New York: Starbucks union busting attempts

[Omaha Steve]

http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20090402150126822

Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 03:03 PM CDT

Apparently when photographers and camera people showed up early to scout the location they were greeted by someone with a clipboard claiming to represent the union and they were told the picket was canceled.
Starbucks union busting attempts

Excerpts from http://www.iww.org/en/node/4659

An hour before the picket was to take place, union organizer and barista at Union Square East, Liberte Locke started receiving phone calls from members of the press inquiring as to whether or not the picket was still happening. Apparently when photographers and camera people showed up early to scout the location they were greeted by someone with a clipboard claiming to represent the union and they were told the picket was cancelled. Further example of the dirty tactics Starbucks uses to squash dissent and undermine the union. Thankfully that tactic backfired, because in spite of it being a rather small turn out of under 30 people, the media showed up full force turning the scene into a street level press conference. Whether it was because the press doesn’t like to have the wool pulled over its eyes, or because of the strength and conviction of the demand letter which was included with the press release, the media for once seemed to want to represent our side, rather than just be a mouthpiece for Starbuck’s anti-union, anti-worker propaganda department.

Things got tense when police started ordering picketers to stop “blocking the door” even though no one was anywhere near the door. Cops threatened to arrest union barista Mischa Lefebvre who was standing nowhere near the door. They started to push him around and drag him off but Fellow Workers Liberte Locke and Daniel Gross intervened, helping him avoid arrest.

The police were still making threats to arrest the whole crowd and were overheard calling for police vans. Locke and Gross tried to reason with the cops, which is like trying to reason with goldfish. Or pudding. The police finally backed off when Locke told the press to focus their cameras on the door which was not being blocked in any way so that when the cops arrested everyone there would be proof that it was under false pretenses. Later Locke remarked that “it was like they were pointing to a desk and telling me it was not a desk.”

Around 11pm, District Manager Tracy Bryant and two other DMs were finally given permission to leave by corporate... The three DMs were accompanied to the train station by six or seven enthusiastic protesters who called them “Union-Busters”. Because, as I mentioned earlier, New York is a union town several passers-by joined in the festivities.

[imdjh]

1. Why would unionized police officers assist anti-union efforts? n/t

[Omaha Steve]

2. It has been like this in the USA for well over 100 years

The US Army has been used at times too. Look back through the Labor History posts on this forum. That will give you an accurate picture of police vs workers rights.

This from today's history:


April 3, 1913 - During the bitter strike at the mills in Paterson, New Jersey, police repeatedly crushed efforts by the workers to hold rallies. Pietro Botto, the socialist mayor of nearby Haledon, invited the strikers to assemble on the green in front of his house. There, a crowd of 20,000 listened as speakers from the Industrial Workers of the World, novelist Upton Sinclair, journalist John Reed and other champions of labor’s cause urged the strikers not to give up their fight. Today, the Botto House is home to the American Labor Museum. It preserves the house that became a rallying point during the strike and offers special exhibits on the history of work and the labor movement.

Learn more about the Botto House at its website, http://www.geocities.com/labormuseum/