| Labor Board seeks injunction in nursing home strike
By Daniel Massey, Crain's New York 
July 31, 2008
From Crain's New York Business:
July 18. 2008 12:51PM
Workers at a Bronx nursing home who have been walking the picket lines since February could soon be returning to their jobs.
The National Labor Relations Board will seek a temporary injunction in federal court next week against the Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation and Care Center that could bring an end to the strike, which has attracted the attention of local and national political figures, including Sen. Charles Schumer and Sen. Barack Obama.
The workers, who are members of 1199 SEIU, walked off their jobs Feb. 20 after Kingsbridge owner Helen Sieger stopped paying into their benefit fund.
On May 30, the board filed charges against the nursing home, alleging management’s unfair labor practices set off the strike. The complaint said Kingsbridge failed to make payments to the workers’ benefit fund, conducted surveillance of union members and failed to abide by a contract agreed upon with the union.
A hearing on the charges is scheduled for Sept. 15, but the board will seek the temporary injunction so workers can return to their jobs before then.
“What we’re asking the judge to do is order this interim relief because our processes could take so long, to require the employer to do this now rather than wait,” said Elbert Tellem, assistant regional director of the NLRB.
The board will file papers Tuesday or Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District and a hearing should be held shortly thereafter. If the judge rules against Kingsbridge, the home would be forced to resume making payments to the workers health fund, among other measures.
Kingsbridge has been operating with replacement workers, but if the strike is found to have been prompted by unfair labor practices, by law, the union members cannot be permanently replaced.
“Helen Sieger’s position is the workers are through, `I’ve permanently replaced them,’” said Dan Ratner, a lawyer for 1199. “In fact, the workers will be back to work, the union will be in place.”
Ms. Sieger did not return a call seeking comment.
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Global Day of Action Against Starbucks Hits 80 Cities Worldwide
By Wobbly City 
July 11, 2008
New York was one of 80 cities in some 20 countries that took part in the July 5th Global Day of Action against Starbucks. The actions were endorsed by the IWW and the CNT-IWA (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo). Links to reports from around the world can be found below.
New York City, USA
From NYC Indymedia:
Starbucks Union Demands Reinstatement of Fired Baristas
Coffee-sippers at 17th & Broadway Baffled by Drum-Pounding Protesters
By Inni Chowdhury
A dozen protesters gathered in front of the Starbucks on 17th and Broadway on Saturday July 5 to protest the termination of two union organizing baristas. Liberte Locke, a current barista who works in Manhattan, wrote a letter to Chairman Howard Schultz, asking to re-instate two terminated employees: Monica (who has declined to reveal her last name for fear of being blacklisted by other potential empolyers) and Cole Dorsey, of Grand Rapids Michigan.
According to the official Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) website, “Monica was fired on the 24th of April without notice. She had resisted management when they made people work public holidays without extra pay. The store manager had told her on several occasions that she must have nothing to do with unions.”
Cole Dorsey was fired on June 6. He had been an active member of IWW Starbucks Workers Union.
The event was just one of dozens around the world, as part of an IWW-organized Global Day of Action. There were protests in Belfast Brighton, London, Serbia, and major US cities including Phoenix, Boston, and Grand Rapids. The IWW Starbucks campaign began in 2004, when the group decided to take on the company in the court of public opinion. Daniel Gross, New York City organizer for IWW, calls their methods “direct action,” one that pressures by attacking their “public image, picketing stores, and organizing Internet campaigns.”
Marching in a line and pounding a drum, they were greeted with bewildered glances by the coffee-sipping patrons. The group of nearly a dozen people gathered around Liberte as she talked about the fired employees, and their efforts to gain more workers benefits for all Starbucks employees. Halfway through her speech, a shift supervisor asked the protesters to leave and warned that law enforcement was on the way. Before leaving, Liberte gave her the letter to the shift supervisor, and asked that it be passed on.
As Daniel Gross, a former Starbucks barista and an organizer with Industrial Workers of the World, or IWW, said before the event, “This is a strategic protest. They are as anti-union as Wal-Mart.” For Starbucks, this latest controversy is just another headache. The Fortune 500 Company announced on July 1 that it would close 600 underperforming stores around the country. As one protestor, Eugene from Brooklyn College put it, “Not only do they have bad labor practices, but the have bad business practices too.”
LINKS TO OTHER REPORTS:
Germany & Worldwide
Reports from the Global day of action against Starbucks, by FAU-IAA (Free Workers Union), Fau.org
London, England
Starbucks gets a picket from london syndicalists, by London IWW, UK Indymedia
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Global Day of Action Against Starbucks - Belfast Picket, by Jason Brannigan, Anarkismo.net
Ireland
Protests in Ireland against Starbucks anti-unionism , by Aileen, Anarkismo.net
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Baltimore Starbucks Protest by IWW Members, Supporters, by X353983, IWW.org
Kentwood, Michigan, USA
GR Starbucks employee firing triggers global protests, WOOD TV8
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
July 5th Global Starbucks Day of Action in Philadelphia, by John Kalwaic, Bay Area Indymedia
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Cement-truck drivers strike in New York City
By The Associated Press 
Photo by Rob Bennett of The New York Times
July 04, 2008
From
The Associated Press :
July 2, 2008
Hundreds of cement-truck drivers went on strike days before the Fourth of July holiday weekend, disrupting some of the largest construction projects in the city including the World Trade Center site.
The strike began on Tuesday, when more than 400 cement-truck drivers joined the labor action by Teamsters Local 282.
The walkout affected projects including the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site, where rebuilding has already been delayed and is over budget, and new baseball stadiums under construction for the Yankees and the Mets.
Local 282's lead attorney, Bruce Levine, said the union negotiated for weeks with the Association of New York City Concrete Producers over wages and working conditions.
"Local 282 fully intends to continue negotiating in good faith and looks forward to reaching an equitable resolution to this dispute so that its members can return to work as soon as possible," Levine said.
Joseph Greco Jr., treasurer of the concrete producers' association, told The New York Times in Wednesday's editions that the union has said it would not restart negotiations until next week. A call to Greco Wednesday wasn't immediately returned.
© 2008 Associated Press. Displayed by permission. All rights reserved.
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Starbucks to Close 600 Stores
By Starbucks Workers Union 
July 01, 2008
IWW Starbucks Workers Union,
StarbucksUnion.org
Contact: StarbucksUnion@yahoo.com
Statement of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union on the Announcement of 600 Starbucks Store Closures
The IWW Starbucks Workers Union is deeply troubled that management's numerous missteps are resulting in more serious hardships for baristas, bussers, and shift supervisors.
To ensure transparency, Starbucks should immediately disclose the locations it intends to close and outline its severance plan. Starbucks and its CEO Howard Schultz must minimize the number of layoffs, assure adequate notice to affected families, and offer severance pay which is fair. Employees and their families deserve to be able to safeguard their futures.
If Starbucks is serious about distinguishing itself from competitors like McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts, Schultz should stop prohibiting full-time status for retail hourly employees and improve a health care plan which insures a lower percentage of workers than Wal-Mart's. And the company should stop wasting millions of dollars on its union-busting lawyers and PR professionals at Akin Gump and Edelman.
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