and the SWU have created more space to organize for every barista.

We see here that when she was canned by her bosses, the IWW paid her a stipend so that she could not only fight to get her job back but also organize fellow workers.

The SWU has given its members a new sense of dignity, a sense that they deserve respect. The SWU is poised to continue its growth through its contacts with baristas around the country. Unfortunately, Starbucks' paychecks are so small that there's little room for union dues. Currently, dues are $6 per month. As a result, the SWU depends on donations from people like you in order to succeed in building a union.

Here's how your donation will be spent:

• Stipends for organizers - All SWU organizers are currently unpaid. To expand the campaign, we need to pay stipends to our otherwise unpaid organizers to sustain their work.
  
• Campaign literature and other materials to accomodate the burgeoning interest in the campaign around the world
  
• Strike Fund
  
• Office space
  

To make your contribution log on to http://starbucksunion.org/contribute. Thank you in advance for your solidarity and generosity. Together we can build a society where every worker has a voice and can live with dignity.

In Solidarity,

Fundraising Committee IWW Starbucks Workers Union

[Omaha Steve]

1. I quit going to Starbucks after I first heard about the IWW fight

K & R!

[Hardrada]

2. I shun Starbucks also

but I am an old IWW person.