Starbucks DM Taken to School by SWU NYC

Photo by Diane Krasnodebski

“For every dollar the boss has and didn’t work for, one of us worked for a dollar and didn’t get it.”
- Big Bill Haywood, Wobbly Organizer

STARBUCKS D.M. MARK ORMSBEE GOT CLOWNED FOR NEARLY 8 HOURS STRAIGHT BY UNION HE'S ILLEGALLY TRYING TO CRUSH
By FW Double Jeff

Monday, February 16th The New York branch of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union held an energetic 8 hour picket outside two separate Starbucks locations. Originally planned as a “loose informal picket” outside the Union Square East Starbucks location, managerial stupidity and increased union-busting activity on the part of Starbucks turned it into a media circus and all night protest. Between the time when the picket was planned and when it actually took place Starbucks decided to fire yet another union barista, Sharon Bell from the 17th and Broadway location, conveniently located across the park from Union Square East.

The picket was called to protest the recent wave of Starbucks lay offs and draw attention to the refusal of Starbucks to pay severance, in spite of claiming in several press releases to the media that they will be providing severance pay to all laid off workers. The message was expanded to include the demand for the reinstatement of Sharon Bell and an immediate end to the illegal, unethical, nationally coordinated union-busting operations of Starbucks Coffee.

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 antiunion, antiworker propaganda department.

As we lined the whole front of the store with signs containing messages ranging from “Stop The Layoffs” to “Stop Union-Busting,” local and national television, radio and print ranging from CNN to NPR interviewed union organizers Sharon Bell, Daniel Gross, Liberte Locke and Henry Marin.

Other signs demanded that Starbucks “Stop Slashing Labor Hours” and “Restore Benefits.” As well as demand that Starbucks “Obey Judge Landow’s Ruling” and “Reinstate Fired Union Baristas: Joel Agins, Jr., Sharon Bell, Cole Dorsey, Daniel Gross, Neal Linder and Isis Saenz."

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. Daniel Gross had made it clear to the police that “when our people are unlawfully arrested we sue the police for wrongful 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 7 pm we marched over to 17th and Broadway, where Sharon Bell was fired for being a union organizer. Only a few reporters actually followed us over there, but that’s where the real action took place. Several of us went inside to meet up with union barista and IWW organizer Henry Marin so he could deliver the SWU demand letter to the store manager “Little Mark” Vanneri. Little Mark, who is known to have an anger problem, threw the demand letter back in Marin’s face several times. In retaliation “Big Mark” Ormsbee, the District Manager in charge of both 17th and Broadway and Union Square East refused to let Marin go back to work for the rest of his shift for “walking off on the job.” Marin was later written up for the incident, even though he was engaging in a legally protected work stoppage.

Not letting Henry Marin finish his shift was a huge mistake on the part of Ormsbee. We told Big Mark that we would not leave until they let Marin go back to work, which they were too pig-headed to do, so a “loose informal” two hour demo ended up being a nearly 8 hour indignant protest.

According to Starbucks policy any time there is a union action against any Starbucks location, the Store Manager and District Manager are required to be there. They were not allowed to leave until we left. And we stayed until the end, all the way until closing time. Starbucks’ anti-union policy essentially kept them hostage in their own store for nearly 8 hours. Normally Store Mangers don’t work closing shifts, so it was nice to see both Little Mark and Big Mark to have to. Even though nothing a Starbucks manager does could really be considered “work.” They mostly just played on their laptops, drank coffee and talked on their cell phones all night while we chanted “Let Henry Work!” until our voices almost gave out. We protested Big Mark Ormsbee with a Warriors reference, “Ormsbeeeeeee, come out and plaaaaaaaa-ay!” which a lot of New Yorkers seemed to really appreciate. Several New Yorkers joined in the protest for a few minutes, or a few hours because “New York is a Union Town!” We chanted “What’s Disgusting? Union Busting!” and “What’s Outrageous? Starbucks Wages!”

Around 11:00 PM District Manager Tracy Bryant and two other DMs were finally given permission to leave by corporate. Bryant used to be the DM for the region that 17th & Broadway and Union Square East are located in, and is known for her union-busting skills. 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.

Once the two Starbucks PR reps left, Little Mark and Big Mark were on their own. When the store closed at 1:00 AM, Mark Ormsbee went outside to plead with the cops to arrest the five of us who were left. We began chanting “SHAME SHAME SHAME ON YOU!” while the police told him they weren’t going to arrest us. Ormsbee stormed angrily back into the store. About 15 minutes later he and Little Mark finally made their exit. The two not-very-pleased managers came out of the store and hailed two separate cabs. We continued chanting “SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!” and telling everyone in earshot that they were union-busting scumbags! As Mark Ormsbee got into his car he called one of the founders of the Starbucks Workers Union, and fired union barista Daniel Gross a “pussy.”

How telling is it that Ormsbee chose the word “pussy” to describe someone who is fighting for dignity and respect in the workplace? That term is not only misogynistic and anti-woman, but in this context it’s meant to be queer-baiting and demasculizing as well. Mark Ormsbee is the man who is responsible for investigating sexual harassment and discrimination claims for an entire region. Are we to believe that the concerns of women and GLBT people are going to be treated seriously by Ormsbee?

In the past month Ormsbee has fired two Black female union baristas for organizing in the workplace, which is legally protected. Sheanel Simon from Union Square East has already won her job back through union pressure, we are still fighting for Sharon Bell.

For more information on the Starbucks Workers campaign go to starbucksunion.org

NYC Union Barista Fired on a Friday, Unfired on a Monday

"If the workers are organized, all they have to do is to put their hands in their pockets and they have got the capitalist class whipped."
- "Big Bill" Haywood

NYC Union Barista Fired on a Friday, Unfired on a Monday
By FW double jeff

SWU barista Sheanel Simon went public with her Starbucks Workers Union affiliation on Thursday January 29th, was fired on Friday January 30th and was rehired Monday February 2nd.

Sheanel Simon, an African-American single mother of two who is very well liked by her fellow workers but singled out by the largely white management at the Union Square East Starbucks in New York City was fired the day after declaring her union affiliation with the SWU.

Store Manager Gwen Krueger and Starbucks District Manager Mark Ormsbee had Ms. Simon brew a french press of coffee that they could leisurely enjoy while firing her, unintentionally illuminating everything that is wrong with capitalism. In that single moment where two white managers have the black single mom make a french press for them before they fire her in the middle of an economic crisis, Krueger and Ormsbee seem to be proving everything we know to be true about bosses: they are lazy and parasitic, and incapable of making their own coffee.

The official reason given for Simon's termination was failure to follow the dress code because she had a tongue piercing, which violates the archaic "no visible piercings" rule. It is clear that the firing of Sheanel Simon had nothing to do with enforcing the rigid dress code. Simon had her tongue pierced the entire year and a half she worked for Starbucks with no formal reprimand. It was only the day after she went public with her union affiliation that her tongue piercing became a fireable offense. Starbucks has a history of using previously unenforced policies as part of their union-busting efforts. The same day, union barista Cezar Ramirez was sent home early for having a tongue piercing.

Simon joined the union to fight for dignity and respect in the workplace. "I will not be treated like a child, I have two children of my own." said Ms. Simon in reference to how she has been treated at Starbucks.

Over the next few days Starbucks stepped up its use of both subtle and not so subtle intimidation tactics used against SWU baristas at Union Square East. These tactics included, but were not limited to, District Managers coming into the store from other districts, staring at union baristas through their whole shifts, hovering over them while they worked the bar, repositioning the store cameras, interrogating both union and non-union baristas and illegally soliciting grievances to undermine the union drive.

Immediately following the firing of Sheanel Simon, SWU baristas Liberte Locke and Cezar Ramirez were subjected to interrogations by the Store Manager Gwen Krueger, District Managers Tracy Bryant and Mark Ormsbee and Regional Manager Nicole Mozeliak. During these illegal and unethical interrogations they were told, among other things, that they would never win. Ms. Locke was denied a lawyer present and union representation when she was called into the back to be written up for the first time in the two and a half years she worked at Starbucks. When asked why she was so scared that she needed a "third party" involved, she made the observation that the fact that they were denying her a witness showed that they are far more scared of us than we are of them. Both Locke and Ramirez stood their ground while enduring an entire weekend of interrogations and other intimidation tactics.

NYC Wobblies verbally confronted Gwen Krueger in the store just hours after Sheanel Simon was fired. In an act of solidarity, SWU members at the Twin Cities store in the Mall of America engaged in workplace direct action the night Simon was fired. The union baristas engaged in periodic work stoppages where they announced loudly to customers that they were protesting the firings of two union baristas, Sheanel Simon in New York and Neal Linder in the Twin Cities.

On Monday, February 2nd Simon was contacted at home by Krueger and was told they had reconsidered firing her and that she could come back to work as long as she bought a clear retainer for her tongue piercing. Simon returned to work at Union Square East at 8:00 AM on Thursday, February 5th. Greeted with hugs and laughter by her coworkers (and some frowning managers), Simon proudly began her shift with her IWW pin firmly affixed to her Starbucks hat. When Ms. Locke informed Regional Manager Nicole Mozeliak that they would win Simon's job back Mozeliak responded with a grin, "No, no you won't." As Wobblies we stood in solidarity and said, "Yes, yes we will." And we did.

The fight for the reinstatement of union barista Neal Linder continues.

For more information on the Starbucks Workers campaign go to starbucksunion.org

IWW's Annual MLK Jr. Day March, NYC '09.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Above is the YouTube of the IWW's annual Martin Luther King Jr. day march posted by Fellow Worker and videographer Diane (dianedymedia). Featured in the video are IWW union organizers Stephanie Bastille and Liberte Locke and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra.

The march kicked off from the New York headquarters of Starbucks Coffee at 33rd and 5th Ave in Manhattan. Before the march there was a small rally with speeches from IWW organizers Stephanie Bastille and Liberte Locke. One of the main messages of the rally was demanding that Starbucks Coffee honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by paying time and a half on Dr. King's holiday.

Fellow Worker Stephanie Bastille gave a well-researched and impassioned speech on the nature of wage-slavery and the need for organizing in the workplace. Union barista Liberte Locke ad libbed a passionate rant against Starbucks corporate greed. Locke railed against the hypocrisy of Starbucks drastically cutting labor hours and closing 600 stores while at the same time buying a 45 million dollar private jet for the CEOs and chief financial officers.

Locke also went off on Starbucks for their refusal to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by refusing to paying time and a half on Dr. King's birthday. Locke expressed how much Dr. King's words meant to her when she was growing up poor, often homeless and her mom, a single mother, would quote them to her. Her mother knew that when Dr. King fought for civil rights he was fighting for the civil rights of everyone.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for both racial equality and economic equality. He fought for the poor, the working poor and spoke out on behalf of single mothers. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday belongs to all of us, regardless of what color skin we're livin' in.

After the rally in front of the New York Headquarters of Starbucks we marched to a retail outlet of Wild Edibles, a seafood packaging company based in Queens and Brooklyn whose largely immigrant workforce is kept in sweatshop conditions and are not treated with even a shred of human dignity. The workers at Wild Edibles are often locked inside the plant. When the workers started to organize themselves the bosses retaliated with illegal and unethical union busting tactics, including firing all open IWW members.

We marched to Wild Edibles with the Rude Mechanical Orchestra playing the whole way. Rude Mechanical Orchestra is a protest marching band that plays everything from Italian anti-fascist resistance ballads such as "Bella Ciao" to cross-dressing heavy metalists Twisted Sister's anti-authority classic "We're Not Going to Take It!"

When we got to Wild Edibles they were conveniently closed for the day "for repairs." The bosses too embarrassed to even show their faces, IWW members rallied outside the store anyway. At least the neighboring businesses and passers-by now know what scumbags they are.

"E questo il fiore del partigiano morto per la liberta! (and this is the flower of the partisan who died for freedom's sake!)"

"Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao!!!"