Tue, 03/06/2008 - 23:35

Starbucks sacks CNT worker

On 24th of April, our comrade Mónica, a barista at the multinational Starbucks, was fired.

The district manager himself, Tomas Pinto, recognized the unfairness of the dismissal, and declared that her "profile was not suitable for what they were looking for". The surprising thing is that he drew that conclusion after she had been working for the company for a year and a half.

The fact is that Mónica was starting to organize the CNT Union Section at the company. She
did not notify her union membership and her position of Delegate of the Union Section, but during all her time in the company she fought for her rights and dignity as a worker. For example, during the Holy Week she refused to double her working shift because the shop manager did not tell her if it was going to be paid ovetime.

She also refused to attend periodic meetings outside working time which were not paid. But the most serious problem came when the managers found out that she has been asking her workmates for the telephone number of a fired worker. The shop manager told her that she should not have anything to do with trade unions. A few days later she was fired.

It is not the first time that Starbucks puts down workers. In the United States of America this company has a great history of dismissals and union busting against the workers of the revolutionary union IWW (Industrial Workers of the World).

From the Union of Commerce of the CNT of Sevilla we are not going to allow union busting
against our comrade, and we are going to fight for her reinstatement. The CNT declared war against Starbucks, and we are starting an international campaign with the solidarity of the International Workers Association and other grassroots unions such as the IWW.

We call all the CNT unions and all the IWA sections to support the campaign in the following
manner:

1. Send lots of emails to the company (hschultz@starbucks.com and atencionalcliente@starbucks.com) in solidarity.

We propose the following text: MONICA READMISION. BASTA DE REPRESION SINDICAL / REINSTATE MONICA. STOP UNION BUSTING

2. Organize demonstrations, pickets, and other solidarity actions against Starbucks premises.

3. We are organizing a Global Day of Action against Starbucks for the 5th of July, 2008. We will
protest against the anti-union policy of the company, which manifests in Monica's dismissal and the union busting that the IWW workers are suffering in Grand Rapids, Michigan (USA).

Anarchosyndicalist greetings

Borja Duarte
Secretary of Union Action. Union of Commerce. CNT-AIT Sevilla