In the New England SBWU, the top three demands made by baristas when surveyed were Cost of Living Adjustments (90%), Living Wage (85%, with $24/hr being the most popular wage), and Short-Staff Compensation (84%), all of which are strong economic demands in a time of massive inflation and a looming recession. Clear Economic Demands Are Keyīut to be truly effective, collective actions must raise strong, clear demands that demonstrate to the majority of Starbucks workers that it’s in their material interest to join and build this fight. Unfortunately, the leadership of SBWU has argued that only “non-economic” demands should be discussed at this stage of the campaign, but economic demands are the most persuasive and popular demands for workers across the country. We need nationally coordinated action during key profit-heavy holidays and special Starbucks promotions to re-energize our movement, starting with another three-day strike next month. While positive, it has proven to not be enough to have individual stores striking over unfair labor practices at different times across the country. That means we need to make coordinated strike action, regionally and especially nationally, a top priority of the movement moving forward. Over 100 individual SBWU strikes, of varying lengths, have taken place across the country, likely costing the company $1,500,000 or more.Įvery effort we put into the union drive at this point in time, including striking, needs to be done through the lens of getting more non-union stores to join our movement. Baristas across the country have already demonstrated a willingness and capacity to strike, and in large numbers. Striking is the most powerful tool that workers have because it shuts down production and cuts off profits from the source. In order to return energy to a movement battered by retaliation, we need to bring strike strategy to the next level, with coordinated national action and a serious mobilization of union and non-union stores, and the wider working class who supports us. Going forward, to build on this, we need an escalation plan that includes another round of coordinated, national strikes of over 200 stores next month in December that goes for three full days. It’s a major step forward for the movement that there is a national strike this month for the first time on ‘Red Cup Day,’ November 17, when Starbucks kicks off its holiday sales season. Starbucks executives, and the entire capitalist class, are solely motivated by maintaining their high profit margins, and if these profits are not threatened, they will continue to stall as coffee workers struggle to survive. However, the company’s lawyers walked out of the room just minutes after arriving, giving nonsense excuses as to why they wouldn’t negotiate. In a new ploy, Starbucks accepted numerous stores across the country to the bargaining table last month, which caused our union to gear resources heavily toward getting workers prepared to bargain. ![]() Starbucks hopes to make our fight for a living wage, actually affordable healthcare, and guaranteed hours nothing but a distant memory. The company plans to weaken workers’ resolve and use the high turnover rate at stores to water down whatever gains could end up in a store’s contract, if any stores get one at all. Having cut down growth to SBWU, Starbucks plans to wage a war of attrition against the remaining 256 unionized stores by dragging negotiations out for months, if not years. This is mainly because of Starbucks using the ‘carrot and stick’ union busting method: illegally firing union activists while incentivizing workers with increased benefits at stores that stay non-union. Over the last four months, SBWU monthly average for union filings has trickled to 10. From February to May, SBWU averaged 56 new filings per month. ![]() Liam Easton-Calabria is a member of SBWU’s National Contract Action team. Josh Crowell is a member of SBWU’s National Bargaining Committee.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |