Toothlessjoe
2009-01-08, 18:19
"...Following a lengthy trial here last year, a National Labor Relations Board judge has found Starbucks guilty of extensive violations of federal labor law in its bid to counter the IWW Starbucks Workers Union. In an 88-page decision, Judge Mindy E. Landow found, among other things, that Starbucks maintained multiple policies which interfered with workers' right to communicate about the union and about working conditions; terminated three workers in retaliation for union activity; and repeatedly discriminated against union supporters. The decision comes despite a 2006 New York settlement in which Starbucks pledged to stop illegal anti-union activities and mirrors federal government action against the company for its conduct toward baristas in Minnesota and Michigan.
"The judge's decision coupled with previous government findings expose Starbucks for what it is --- a union-busting corporation that will go to staggering lengths to interfere with the right to freedom of association," said Daniel Gross, a barista and member of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union found to have been unlawfully terminated by the coffee giant. "In these trying economic times of mass layoffs and slashed work hours, it's more important than ever that Starbucks and every corporation is confronted with a social movement that insists on the right to an independent voice on the job."
Source (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.iww.org/en/node/4521).
This along with how workers were treated in Chicago demonstrates an alarmingly obvious yet growing trend with corporations (capitalists) to go as far as to break obvious laws in trying to continue their higher rate of exploitation because people sit by and let them because they're indolent, simply fobbing it off as "life in the real world".
The left has been using the legal system in the U.S. for some time now and hopefully this will be another step in developing a renewed class consciousness for the working class in the U.S. but more so the Western World all over. This is a massive win for workers all over the world. It goes to show that you can still stand up for your rights and prevail under a legal system dominated by corporate and "free market" influence.
Finally we get a recent example of a union truely pulling through within the boundries of the law. Let's see people try to downplay this decision. They clearly break laws and this will hopefully make people question what their own employer does and take action if needed.
"The judge's decision coupled with previous government findings expose Starbucks for what it is --- a union-busting corporation that will go to staggering lengths to interfere with the right to freedom of association," said Daniel Gross, a barista and member of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union found to have been unlawfully terminated by the coffee giant. "In these trying economic times of mass layoffs and slashed work hours, it's more important than ever that Starbucks and every corporation is confronted with a social movement that insists on the right to an independent voice on the job."
Source (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.iww.org/en/node/4521).
This along with how workers were treated in Chicago demonstrates an alarmingly obvious yet growing trend with corporations (capitalists) to go as far as to break obvious laws in trying to continue their higher rate of exploitation because people sit by and let them because they're indolent, simply fobbing it off as "life in the real world".
The left has been using the legal system in the U.S. for some time now and hopefully this will be another step in developing a renewed class consciousness for the working class in the U.S. but more so the Western World all over. This is a massive win for workers all over the world. It goes to show that you can still stand up for your rights and prevail under a legal system dominated by corporate and "free market" influence.
Finally we get a recent example of a union truely pulling through within the boundries of the law. Let's see people try to downplay this decision. They clearly break laws and this will hopefully make people question what their own employer does and take action if needed.