STARBUCKS workers in Seattle have launched a unionisation campaign inspired by the victory of their colleagues in New York last week.
In a letter to the Kevin Johnson, the global coffee chain’s chief executive, staff at the Broadway and Denny store said they have filed papers calling for a union election to give themselves a voice in the workplace.
“We stand with partners around the country who are organising to make Starbucks a better company,” the letter said.
The visa system traps workers with abusive employers, creating a vulnerable workforce scared to complain for fear of deportation — that is why we’re campaigning for a ‘common sponsorship’ model instead, writes FAVOUR DAVIDKING
Organised workers at the notoriously anti-union global giant are scoring victory after victory, and now international bodies are pitching in to finally force this figurehead of corporate capitalism to give in to unionisation, writes EMILIO AVELAR
It is only trade union power at work that will materially improve the lot of working people as a class but without sector-wide collective bargaining and a right to take sympathetic strike action, we are hamstrung in the fight to tilt back the balance of power, argues ADRIAN WEIR



