TWO NEW IWW CAMPAIGNS:

The IWW, the Industrial Workers of the World, continues it organizing efforts. The campaign to unionize the Starbucks chain of coffee shops labours on under the banner of the Starbucks Workers Union. The latest effort of company management to derail this effort is the installation of video surveillance cameras that record the every move of employees at one location in Grand Rapids Michigan. This follows hard on the heels of management forcing every Starbucks worker in Grand Rapids to sign the corporate statement on the union. More on this matter can be seen in an article at the IWW website. The organizers in Grand Rapids are calling on people to phone the managers of the outlets in that city demanding that they end their intimidation and union busting tactics. The phone numbers are on the above links.

Meanwhile over in Britain the British section of the IWW, who have members working in the National Blood Service, have launched a campaign of protest against plans on the part of management to centralize the 13 present testing and processing facilities into only three megacentres. This will result in a projected loss of 600 highly specialized jobs, and will make the service vulnerable to disruptions in long distance transport. The National Blood Service of the UK is not in debt at this time, and the consolidation is unnecessary. The British IWW is asking people to write or email the NBS Chief Executive protesting this move. To learn more or to join the campaign see this article from the IWW website.