IWW International Solidarity Commission Monthly Update Bulletin -- December 2008

[Omaha Steve]

http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20081224060231239

Wednesday, December 24 2008 @ 07:40 AM CST
Contributed by: WorkerFreedom

Fire Your BossGreetings from the International Solidarity Commission (ISC) of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and welcome to the sixth digest of our monthly international news letter. The purpose of this newsletter is to keep our allies around the world informed of our activities, solidarity campaigns, and relevant international labor struggles. It is our hope that this newsletter will contribute to building worker-to-worker solidarity through strengthened communications and exchanges of information.

If you would like to contribute story ideas or news for the bulletin, or wish to contact the ISC, you can email [e-mail].

In this digest:

1. IWW News
- Minneapolis: Another Starbucks Shop goes Union
- Sheffield: Showroom Cinema Update

2. ISC Action and Events
- Athenian (Red and Black) Democracy – Report by ISC Chair Saku Pinta
- ISC premieres Haiti documentary at Wobbly Art Show in Baltimore

3. Solidarity Statements and Appeals
- Speaking out against the pending execution of Farzad Kamangar
- No to Union Busting at Telefonica
- Solidarity with Tokyo Hotel Workers Occupation
- Demanding an end to the Occupation of Haiti
- Solidarity with arrested Japanese protesters

1. IWW News

Minneapolis: Another Starbucks Shop goes Union
(with files from iww.org)

Baristas from the Starbucks Coffee located at the intersection of Nicollet and Franklin Avenues in Minneapolis joined locations in New York City, Chicago, and Grand Rapids as a public, IWW affiliated union shop in November. The Starbucks declared their affiliation to the Starbucks Workers Union becoming the second in Minnesota to go union.

The workers at the Nicollet and Franklin location had repeatedly expressed concerns for their safety, given a string of robberies in the area, which received no productive response from the store's management. "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.


FULL update at link.