Union organising

Starbucks union drive accelerates

Across the USA, the unionisation of Starbucks continues at lightning speed, with at least 129 locations currently in the process. It’s had a knock on effect in other coffee chains, including independent chains in Detroit, Michigan and Wisconsin. Starbucks has hit back with bullying, harassment, even sackings of union organizers. Seven employees involved in a union drive in Memphis, Tennessee, were fired five weeks ago, after launching their union campaign on Martin Luther King Jr Day. “We were fired over mundane things. The things we were fired for are things that nobody has been fired over in...

Couriers urgently need more for strike fund

Couriers working for JustEat and their delivery subcontractor Stuart have been mounting a strike campaign which has now lasted over 10 weeks. The strike is now at a critical turning point. It has new potential to expand. But it urgently needs fresh donations to the strike fund. At the same time, we need to mobilise volunteers to support the dispute. Couriers subcontracted by Stuart have been on strike since 6 December. On that day, Stuart finished the roll-out of a new pay structure which cut the base rate of pay per delivery by 24%. This was a devastating blow to drivers, who worked through...

A third Starbucks unionises

On Friday 25 February 2022 the store on Power Rd and Baseline Rd in Mesa, Arizona, became the third unionised Starbucks store in the United States, following Memphis, Tennessee and Buffalo, New York. Bernie Sanders tweeted: “Congratulations to the workers in Mesa, Arizona for voting overwhelmingly to form the 3rd union shop at Starbucks. The movement to unionise Starbucks is spreading like wildfire. When workers stand up and fight for their dignity, there is no stopping them”. 107 stores across 26 states have filed for union recognition, and more workers are organising every day. Starbucks is...

Spreading strikes push back courier bosses

Food couriers across the UK are striking over pay. Currently there is ongoing action in Sheffield, Dewsbury, Middlesbrough and Chesterfield. Workers in other towns are regrouping and reorganising. Delivery workers organised in the IWGB union who are employed by the contractor Stuart to deliver food for JustEat have had strikes in cities across the North of England since early December 2021. So far, Stuart has made two major concessions: they have promised that paid waiting time will be implemented from April; and they have fixed an issue with their insurance document upload system that was...

Why couriers are striking

Delivery drivers working for Stuart, the company that provides delivery services for JustEat in many UK cities, are on strike . Their strike began on 6 December, after Stuart implemented a new pay structure which it calls “linear”. It replaces an old, graded pay structure whereby drivers would be paid £4.50 for deliveries up to 2.5 miles and £7.50 thereafter. This “base rate” was then garnished by a multiplier — a bonus which is set at regular intervals by the company, and which increases pay by a set percentage. The multiplier is expressed as 1.0 (no increase), 1.1 (10% increase), 1.2 (20%)...

Atos and Fujitsu vote for action (John Moloney's column)

Our members in Atos have returned a firm majority in their ballot for industrial action over pay. On a turnout over 62%, nearly 90% of members voted to take strike action and just over 98% for action-short-of-strikes! The first action is scheduled to begin on 28 February, with plans for escalating action if their demands aren’t met. PCS members who work for Fujitsu Services have voted by 77.1% to take strike action and by 90.7% to take action short of a strike on a turnout of 80.4%. Again the dispute is over pay. The union’s national consultative ballot for industrial action over pay and the...

Couriers' strike is spreading

On Valentine’s Day 2022, the Stuart/JustEat workers’ strike continued to spread across the UK. For several weeks from 10 January, the strike was mainly centred in Sheffield, while drivers in other cities regrouped and re-organised after the Christmas lull. This work of organisation is now paying off. The action on Valentine’s day started in Chesterfield, with pickets appearing at Low Pavements McDonald’s at 7 a.m. After successfully stopping a large volume of breakfast orders (in terms of delivery business, breakfast is the most important meal of the day for some McDonald’s stores like Low...

Strikes can beat gig economy bosses

As the strike by couriers employed by Stuart to deliver food for Just East enters its third month, it is increasing in strength. The strike, organised by the Independent Workers of Great Britain union (IWGB), started on 6 December, after Stuart cut the basic per-delivery payment for drivers by 24%. Stuart has offered concessions on payment for waiting time at restaurants, and on the driver insurance system, but not yet on pay. The strike paused over Christmas. For much of January it was largely been carried by Sheffield drivers, with scattered action elsewhere in the UK. But that was not dead...

Together we are stronger

Parirs Dixon (above in middle, wearing hat), chair of the Sheffield Independent Workers of Great Britain branch, spoke to Solidarity . It’s going well. I heard that we’ve got Middlesbrough on board now, and potential for other cities like Wakefield etc., which is good. It’s spreading, which we need. Once we get a good spread, and all those cities coming on board properly, it’ll make the strike stronger and more national. That’s best for all of us in the union. That’s the way we can get a win. If it’s national, we all have to do the same thing… The indication that all these cities are in...

Diary of a Tube worker: "We are the union"

It’s always easier to “talk union” on the job when the union is balloting for industrial action. I often tell workmates, “the union isn’t an insurance policy, it’s a tool for us to win change at work.” It’s easier to grasp that when we’re voting about whether to go on strike. Workmates for whom our recent ballot on the Tube was the first experience of an industrial action ballot, and who aren’t well-versed in the restrictions of the anti-union laws, had pretty good instincts about it all. “I don’t get it,” says one, “why can’t we vote online? Or set up a ballot box in the mess room and all...

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