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July 5th Global Starbucks Day of Action in Philadelphia
Submitted by onion on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 23:51
by John Kalwaic
On July 5th, members of the Philadelphia branch of the Industrial Workers of the World organized a small demonstration in front the Starbucks on 9th and South Street at 1:00pm. This action was to protest the firing of Starbucks baristas who had been trying to unionize with the IWW Starbucks Workers Union in the United States. This event was coordinated with the Anarchist CNT Union in Spain where baristas have also been fired for organizing. Friends and family of IWW members came by to show support for the demonstration. Protesters with IWW flags and songs condemned the actions of Starbucks against union members in New York City, Grand Rapids Michigan and Seville Spain. We handed out flyers so people could contact Starbucks to voice disapproval to the company for its union busting polices. The pickets sang songs such as “Solidarity Forever” and chanted: “What’s Disgusting!?-Union Busting! What’s Outrageous?!-Starbucks Wages!”
When we first set up the manger came to yell at us because she thought for sure we were doing something illegal. We told her that this is a public sidewalk and we could have a demonstration if we wanted. The manager said she was going to call the authorities and tell them what we were doing, However no policeman ever came to bother us since we were not blocking
the sidewalk or the entrance to Starbucks. The manager posted an orange sign on the door that said, “We love our jobs.”
Despite this typical act of managerial propaganda, most people were receptive and took the flyers we were handing out. The Philadelphia IWW is not currently organizing any Starbucks workers; rather we are organizing a solidarity rally with Starbucks workers in other US cities in other parts of the world. The demonstration was successful and we got our message across.
