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Las Vegas Business Press
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Union organizes Starbucks employees

By Ian Mylchreest
November 26, 2005

With chants of “No latte, no peace,” the International Workers of the World is trying to organize Starbucks staff in New York City, reports the New York Times.

Wait a minute! Is that the IWW?

The Wobblies, as they used to be called, were a radical union in the early part of the 20th century and they were particularly active in the West in mining and logging operations. The textbooks usually say that whatever remained of them after the mining companies did their best to drive them out of business, was killed off in the anti-communist scare after World War One.

Now, though the union has risen from the ashes to organize Starbucks servers so they are given a roster that guarantees them health benefits. The organizers say the workers are often given as few as 16 hours a week to deny them benefits.

And the union has charged the coffee shop mega-chain with illegal union-busting practices, which the NLRB is investigating.





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