http://www.twincities.com/ci_9953103?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.comMOA employees go 'public' with union
By Julie Forster
jforster@pioneerpress.com
Article Last Updated: 07/21/2008 09:15:56 PM CDT
Some baristas at the Mall of America Starbucks are using the company's recently announced plans to close 600 stores nationwide to publicize a 4-year-old union organizing effort.
Starbucks plans to close 27 Minnesota locations.
On Monday, two workers walked off the cafe floor and delivered a demand letter to the store manager asking for, among other things, a more lucrative severance package for workers in Minnesota affected by the store closings, according to the Starbucks Workers Union, an organizing campaign of the Industrial Workers of the World.
Jake Bell, one of the workers involved, said they returned to work after faxing the letter to the Seattle-based chain's local offices in Bloomington. The Mall of America store is not among those the chain plans to close.
Starbucks did not return a phone call and an e-mail requesting comment.
Erik Forman, a former Starbucks worker who is helping with the effort, would not reveal how many workers at the mall store were supporters. The union claims to have 200 current and former Starbucks employees as members. The chain said in regulatory filings that it employed 144,000 workers in the U.S. and 172,000 worldwide as of last fall.
"We went public with our union and basically told management that we are forming a union and gave them a list of demands," said Bell, who has worked at Starbucks for a year and a half and makes $8.37 per hour. He and others started wearing union pins at work.
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