Baristas Present 500 Petition Signatures Demanding Improved Security at a Minneapolis Starbucks
Workers, Customers, and Community Members Concerned About Threats and Harassment at the Location
November 12, 2008
Minneapolis, MN- Baristas at a Starbucks coffee shop in Minneapolis walked off the floor Wednesday morning to present a petition to management, signed by more than 500 concerned customers and community members, demanding Starbucks hire a security guard to ensure the safety of its patrons and partners. Today's action marks the expansion of activity by the IWW Starbucks Workers Union to a second store in the Twin Cities after baristas at the Mall of the America started taking action for improved working conditions over the summer.
Store partners circulated an internal petition, compiling signatures from most of the store's employees, requesting a meeting to discuss the security situation. After receiving no productive response from either the store or district manager, the employees turned to the customers to prove their point.
"We hoped management would recognize the need to discuss these concerns with us, but when they refused to even hold a meeting, we knew more action was needed," said Aaron Kocher, a current store employee. "We can't work when we are constantly being harassed, threatened, and intimidated, or trying to protect our customers from the same mistreatment," he said.
Nancy Athanasselis, a regular customer known to everyone at the store,
was gratified to see someone finally doing something about the problem.
"The baristas are very busy running the store. It shouldn't be up to
them to take care of security problems, but that is what ends up
happening. If Starbucks is not going to look at the human aspect, they
should at least look at how much time they spend dealing with security,"
she said.
Since the beginning of 2008, there have been more than 500 police
reports filed for the immediate area surrounding Starbucks. On August
3, the McDonald's restaurant located two blocks south of Starbucks was
held up at gun point. On November 3, the Money Xchange less than one block from Starbucks was robbed at knife-point at 8:30 in the morning.
Christa worked for Starbucks for three years, but she was forced to
choose between self-preservation and her position: "I loved the people I
worked with, but there were problems. I can't tell you how many times
we had to clean up feces, urine, blood, or vomit from customers who came in drunk. One time a guy didn't want to pay an extra four cents for his coffee. He started screaming at me. He came back later with a friend and started photographing me, saying, 'That's the one. I'm going to kill her.' I'm not going to risk my life for $8.50 an hour."
The customers and baristas at the Franklin and Nicollet Starbucks create
a dynamic, diverse community in a changing neighborhood. The security conditions at Franklin and Nicollet have made performing the essential job duties nearly impossible. It is unconscionable for Starbucks to continue endangering their lives.
In solidarity with the workers of all Starbucks locations, the Starbucks
Workers Union and Industrial Workers of the World will continue to
support Starbucks employees everywhere in their efforts to create a
positive, respectful work environment. The union will take action on "Black Friday," November 28, 2008, the busiest shopping day of the year, to call attention to one of the workers' core demands, a cost of living pay increase for all Starbucks baristas.
The IWW Starbucks Workers Union is a grassroots organization of over 200 current and former employees of the world's largest coffee chain united for secure hours and a living wage. The union has members throughout the United States fighting for systemic change in the company and remedying individual grievances with management. The SWU has been especially active in New York City, Chicago, Grand Rapids, and the Twin Cities.
http://www.starbucksunion.org/node/2060
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business as usual
the IWW promotes policing and we all go round and round.
i'm sure starbucks really creates a 'dynamic, diverse community in a changing neighborhood.' starbucks is literally the cornerstone of the gentrification of this area. here's a great example of union work that has nothing to do with anything.
I too was dissappointed to
I too was dissappointed to see that security was the issue that workers at that store chose to organize around, but they are workers organizing to improve their working conditions and that is what unions are for. If they're concerned about it, then the workers there have the right to organize to ensure their safety. Sure, many of us in the IWW would prefer that they had more militant demands, but that's the beauty of the IWW as a democratic union. The workers at the shop are in charge of their own campaign and they choose their issues and tactics. It's not the union's business to choose that for them. We are here to support them as they organize to meet their demands. This is the way they chose to launch their campaign at that store publicly, but it sure isn't the be all end all of the campaign. It's just something to build on.
to build on the backs of
to build on the backs of poor people of color by increasing surveillance and criminalization in this case. nice that the iww somehow doesn't have to answer to the content of the causes that they support, or any contradictions therein. when the 'democracy' of a union is built through the legitimating of policing-as-security, you get the modern American political regime. congrats for upholding the status quo.
upholding the status quo?
not having a security guard at this store is like not having a bouncer at a bar. no one would accuse bartenders at a bar of protecting capitalism for demanding that their boss pay someone to do the dangerous work of tossing out drunks.
currently, the workers end up calling the cops all the time when there are problems. having a security guard would create a decent job and take the state out of the equation in the short term.
this isn't a simple issue of white gentrification vs. poor communities of color. a majority of the workers who initially made the demand for a security guard are poor people of color from the neighborhood. if you really think that this is an unproductive demand then go to the store and talk to the workers when there is some down time. if you have ideas of how their workplace could be made safer without hiring a bouncer or security guard, then share those ideas. in the mean time, these folks just want to not have to worry about being killed for the boss's money.
and don't think that because the iww doesn't turn every press release into an anticapitalist manifesto that the underlying causes of violence in the neighborhood are not discussed or understood by the workers. there's more to organizing than meets they eye.
Baristas Present 500 Petition Signatures Demanding Improved Secu
first off ,let me say that this is a difference between private security the police, they get paid a lot less and do not have the power to arrest people. All the barristas here were asking is for is one security guard. Although I don't think security is a long term solution of course but, meanwhile the workers have to be safe.
There is nothing anarchist about not being safe,or employees being shot in a holdup. Also remember that these were the workers demands it is not for the union to tell them what their demands should be.
Although my concern is that a security guard could esiely become an enemy if there is ever a picket.
i dont think anyone posting
i dont think anyone posting here wants people to be shot.
when did hired armed anyone = safety to an anarchist? are you really convinced that this is the way to make people 'safe' or that 'security' (i.e. policing) makes anyone safe? there are community-based solutions to issues of safety that should be promoted and embraced in this situation rather than a strike that should be inherently and unquestioningly supported.
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